Meetings with Remarkable Men
"Meetings with Remarkable Men" is the second volume of the "
The book takes the form of Gurdjieff's reminiscences about various "remarkable men" that he has met, beginning with his father. They include the Armenian priest Pogossian; his friend Soloviev, Prince Lubovedsky, a Russian prince with metaphysical interests, and a couple of others.
In the course of describing these characters, Gurdjieff weaves their stories into the story of his own travels, and also into an overarching narrative which has them cooperate in locating spiritual texts and/or masters in various lands (mostly Central Asia). Gurdjieff calls this group the "Seekers of Truth".
Most of them do in fact find "truth" in the form of some suitable spiritual destiny. The underlying philosophy, especially as articulated in an appendix, amounts to the assertion that people generally live their lives asleep, are unconscious of themselves, and accordingly behave like machines, subject to outside causes and pressures. Also, one of the chief assessments of the novel is that the people of the past epochs lived in more suitable outer conditions and at higher inner levels than the people today. Many additional hidden harmonies are noted or alluded to.
These contradictory towards modern beliefs claims have inspired some to question the book's "autobiographical" character. For example, Gurdjieff claims to have first heard the
In a way it can be claimed that many of the vignettes in "Meetings" are meant to be symbolic, or "teaching stories".
Film version
Infobox Film
name = Meetings with Remarkable Men

image_size =
caption = VHS cover
director =
producer =
writer =
narrator =
starring =
music =
cinematography =
editing =
distributor = Enterprise Pictures Ltd
released = 1979
runtime = 108 min.
country =
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id = 1:32094
imdb_id = 0079542The book was made into a 1979 feature film directed by
The "plot" (to the extent that the film can be said to have a plot) involves Gurdjieff and his companions' search for truth in a series of dialogues and vignettes, much as in the book. Unlike the book, these result in a definite climax—Gurdjieff's initiation into the mysterious Sarmoung Brotherhood. The film is noteworthy for making public some glimpses of the "
elected cast
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*Tom Fleming as Father Giovanni
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External links
*imdb title|id=0079542|title=Meetings with Remarkable Men
*amg title|id=1:32094|title=Meetings with Remarkable Men
* [http://www.brookdvd.com Details and slideshow on the film + DVD release]