JEANNE DE SALZMANN

JEANNE DE SALZMANN lived to be 100 years old,dying in Paris in 1990. She was one of the closest persons to the late Gurdjieff and was given the tasks on his death bed to continue and carry on THE WORK of THE FOURTH WAY, as it was also called by most. RECENTLY a compilation of her notebooks has been published,the title of which is: THE REALITY OF BEING, The Fourth Way of Gurdjieff,published by Shamballa, 2010. I obtained a copy of this and have begun reading it, along with listening to various music CD's of Gurdjieff's music,which is another important topic, little understood by most,especially those who know nothing of his abilities and even by some of his followers. Her son, Michael,said to be the son of Gurdjieff hasa also written or has under his name a book but which I have not yet obtained, as I wish to concentrate on Madame De Salzmann's work first. Despite a recent critical article on the book, which I shall discuss or comment on later, I find the book most interesting and informative as well as useful...her experiences and statements about such clarify a few things for me and will,no doubt, do the same for others who have sought to understand,learn, know, and feel more about the Teachings of Gurdjieff which await those who can really understand and follow his work,even though he is dead....something he thought possible and stated as much.....so there is hope that his mission,or at least one of them, TO UNITE THE WISDOM OF THE EAST WITH THE SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY OF THE WEST, will be accomplished, and signs are,in some places, it is being attempted despite some obvious setbacks. To date, there are four Gurdjieff Centers that she established: New York, Paris,London & Caracas,Venezuela which may still be operating and carrying on the Work, but as I do not have any contact with them(as yet) I do not know their exact status...but there are others who in groups or independently attempt to utilize the Teachings and methods in some way or what they consider to be such........