"Talks With A Devil : Two Tales" by P.D.Ouspensky

[Ed Augusts]

"Talks with a Devil : Two Tales by P.D. Ouspensky" introduced and
edited by J.G. Bennett.

I once owned a 5-voloume set of J.G. Bennett's memoirs that was
subsequently bought, along with a number of Gurdjieff rarities, by an
occult book dealer in Manhattan. I wish I'd read more of these books
by Orage, Bennett, Ouspensky, and Gurdjieff! Ouspensky is often
thought to have been a follower of Gurdjieff, but that is only partly
true; it is like saying Jung was a Freudian. He may have followed
Frued's teachings for a while, but he was not a life-long Freudian by
any means; he was his own man. The same applies to the Ouspesky-
Gurdjieff pairing.

J.G. Bennett had a rich life in London and Paris, though he met the
author of this book, Ouspensky, in the exotic world where east meets
west -- Istanbul -- in the early 1920's. Ouspensky had just emigrated
from a broken, bleeding Russia. Holy Russia was dead, and Istanbul
was flooded with refugees. Ouspensky was already famous in
metaphysical and Theosophical circles (though he never was a
Theosophist) for his wonderful "Tertium Organum", which made his
reputation around the world and filled salons with listeners and
potential followers for the rest of his life. Bennett worked with
Ouspensky since that time in helping translate his Russian language
originals into English. Ouspensky was an independent philosopher, but
his life and ideas were radically changed when he met G. I. Gurdjieff,
whereupon he began to hold lectures and small gatherings in which
Gurdjieff's philosophy and methods were explored. He finally broke
with Gurdjieff, evidently over an undisclosed 'moral issue' and by the
end of his life, in 1947, had denounced Gurdjieff.

There is no creepier introduction to an occult tale than the first
eleven pages of "The Benevolent Devil", in which Ouspensky, writing in
the first person, describes a hair-raising visit to the famous cave
temples at Ellora. Perhaps this is all fiction, yet he was traveling
in India and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) when he wrote these tales and may well
have visited this very place. A creepier, yet more significantly
supernaturally-charged place can scarcely be imagined, here it is in
his words:

"The mountain raine runs from Daulatabad and is cut by sharp ridges an
deep valleys enclosing the ruins of dead towns; it ens in a sheer
rock ledge, horseshoe-shaped and several miles long. Stretchin up
from the ravine is a concave wall pitted with holes like huge
swallows' nests -- these are the openings of the cave tample. The
whole rock face is pierced with temples penetrating deep into the
earth. There are fifty-eight temples here, all belongin to different
ancient religions and different gods, each one superseding the last.
Inside the huge darkhalls, at a height unpenetrated by the light of
torches, one can hear the rustling of scores of bats. Here are long
corridors, narrow passages, inner courtyards, unexpected balconies and
galleries with a view of the plains below; slippery staircases
polished by bare feet thousands of years ago; dark wells beyond which
one can sense hidden caves; twilight, silence undisturbed the a
single sound. Bas-reliefs and statues of many-armed and many-heae
gods; most of all, the god Shiva -- dancing, killing, and merging in
convulsive embrace with other figures. Shiva is the god of Love and
Death,with whose strange, cruel, and stronly erotic cult is connectd
the most idealistic and abstract system of Indian philosophy. Shiva,
the dancing god around whom the whole unhiferse dances ias his radiant
reflection..."

That's just the start. The narrator spends the night in trailside
rooms made for the traveler. He is alone here. Doors start swinging
open and shut. Uncanny noises are heard against the windows. The
scene is incredibly atmospheric. It is from this scene, which I
believe Ouspensky must himself have experienced to do it so well, he
enters a dialogue with a devil who has great responsibilities and
strong connections with the human race and with many specific
individuals. Ouspensky's meeting with this devil is almost a come-down
from the wonderful 11 pages of "place setting", as the story begins to
tell a tale somewhat similar to Adam and Eve, and then plunges into
the true-life story of a Briton named Leslie, as a devil does
everything he can to keep him from seriously undertaking spiritual and
physical improvement via Yoga.

The other tale, "The Inventor", is the life story of an inventor and
of his amazing turn-of-the-century inventions, and how his life is
overseen, watched carefully, by a certain devil. Each story is nearly
100 pages long. A little bit more attention, not that the ideas were
lacking, and he would have had two novels! The dialogues with the
devils seem just a bit contrived. Horror is followed by humor. Each
page has its philosophical moments. The competing philosophies are
spiritualism versus materialism and how devils, if they exist, are
eager for people to stay in the low-grade materialistic strife and
struggle all their lives, many predictably ending with heartbreak and
suicide. It is spiritual methods which can uplift a person from the
rutted road of bad habits and mean thinking, but that is the path
which the devils struggle against.

I can't sum-up this book any better than the paperback's cover: "Here
are two delightful tales in the Slavic tradition of demons and devils.
They were written before Ouspensky's fateful meeting with Gurdjieff.
They belong to his wandering days when he was searching for the secret
he believed to be hidden in the schools of India and Ceylon. These
tales examine questions of evil, materialism and freedom that arise
when devils come to life to battle for men's souls. First published
in St. Petersburg in 1916, lost during the October revolution in
Moscow, and now rediscovered, these tales are brought to you and
brillinalty introduced by J.G. Bennet. His introduction places them
in the context of Ouspensky's life and philosophy and relates them to
the tradition of Slavic folklore. "

Thanks for stopping by!
---Ed Augusts www.edaugusts.com
http://stores.lulu.com/edaugusts