John G. Bennett

John G. BennettFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Godolphin Bennett (8 June 1897 - 13 December 1974) was a Britishmathematician, scientist, technologist, industrial research director and author. Heis perhaps best known for his many books on psychology and spirituality,particularly on the teachings of G.I. Gurdjieff. Bennett met Gurdjieff in Istanbul inOctober 1920 and later helped to co-ordinate the work of Gurdjieff in Englandafter Gurdjieff's arrival in Paris. He also was active in starting the British sectionof the Subud movement, and co-founded its British headquarters.

Bennett was born in London, England, educated at King's College School, London;Royal Military Academy, Woolwich; School of Military Engineering, Chatham; andthe School of Oriental Studies, London.

He was a Fellow of the Institute of Fuel, London, from 1938 onwards; Chairman,Conference of Research Associations, 1943–1945; Chairman, Solid Fuel Industry,British Standards Institution, 1937–1942; Chairman and Director, Institute for thecomparative study of History, Philosophy, and the Sciences, Kingston uponThames, 1946–1959.

Contents

1 Early life, World War I, marriage

2 Gurdjieff and Ouspensky

3 Coal industry

4 Group work

5 Coombe Springs

6 Reunion with Gurdjieff

7 Travels in the Middle East

8 Subud

9 Shivapuri Baba

10 ISERG

11 Idries Shah

12 International Academy for Continuous Education

13 Bibliography

14 References

15 External links

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Early life, World War I, marriage

Bennett's parents met in Florence, Italy although his mother was American. In hisinfancy, his family were moderately wealthy and travelled frequently in Europe. In1912, his father, who was a noted traveller, adventurer and linguist, lost all of hismoney and his wife's in an investment that failed. Bennett himself would laterdisplay an extraordinary talent for languages, which enabled him to talk withmany spiritual teachers in their native tongues, and to study Hindu, Buddhist,Islamic and Christian sacred texts in their original forms.

Bennett makes little reference to his childhood in his autobiography, Witness, butelsewhere he credits his mother with instilling in him the virtues of hard work andtolerance.

At school, he excelled in sports and captained the school rugby football team. Hewon a scholarship in mathematics from Oxford University, but never had thechance to take advantage of this. He continued to play rugby football for the army(against such opponents as the New Zealand national team), breaking his armonce and his collar bone twice.

In the First World War, at the age of nineteen, Bennett served as a subaltern inthe Royal Engineers, with responsibility for signals and telegraphy.

In France in March 1918, he was blown off his motorcycle by an exploding shell.Taken to a military hospital, operated upon, and apparently in a coma for six days,Bennett had an out-of-body experience which convinced him that there issomething in man which can exist independently of the body.

"It was perfectly clear to me that being dead is quite unlike being very ill or

very weak or helpless. So far as I was concerned, there was no fear at all.

And yet I have never been a brave man and was certainly still afraid of heavy

gun fire. I was cognizant of my complete indifference toward my own

body."[1]

This set his life on a new course - he described the return to normal existence asthe return to a body that was now in some sense a stranger.

In the closing months of World War 1, Bennett undertook an intensive course inTurkish language at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, and wasposted to Constantinople, where he held a sensitive position in Anglo-Turkishrelations. His fluency made him the confidant of many high-ranking Turkishpolitical figures, and helped him to develop his knowledge of Turkey and to gaininsights into non-European ways of thinking. A notable piece of initiative earneddrew the attention General Allenby, and a mention in C-in-C's dispatches,


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following which he was recruited to be the head of Military Intelligence "B"Division, with responsibility for the entire Middle Eastern region.

"All day long I was dealing with different races: English, French, Italian,

Greek, Armenian, Turkish, Kurdish, Russian, Arab, Jews and people so mixed

up as to be no race at all. Each and every one was convinced of the

superiority of his own people. How could everyone be right and all the rest

wrong? It was nonsense."

Bennett's eighteen months tenure of this position were so eventful, that to thisday he is still regarded as a major figure in the political life of Turkey in thatperiod. He was possibly too successful, and began to make enemies among hisown superiors, was recalled to London in January 1921 and resigned hiscommission with the rank of Captain and a pension for life.

His love of Turkey would remain with him for the rest of his life.

