John G Bennett

I'm starting to read some of J. G. Bennet's works again. Bennett was a pupil of Gurdjieff and then Ouspensky and was influenced by many other teachings including Subud and various strains of Sufism. He's considered something of a maverick by more orthodox Gurdjieffans. I read several of his books around 15-20 years ago, but not to any great extent since. I remember reading his Deeper Man when I was 20, taking it around Europe with me in my backpack as I went Interrailing. There's no formal continuation of his teaching, but his sons and several of his students occasionally host workshops or extended courses. See http://www.jgbennett.net/ or http://www.duversity.org/institute_2.htm . The musician Robert Fripp (of King Crimson fame) studied in Bennett's school and Fripp's Guitar Craft technique draws on his experience with Bennett's teaching.

Anyway, I've just picked up Bennett's A Spiritual Psychology, and I've already found a few passages that are important, and one that I'd like to quote.

On creating one's own worldview:-
"The largest and most important part of my own spiritual psychology has come from Gurdjieff, but I am convinced that we all have to create our own picture of 'Man, the World and God.' The fragments from which the mosaic is constructed reach us from various sources and they are put together by our own search and cemented by our own spiritual travail. Even if we are unable to create a new world-picture, the one that we finally accept must be our own, tested in our experience and lived in our lives. " A Spiritual Psychology, Lakemont, Ga.: CSA Press, 1974.)

I'm sure that my study of Gnosticism has contributed several fragments to the mosaic of my worldview.