"A brilliant fantasy." -- Manchester Guardian. What would you do if you could re-live your life? In his only novel, occultist P. D. Ouspensky expands upon his concept of eternal recurrence, telling of a man who travels back in time and attempts to correct the mistakes of his schooldays and early manhood, including his romantic misadventures. Set in Moscow and Paris, the story served as an inspiration for the movie Groundhog Day.
2013 Reprint of 1931 Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. In this classic work, Ouspenky analyzes certain of the older schools of thought from the East and the West, connecting them with modern ideas and explaining them in light of the most recent discoveries and speculations in newer schools of philosophy and religion. In the course of his research he integrates the theories of relativity, the fourth dimension and current psychological theories. The book closes with a consideration of the sex problem from the perspective of sex in relation to the evolution of man toward superman.
In this introduction to the foundations of Buddhism, Rupert Gethin concentrates on the ideas and practices which constitute the common heritage of the different traditions of Buddhism (Thervada, Tibetan and Eastern) which exist in the world today.
First published in 1962, Bruce Jay Friedman’s acclaimed first fiction novel, Stern, tells the story of a young Jewish man who relocates his family from the city to the suburbs, where they are besieged by voracious caterpillars and a bigotry that ranges from the genteel snub to outright confrontation. “An iridescent tour de force...Mr. Friedman’s style is pure delight-supple, carnal, humorous and at times slightly surrealistic.”—The New York Times Book Review “What makes Friedman more interesting than most of Malamud, Roth and Bellow is the sense he affords of possibilities larger than the doings and undoings of the Jewish urban bourgeois... What makes him more important is that he writes out of viscera instead of cerebrum.”—Nelson Algren in The Nation “A strange and touching novel...funny and sad at the same time...in the tradition of a Charlie Chaplin movie.”—Time
“I will tell you a fairy tale,” said the Devil, “on one condition: you must not ask me the moral. You may draw any conclusion you like, but please do not question me. As it is, far too many follies are laid at our door, yet we, strictly speaking, do not even exist. It is you who create us.” My story takes place in New York some twenty-five years ago. There lived then a young man by the name of Hugh B.; I will not tell you his full name, but you will soon guess it for yourself. His name is known now to people in all five parts of the globe. But then he was completely unknown. I will start at a tragic moment in the life of this young man, when he was travelling from one of the suburbs of New York to Manhattan, with the intention of buying a revolver and then shooting himself on a lonely shore on Long Island; in a spot which had remained in his memory from the times of boyhood excursions, when he and his playmates, pretending to be explorers, had discovered unknown countries around New York. His intention was very definite and the decision final. All in all, it was a very common occurrence in the life of a big city, something encountered repeatedly; in fact, to be frank, I have had to arrange similar events thousands and tens of thousands of times. However, this time such a common beginning had a quite uncommon sequel and a most uncommon result. Nevertheless before turning to the outcome of the day, I must tell you in detail all that led up to it. Hugh was a born inventor. From early childhood, when walking with his mother in the park or playing with other children, or simply sitting quietly in a comer building with bricks or drawing monsters, he invented incessantly, constructing in his mind a variety of extraordinary contrivances, improvements for everything in the world. He derived a special satisfaction from inventing improvements and adaptations for his aunt. He would draw her with a chimney, or on wheels. For one drawing, in which this not young maiden was portrayed with six legs and other variations, the little Hugh was severely punished. It was one of his first memories. Not long after this Hugh learned first to design and then to make models of his inventions. By this time he had learnt that live people cannot be improved upon. Nevertheless his inventions were, of course, all pure fantasy: when he was fourteen, he nearly drowned himself trying out home-made water skis of his own design.
When Ethan confronts Jake, a classmate and bully, while on a field trip to the White House, the results are far more than he bargained for. He only means to grab Jake and thrust him away … but when Jake’s body smashes through the concrete walls of one of the world’s most important buildings, Ethan is whisked away and held in a juvenile detention facility, sparking a chain of events that will change everything. Unbeknownst to him, his newfound power has been observed by unseen entities. Still puzzled by the incident, Ethan is freed from the detention facility by teenage Adrienne and her hawk. He soon discovers a hidden world in which some people are endowed with powers over the elements. Once he and Adrienne realize he can control such natural forces as wind, rain, and lightning, he joins her team in fighting the evil Alfonso. Discovering that Alfonso is holding his uncle captive makes Ethan even more determined to use his powers against him. In an adventure that takes them deep into a volcano and the Egyptian pyramids, Ethan, Adrienne, and other team members fight off vicious dogs, humanoid monsters, and more of Alfonso’s minions in a timeless confrontation between good and evil. It finally becomes clear that Alfonso has something in particular planned for Ethan … but what is it, and why?
This book recounts P. D. Ouspensky's first meeting and subsequent association with George Gurdjieff. It is widely regarded as perhaps the most comprehensive account of Gurdjieff's system of thought available. Many followers regard it as a "fundamental textbook" of Gurdjieff's teachings and it is often used as a means of introducing new students to Gurdjieff's system of self-development.
ON THE SCREEN a scene at Kursk station in Moscow. A bright April day of 1902. A group of friends, who came to see Zinaida Krutitsky and her mother off to the Crimea, stand on the platform by the sleeping-car. Among them Ivan Osokin, a young man about twentysix. Osokin is visibly agitated although he tries not to show it. Zinaida is talking to her brother, Michail, Osokin’s friend, a young officer in the uniform of one of the Moscow Grenadier regiments, and two girls. Then she turns to Osokin and walks aside with him. “I am going to miss you very much,” she says. “It’s a pity you cannot come with us. Though it seems to me that you don’t particularly want to, otherwise you would come. You don’t want to do anything for me. Your staying behind now makes all our talks ridiculous and futile. But I am tired of arguing with you. You must do as you like.” Ivan Osokin becomes more and more troubled, but he tries to control himself and says with an effort: “I can’t come at present, but I shall come later, I promise you. You cannot imagine how hard it is for me to stay here.” “No, I cannot imagine it and I don’t believe it,” says Zinaida quickly. “When a man wants anything as strongly as you say you do, he acts. I am sure you are in love with one of your pupils here—some nice, poetical girl who studies fencing. Confess!” She laughs. Zinaida’s words and tone hurt Osokin very deeply. He begins to speak but stops himself, then says: “You know that is not true; you know I am all yours.” “How am I to know?” says Zinaida with a surprised air. “You are always busy. You always refuse to come and see us. You never have any time for me, and now I should so much like you to come with us.