After the war, Bennett had married his first wife, Evelyn, with whom he had adaughter, Ann, born August 1920. Evelyn stayed in England, however, andBennett's immersion in Turkish affairs and his relationship with WinifredBeaumont, an English woman living in Turkey, placed increasing strain on themarriage, and in 1924, Evelyn sued for divorce. Bennett later married Winifred, awoman twenty years his senior, and they remained together until her death, in1958. (He would be married for a third time in 1958, to Elizabeth Mayall.)

Gurdjieff and Ouspensky

After the First World War and the Russian Revolution, many displaced peoplepassed through Constantinople en route to the West. Part of Bennett's job was tomonitor their movements. Among them were G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky,whom Bennett met through Prince Sabahaddin, a reformist thinker who hadintroduced him to a wide range of religious and occultist ideas, includingTheosophy and Anthroposophy.

Bennett became determined to pursue the search for a deeper reality. It was asearch he would continue for his entire life.

When Gurdjieff and Ouspensky moved on to Europe, Bennett remained in Turkey,committed to his work and fascinated by the political and social developmentsthat finally led to the fall of the sultanate and the proclamation, on October 29,1923 of the Turkish republic. However, Bennett had been profoundly impressedwith Gurdjieff's ideas about the arrangement of the human organism and thepossibility of a man's transformation to a higher state of being, and would laterdedicate much of his life to the elaboration and dissemination of those ideas.


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Bennett approved the permission certificate to M. Kemal Atatürk to Samsun, that

he started Turkish Independence struggle there.[2]

Gurdjieff founded his Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man at theChâteau Le Prieuré in Fontainebleau-Avon, south of Paris, in October 1922.Bennett visited in the summer of 1923, spending three months at the institute.This experience further convinced him that Gurdjieff had profound knowledge andunderstanding of techniques by which man can achieve transformation. Gurdjieffencouraged Bennett to stay longer, but Bennett was short of money and so feltobliged to return to work in England. Though Bennett expected to return to thegroup soon, he would not meet Gurdjieff again until 1948.

Bennett served the British government as a consultant on the Middle East, andinterpreted at the 1924 conference in London intended to settle disputes betweenGreece and Turkey. He was invited to stand for parliament, but he chose insteadto give his personal studies precedence over his public life.

He joined Ouspensky's groups, and continued to study Gurdjieff's system withthem for fifteen years, though Ouspensky broke off all contact with Gurdjieffhimself in the early 1920s.

Coal industry

During this time, Bennett became involved with various coal mining ventures inGreece and Turkey. These were ultimately unsuccessful, but gave him expertise inmining and coal chemistry. He spent four years in Greece, and was involved inprotracted negotiations involving land claims by members of the deposed Turkishroyal family.

In 1938, he was asked to head Britain's first industrial research organization, theBritish Coal Utilisation Research Association (http://www.bcura.org/index.html)(BCURA). With the outbreak of World War II, BCURA's research was focussed ondeveloping fuel efficient fireplaces and finding alternatives to oil. BCURAdeveloped cars powered by coal-gas and a coal-based plastic.

Group work

In 1941, Ouspensky left England to live in the United States. By now, Bennett wasrunning his own study groups and giving talks on the subject of Gurdjieff'ssystem. The groups continued and expanded in London throughout the SecondWorld War.

Bennett began writing and developing his own ideas in addition to Gurdjieff's.Ouspensky repudiated him in 1945, which proved very painful for Bennett, whohad also lost touch with Gurdjieff, and believed him to be dead.


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"Ouspensky fell under the impression that Bennett was setting himself up as

a teacher and plagiarising his lecture material. Instructions were sent to all

members of Ouspensky's groups to disassociate themselves from Bennett,

who found himself vilified and ostracised, but still supported by a small loyal

following. He decided to go ahead with his work of communicating his

understanding of the System to people, and to create a society or institute to

serve as its vehicle".[3]

Coombe Springs

In 1946, Bennett and his wife founded the Institute for the Comparative Study ofHistory, Philosophy and the Sciences:

"To promote research and other scientific work in connection with the factors

which influence development and retrogression in man and their operation in

individuals and communities; to investigate the origin and elaboration of

scientific hypotheses and secular and religious philosophies and their

bearing on general theories of Man and his place in the universe; and to

study comparative methodology in history, philosophy and natural

science".[3]

The Institute bought Coombe Springs, a seven-acre estate in Kingston uponThames, Surrey, which had housed research laboratories used by BCURA. TheBennetts moved in with ten of Bennett's closest pupils with the intention ofstarting a small research community. Coombe Springs became a center for groupwork, and in addition to the small community who lived there permanently,hundreds of people visited Coombe Springs for meetings and Summer schools.

