The Teachers of Gurdjieff

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The Teachers of Gurdjieff (ISBN 0-87728-213-7) is a book by Rafael Lefort that purports to describe a journey to the middle east and central asia in search of the sources of Gurdjieff's teaching, and culminates in the author's own spiritual awakening, by meeting and "opening" to the teachings of the Naqshbandi Sufis.

The book is considered by many to be a product of the Sufi school associated with Idries Shah, and his brother Omar Ali-Shah. "Rafael Lefort" is widely believed to be a pseudonym, and various authors have been suggested, including both Shah brothers and John G. Bennett. Attempts to decode the name have been made, on the assumption that it is an anagram. For instance, the anagram "Fetal or feral" could refer to the "Nature versus nurture" debate about Gurdjieff's sources. The book first appeared in 1966 from the British publishing house Victor Gollancz. A second edition was published in 1998 by Malor Books,[1] under the editorial directorship of Robert Ornstein, a prominent American associate of Idries Shah. A Spanish version has been published by Alif Publishing Corp., which publishes many of Omar Ali-Shah's works, and a Portuguese one by Edicões Dervish.

[edit] Bibliography

• The Way of the Sufi Idries Shah (1968) ISBN 0-14-019252-2
• The People of the Secret Ernest Scott (1983) ISBN 0-86304-038-1
• The Rules or Secrets of the Naqshbandi Order Omar Ali-Shah (1992) ISBN 2-909347-09-5