Stairway to the Stars: Sufism, Gurdjieff and the Inner Tradition of Mankind

An introduction to mystical philosophy and the concept of inner development by looking at a number of its great schools.

Mystics concur in saying that we are in some way "asleep" and must recognise this to awaken. A considerable attempt to identify the nature of this "sleep" is made in the earlier part of the book, with the particular help of the teaching of Gurdjieff. Also studied are ways of the past and present, including the Mystery Schools, Gnosticism, Alchemy, Zen, the Fourth Way, and the Way of the Sufi. It is also made apparent that the Way of Jesus, until it was overlaid by "Christianity", was once understood as one of these "waves" or teachings for the development of human being and consciousness. The resonance of this teaching with all other mystical teachings is a significant theme. The purpose of the book is to inspire the reader to ascend the "Stairway to the Stars"!

Max Gorman was born in Karachi, India (now Pakistan). He was educated at a convent in the Himalayas, then Lawrence School, Mount Abu, and privately by a hermit in a ruin in the jungle near Delhi. Next he was sent to Rugby School. He went to Oxford, mystic rather than academic, to read Poetry under the guise of History. He became wandering tutor to sons of owners of Scottish Castles and English mansions. He returned to Oxford to teach literature, before taking up the post of Tutor in Environmental Ethics at the Extramural Department of the University. He moved to the fair city of Brighton to work at the Friends Adult Education Centre as tutor in Mystical Studies and Early Christianity. He has held Seminars in developmental philosophy at the University of Brighton, and the University of Sussex.