The old laboratories were used as dormitory space and known as the "fishbowl"because of the amount of glass they had. A "new building" was later built forsuperior accommodation. The main house was used for meetings as well asaccommodation. Coombe Springs took its name from an original Elizabethanspring house in the grounds, which, until the mid-19th century, had provided

water to the palace at Hampton Court.[4]

Bennett was convinced that the Gurdjieff's system could be reconciled withmodern science. He started work on a five-dimensional geometry which included"eternity" as a second time-like dimension, introducing this in his first publishedbook, The Crisis in Human Affairs (1948).


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Reunion with Gurdjieff

Ouspensky died in 1947. In 1948, Bennett went to the United States and metOuspensky's wife, through whom he learned that Gurdjieff had survived theFrench occupation and was living in Paris. Though it was now 25 years since theyhad last met (due mainly to Ouspensky's long standing veto on Gurdjieff tomembers of his groups), Bennett quickly decided to renew contact. In the 18months before Gurdjieff's death (in October 1949), Bennett visited him frequently,despite his heavy professional schedule (he was now working for the PowellDuffryn coal company) and his responsibilities towards the group work at CoombeSprings.

A month spent working very intensively with Gurdjieff's group in the summer of1949 laid the foundation for a significant transformation in his life and spiritualwork. At that time, Gurdjieff's apartment in Paris had become a 'Mecca' to the'followers of his ideas' who converged from many different countries. Bennettlearnt of Gurdjieff's writings, and read Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson for thefirst time. At the beginning of 1949, Bennett was named as Gurdjieff's'Representative for England' and later gave public lectures in London on Gurdjieffand his ideas.

This period was described in Elizabeth Bennett's book Idiots in Paris, which wasbased on Bennett's diaries and her own memories.

Gurdjieff's death in 1949 was a serious blow for all his followers. Disagreementsarose in the group, partly as a result of Gurdjieff's having afforded his closestassociates conflicting areas of authority. In Bennett's case, the conflict wasexacerbated by his own interpretation and development of Gurdieff's ideas.

After Gurdjieff's death, the various groups looked to Jeanne de Salzmann to givethem direction and hold them together, but there was little inherent harmonybetween them. At this time Bennett was a member of a small group headed byMadame de Salzmann, putting his work at Coombe Springs under her overallguidance. In 1950, Bennett was falsely accused of harbouring communists on hisstaff and was forced to resign from Powell Dufryn (later resisting severalattractive offers to return to a career in industrial research and administration).This left him free to concentrate more fully on the group work at Coombe Springs.He lectured frequently, trying to fulfill a promise he had made to Gurdjieff to doeverything in his power to propagate his ideas. Friendly relations continued withMadame de Salzmann and her groups throughout 1951 and 1952, but by thenBennett was convinced that his more senior students were not making progress,and that he had to find out for himself whether there still existed an ancienttradition or source from which Gurdjieff had derived his teaching.

Travels in the Middle East


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In 1953, he undertook a long journey to the Middle East, visiting Turkey, Syria,Iraq and Persia. His search, chronicled in his book Journeys in Islamic Countriesbrought him into contact with Sufis of extraordinary accomplishment, such asEmin Chikou known in Syria as (Mohammad Amin Sheikho), and Farhad Dede, theformer of whom led Bennett indirectly to a profound meeting with the Sufi ShaykhAbdulla Daghestani, "a true saint in whom one feels an immediate complete trust.With him there were no lengthy arguments or quotations from the scriptures."Their chance, and fateful, meeting on a mountaintop in Damascus is chronicled,albeit briefly, in his book 'Subud.' Bennett concludes that Shaykh Daghestani wasin possession of, "powers of a kind that I had already seen in Gurdjieff and one ortwo others, and prepared me to take very seriously anything that he might [haveto] say."

During 1954, there were increasingly evident differences of opinion betweenBennett and Madame de Salzmann regarding the promulgation of Gurdjieff'steachings, and Bennett came to realise that an effectual working relationship withher groups was not possible. Bennett wished to execute Gurdjieff's last directivesliterally, by disseminating his ideas and writings as widely as possible, especiallyBeelzebub's Tales to his Grandson, which Madame de Salzmann wanted to keepaway from the public eye.

In 1955, he initiated a project to build an unusual nine-sided meeting hall atCoombe Springs for the performance of Gurdjieff's sacred dance movements.This, together with his public lectures in London, completed the rift with Madamede Salzmann. The project took two years to complete. At the opening in 1957,Bennett commented that the real value of such a project was in building acommunity rather than the building itself.

Subud

In 1956, Bennett was introduced to Subud, a spiritual movement originating inJava. For a number of reasons, Bennett felt that Gurdjieff had expected the arrivalof a teaching from Indonesia, and in spite of deep reservations, Bennett was'opened' by Husein Rofe in November of that year.

Bennett regarded the latihan, the spiritual exercise of Subud, as being akin towhat the mystics call diffuse contemplation. He also felt that it had the power ofawakening conscience, the organ that Gurdjieff regarded as necessary forsalvation. An invitation was sent to the movement's founder, Muhammad (Pak)Subuh to come to England. Pak Subuh came to Coombe Springs where all ofBennett's pupils were given the opportunity to be 'opened'.

It was a highly explosive event that included the miraculous cure of the film star,Eva Bartok, and, subsequently, the violent death of one of Bennett's pupils. In anextraordinarily short time, Bennett found himself instrumental in spreadingSubud all over the world. He traveled extensively to spread the Subud message,


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sometimes in the company of Pak Subuh. Bennett translated Pak Subuh's lecturesinto various languages, and his own introductory book, 'Concerning Subud'(http://www.bennettbooks.org/), sold thousands of copies worldwide.

Bennett's heavy involvement in Subud meant a gradual fading away of thework-group activities and exercises that had been practised until the advent ofSubud. The meeting hall was left without its intended viewers' balcony and itsstriking pentagonal floor was filled in to allow for latihans. Its original purposewas not to be fulfilled for many years.

Some of Bennett's pupils were dismayed. Subud seemed to some to be theantithesis of Gurdjieff's methods for spiritual awakening, and Bennett'senthusiasm for it served to deepen the divisions within the Gurdjieff groups. Manypeople left the Coombe Springs groups, but others came in large numbers, andfor several years Coombe Springs was the headquarters of the Subud movementin Europe, attracting serious seekers and sensation seekers.

In 1958, monks from the Benedictine Abbey of St. Wandrille, interested in Subud,contacted Bennett who, the following year, made the first of many visits whichbrought him into close contact with the Catholic Church. Pere Bescond was thefirst monk to be 'opened', followed by many others. It was at St. Wandrille thatBennett had a deep experience of the destined unification of Islam andChristianity. This possibility had haunted him for a long time and he had given itphilosophical expression, through his concept of essential will, in The DramaticUniverse. Soon after, he entered the Catholic Church.

By 1960, Bennett had come to the conclusion that the practice of 'latihan' alonewas inadequate, and he resumed the work that he had learned from Gurdjieff. By1962, after devoting himself selflessly to its growth and expansion, Bennett leftthe Subud organization, feeling that a return to the Gurdjieff method wasnecessary.

Although he maintained to the end of his life that he had derived great benefitfrom Subud, it was now the turn of Subud members to be dismayed, and manyturned against him.

Meanwhile the Institute had been largely given over to Subud to the extent, atone time, of instigating a move to forbid the sale of Gurdjieff's books at CoombeSprings. In spite of this, Bennett reinstated lecture courses on psychokinetics, anaction that led to increasing conflict among the membership.

A battle of power ensued in 1962 that resulted in Subud acquiring its ownorganization and Bennett resigning from the Subud brotherhood and his role asleader of the Coombe Springs Community and Director of Research of theInstitute.

From 1963, the pattern of exercises that were subsequently followed at Coombe


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Springs combined the latihan with different techniques such as the Gurdjieffmovements. The meeting hall was completed with the fitting of a balcony forviewers and an external access through stairs for spectators. Lectures were heldon topics ranging from Sufism to Synchronicity, and Bennett resumed work on thefinal volumes of his "personal whim", the epic 'The Dramatic Universe', which hehad been working on for more than ten years, constantly writing, revising andre-writing.

Shivapuri Baba

Meanwhile, Bennett had made contact with the Shivapuri Baba, a Hindu sageliving in Nepal. He had first heard of the Shivapuri Baba in the early 1940s, andnow learned from Hugh Ripman (a fellow student of Ouspensky) that the yogi was

still alive.[5]

Bennett visited the Shivapuri Baba twice between 1961 and 1963, by which timethe Shivapuri Baba was reportedly 137 years old. Bennett was impressed with thevitality and simplicity of the Shivapuri Baba's teaching, and later referred to himas his teacher. Bennett undertook to propagate the Shivapuri Baba's teaching,and made various attempts to incorporate it into his own work.

The Shivapuri Baba died in 1963, shortly after he had approved the draft for hisbiography, Bennett's Long Pilgrimage - The Life and Teaching of the ShivapuriBaba.

ISERG

In 1962, Bennett gave a seminar on spiritual psychology in which the variouselements he had received (particularly from Gurdjieff, Subud and the ShivapuriBaba) were integrated into a coherent psycho-cosmology. This marked a majorstep in his understanding of a comprehensive methodology which combined bothactive and receptive "lines of work".

By this time Bennett was also working with a group of young scientists calledISERG (Integral Science Research Group) headed by Anthony Hodgson and soonjoined by Anthony George Edward Blake, Kenneth Pledge, Henri Bortoft andothers. This group investigated educational methods, the nature of science, andsimilar subjects. The group maintained a contact with physicist and philosopherDavid Bohm.

Research fellowships were created to enable Hodgson and Blake to concentratetheir time on educational work. Out of this came the idea of structuralcommunication which led the Institute into co-operative work with G.E.C. in thefield of teaching machines.


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In 1963, Bennett launched the institute's journal, Systematics. The journal wasdesigned to spread the ideas of the discipline of Systematics, a practicalanalytical method based on his own researches into the laws governing processesin the natural world. The journal ran for 11 years with major contributions fromall disciplines.

Idries Shah

While the educational work was progressing, Bennett learned of Idries Shah, anexponent of Sufism. When they met, Shah presented Bennett with a documentsupporting his claim to represent the 'Guardians of the Tradition'. Bennett andother followers of Gurdjieff's ideas were astonished to meet a man claiming torepresent what Gurdjieff had called 'The Inner Circle of Humanity', somethingthey had discussed for so long without hope of its concrete manifestation.

Bennett introduced "teaching stories" to his groups on Shah's instructions. Theseare now widely published and recognized as important teaching materialscontaining the essence of Sufi knowledge and insight.

It remained unclear as to what the future relationship between the Institute,Bennett and Shah could become. Eventually Bennett decided to put CoombeSprings at Shah's disposal to do with as he saw fit. In October 1965 at anextraordinary General Meeting of the Institute, Bennett persuaded themembership to take this step.

Shah originally indicated that he would take Bennett's psychological groups underhis own wing. Bennett welcomed this, as it would allow him to concentrate onresearch and writing. However, he again found himself unpopular - not only withconservatives within the Institute, but also with other followers of Idries Shah andmembers of his organisation SUFI (Society for the Understanding of theFoundation of Ideas).

In the spring of 1966, The Institute for Comparative Study donated CoombeSprings to Shah, who promptly sold it for a housing development. The Djameewas destroyed. About half the people who had studied under Bennett wereintegrated into his groups while the rest were left 'in the air'. The Institute wasleft with the educational research work as its main focus. The work with the HirstResearch Laboratories of G.E.C. bore fruit in the new teaching machine, the'Systemaster', and Bennett organised various young people around him to writeand develop teaching materials that followed the structural communicationmethod.

Bennett and some of the Coombe Springs residents had moved into a nearbyhouse in Kingston upon Thames, where the family (the Bennetts now had two sonsand two young daughters) would live quietly for four years before Bennettembarked on his last great project - an experimental school for passing on


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techniques for spiritual transformation.

International Academy for Continuous Education

By 1969 the company which had been formed to explore structuralcommunication - Structural Communication Systems Ltd. - was floundering andBennett's health, too, was in a dangerous state. After his recovery, Bennett lookedafresh at the situation and the conviction came to him that he should take up thework that Gurdjieff had started at the Prieuré in 1923 and been forced toabandon. He would start a School of the Fourth Way.

Bennett became very interested in young people, especially those who surfacedfrom the social and cultural turmoil of the 1960s with serious questions about thesignificance of life but with few satisfactory answers. As part of his research,Bennett attended the rock music festival on the Isle of Wight in 1970. Theoutcome was the establishment of an "academy" to teach some of what he hadlearned in trying to discover the "sense and aim of life, and of human life inparticular."

On the twenty fifth anniversary of the Institute, in April 1971, a jubileecelebration on the theme of The Whole Man was held. In a very short time,primarily in the USA, Bennett recruited many students and in October 1971 theInternational Academy for Continuous Education was inaugurated in Sherborne,Gloucestershire.

Bennett had begun this enterprise with no programme in mind and with only ahandful of helpers. Initially, his ideas had involved running a school in the midst of'life-conditions' in Kingston with two dozen students, but contact with a youngrepresentative of the New Age Movement in the USA persuaded him to think interms of larger numbers and a relatively isolated locale in the countryside.Bennett realized that work on the land (which he considered to be an essentialpart of teaching the proper relationship between mankind and the rest ofcreation) would require a larger number. Both Hasan Shushud and Idries Shahmade recommendations that, for the most part, he disregarded.

He quickly attracted one hundred pupils, and in 1971, with the support of theInstitute for Comparative Study, he inaugurated the International Academy forContinuous Education, in the village of Sherborne, Gloucestershire, England.

The name was chosen "to indicate on the one hand its Platonic inspiration and onthe other to emphasize that it was to offer a teaching for the whole life of the menand women who came to it."

As he tells the story in his autobiography, although various spiritual leaders hadurged him at various points in his life to strike out on his own path, it was notuntil near the end of his years that he felt fully confident to assume the mantle of


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the teacher. Bennett relates how Gurdjieff had told him in 1923 that one dayBennett would "follow in his footsteps and take up the work he had started atFontainebleau." In 1970, following the promptings of a still, small voice fromwithin that said, "You are to found a school",

Bennett proposed that there should be five experimental courses each of tenmonths duration. The courses proved fruitful, and many people have continued, ashe had hoped, to work with the ideas and methods he presented.

In April 1972, the Sufi Hasan Lutfi Shushud came to stay for a few months at theAcademy. The two had met in Turkey ten years previously, and Hasan LutfiShushud had visited Bennett's Surrey home in 1968, when Bennett was initiatedin Shushud's wordless, universal zikr, which, Bennett concluded, bore resultssimilar to those of the latihan, while omitting many of the risks attendant on'opening' unprepared people. Bennett had since grown increasingly attracted tothe Khwajagan, the Masters of Wisdom of Central Asia extolled by Hasan.

According to the official site of Bennett,[6] "...In 1973, Bennett’s publisher AlickBartholomew commissioned a book which was originally to be entitled “Gurdjieffand the Masters of Wisdom” and was to be co-authored by Bennett and Shushud.However, Shushud pulled out of the project, telling Bennett that he did not trustthe publisher, apparently on the grounds that he had deducted state income taxfrom the advance payment. What later became apparent was that Shushud did notagree with the connection Bennett wished to make between Gurdjieff and theMasters of Wisdom. In the event, Bennett divided the proposed book into twoseparate titles, “Gurdjieff: Making a New World” (1973) and “The Masters ofWisdom” which draws heavily on Shushud’s “Hacegan Hanedani” about theKhwajagan published posthumously in 1975. There are number of mysteriousthings about Shushud, who certainly had unusual powers. Bennett makes a briefreference to these in “Witness”, and many others have attested to them. One of

his closest associates lives today in San Mateo, California ...".[6]

While criticising Bennett's methods, Hasan impressed on him that "Your onlyhome is the Absolute Void". Shushud eventually agreed that what Bennett wasdoing was more suitable for young western seekers than his own strict methods offasting and zikr.

In the same year, Bennett began editing Gurdjieff's Third Series of writings, 'Lifeis Real Only Then When I Am' (http://www.bennettbooks.org/), undertaking itspublication on behalf of the Gurdjieff family (who were having difficulties indealing with the Gurdjieff Foundation). He also revisited Turkey, meeting withHadji Muzaffer, the Sheikh of a Halveti Dervish Khalka.

During the period of the second course at the Academy, a Cambodian BuddhistMonk, the Reverend Mahathera V. Dharmawara, known as 'Bhante', came toSherborne at Bennett's invitation. Techniques of meditation were introduced thatcontinue to be practised by many people.


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Other visitors were Suleiman Dede, head of the Mevlevi order in Konya, as well ashis disciple Reshad Feild. Idries Shah paid a brief visit during the first year, butsoon left, with harsh views on the attitudes and disposition of the students.

Throughout the period of the Institute's existence, Bennett had been toying withthe idea of founding a spiritual community. He saw the Sermon on the Mount as adocument describing the true community. His contact with Idries Shah combinedthis in his mind with the possibility of establishing a Power House where 'enablingenergies' could be concentrated. He set his sights on some kind of self-sufficientcommunity, populated by Sherborne graduates, to evolve out of the school. Hewas profoundly influenced by contemporary ideas, such as those of Schumacher,about the need for alternative technology and by the argument of conservationistsfor intelligent, ecologically sound agriculture. He was also greatly impressed thathis spiritual hero and inner teacher, Khwaja Ubaidallah Ahrar (15th century) hadturned to farming after his period of training.

Soaring price of land in the UK led to Bennett's interest in starting something inthe USA. In 1974, he signed an agreement whereby the Institute loaned $100,000to a newly formed society for the foundation of a psychokinetic community. Hesigned this document shortly before his death on December 13, 1974.

The Claymont Society was founded to attempt to carry out Bennett's vision, butwithout the help of his guidance.

In the Summer of 1974, he visited the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Rome to questionhim about Transcendental Meditation and his interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita.Bennett had been initiated into TM several years before and first met theMaharishi in 1959. He disputed Maharishi's presentation of the Gita in which heeliminated the need for sacrifice and suffering.

In the last year of his life, he gradually made it known to those working with him,that his own personal task centred on the creation of a way of religious worshipthat would be accessible to men and women of the West who were lacking inreligious formation. During this period he made experiments with the Islamicnamaz and Sufi zikr.

The teachings he developed in his last years were recorded and published in aseries of books put together by Anthony Blake. He showed that at last he wasindependent of Gurdjieff and had his own understanding of the spiritual world,based on a radical questioning of all current assumptions.

Bennett died on Friday, December 13, 1974, shortly after the start of the fourthcourse. That course, and the fifth, were completed by his wife, working with a fewof his most experienced pupils.

With his death the Institute was faced with the typical problems of a body whichhad been led almost single-handedly by one man since its inception. The decision


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was taken to continue the Academy's work until the five-year period, originallyspecified by Bennett, had been completed. The setting up of the USA communityat Claymont Court, West Virginia, went ahead.

In the months before he died, Bennett worked to establish an experimental "idealhuman society" embodying the methods and ideas that he had developed andderived from Gurdjieff. He made substantial efforts to overcome the rifts that hadgrown between different groups of Gurdjieff's followers, and was beginning totalk about the development of new forms of worship appropriate for the modernworld.

Bibliography

1948. Crisis in human affairs. (2e ed. 1951)

1949. What Are We Living For? (A critique of western culture)

1956. Dramatic Universe, The (A search for a unified vision of reality)

1959. Concerning Subud.

1961. Christian mysticism and Subud.

1962. Approaching Subud; ten talks. And a discussion with Steve Allen.

1962. Witness: The Story Of a Search (Autobiography)

1964, A Spiritual Psychology (1974, 1999)(a workbook for creating an organ

of perception and mode of existence independent from the vagaries of life)

1964. Energies: Material, Vital, Cosmic (2e ed. 1989) (exploration of the

theory of Universal Energies developed from Gurdjieff's hints)

1965. Long Pilgrimage (2e ed. 1983) (The life and teaching of the Shivapuri

Baba)

1969. Gurdjieff: A Very Great Enigma (The ideas of Gurdjieff and the mystery

that surrounded him)

1973. Gurdjieff - Making a New World (Biography exploring Gurdjieff's role

in bringing ancient wisdom to the West)

1974. How We Do Things: The Role of Attention in Spiritual Life (Chapters on

Function, Sensitivity, Consciousness, Decision, & Creativity)

1974. Sex the relationship between sex and spiritual development (The

relationship between sex and spiritual development)

1974, Transformation of man series

Posthumous publications


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1975. Intimations: Talks with J.G. Bennett at Beshara (talks given to students

of Reshad Feild, Bulnet Rauf and of the great Sufi Mystic

1976. First Liberation, freedom from like and dislike (2002 ed. subtitle:

Working with Themes at Sherborne House)

1976. Hazard: The Risk of Realization (First book of talks given on ideas

found in The Dramatic Universe)

1976. Journeys In Islamic Countries (Diaries of Bennetts's search for the

sources of Gurdjieff's teachings)

1977. Needs Of A New Age Community: Talks on Spiritual Community &

Schools compiled by A. G. E. Blake from the unpublished writings and talks

of J. G. Bennett. (Includes Bennett's commentaries on 'The Sermon on the

Mount')

1977. Material objects

1978. Creation (Exploration of the idea that man lives in many worlds)

1978. Deeper Man (Gurdjieff's ideas applied to the critical condition of 20th

century society)

1978, Transformation (2003) (The process by which a man can become a

'New Man')

1980. Idiots In Paris 1991. 2008. (Diaries of Elizabeth & J.G. Bennett in Paris

with Gurdjieff)

1983. Spiritual Hunger Of The Modern Child: a series of ten lectures

(Bennett, Mario Montessori, A.I Polack and others on the nature of a child's

spirituality)

1989. Creative Thinking (1998) (The conditions necessary for creative

insight)

1989. Sacred Influences: Spiritual Action in Human Life (Essays on the

qualities of Life, Nature, Doing, Wisdom, God, and Sacred Images)

1993. Elementary Systematics: A Tool for Understanding Wholes (Conceptual

tool to find pattern in complexity. A handbook for business)

1995. Making A Soul: Human Destiny and the Debt of Our Existence

(Instruction based on Bennett's view of the fundamental purpose of human

existence)

1995. Masters Of Wisdom: An Esoteric History of the Spiritual Unfolding of

Life on This Planet (Historical study and a vision of the workings of higher


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intelligence)

2006. Way To Be Free. edited by Anthony Blake (Conversations between

Bennett & his students on the difference between work done from the mind

and work from essence)

2007. Talks On Beelzebub's Tales (From Bennett's talks on Gurdjieff's series

'Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson'.

References

^ Witness: The Story of a Search (Autobiography) (http://elearning.zaou.ac.zm:8060

/Beliefs/Fourth%20Way/Bennett,%20John%20G

/1%20-%20Witness%20-%20The%20Autobiography%20of%20John%20G.%20Bennett

%201974/1%20-%20START%20HERE%20-%20WJGBF.htm) (1974: Omen Press,

Tucson, Arizona; First U.S. ed.). Hodder & Stoughton. 1962. ISBN 0-912358-48-3.

Retrieved June 2013.

1.

^ Certificate Photo (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/09

/Permission_for_Ataturk.jpg)

2.

^ a b HISTORY OF THE INSTITUTE FOR THE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF HISTORY,

PHILOSOPHY AND THE SCIENCES, LTD. - Ouspensky (http://www.duversity.org

/institute_2.htm)

3.

^ Hampton Court (http://www.hrp.org.uk/history/default.asp?sectID=4&id=4)4.

^ HISTORY OF THE INSTITUTE FOR THE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF HISTORY,

PHILOSOPHY AND THE SCIENCES, LTD. - Shivapuri Baba (http://www.duversity.org

/institute_2.htm)

5.

^ a b Bennet's Teachers - Hasan Lutfi Shushud (http://www.jgbennett.net/content

/bennettsteachers)

6.

External links

Official website (http://www.jgbennett.org/)

Bennett Books website (http://www.bennettbooks.org/)

The Gurdjieff's Mission video explores Bennett's enigmatic relationship with

Gurdjieff (http://www.gurdjieff-legacy.org/70links/g_mission.htm)

John G. Bennett page at Gurdjieff International Review website

(http://www.gurdjieff.org/bennett.htm)

"A Call for a New Society" by Bennett (http://www.claymont.org


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/new_society.htm)

Systematics website including original journal articles

(http://www.systematics.org/)

Sabah newspaper from Turkey Bennett's signature from 16 May 1919,

Istanbul (http://www.sabah.com.tr/popup_res_40-108-20070218-1.html)

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Transcendental Meditation practitioners

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Documents

John G. Bennett