Newsletter 1/2008 The Oregean Version

A comparison between The Oregean Version by Daly King, and In Search of the Miraculous by Ouspensky

The Oragean Version is the title of a manuscript completed in 1949 by C. Daly King, who pursued the double vocation of scientific brain research and the writing of novels. He wrote this manuscript during the nineteen twenties in America to preserve the teaching of Alfred Orage for future generations.

At that time, Orage was in close contact with Gurdjieff and in spite of the later separation of the two, one can assume with confidence that Orage, in the role of Gurdjieff‘s ‚American Representative‘, taught what he had learned from his tutor, or was even explicitly asked by him to transmit. The date of the manuscript‘s completion is particularly important because it proves that Daly King had had no access to Ouspensky‘s version of the Gurdjieff teaching - now known under its later invented title In search of the Miraculous that was not published until 1950, with Gurdjieff‘s consent. One can conclude that Ouspensky‘s book and Daly King‘s manuscript were written independently, but covering the same subject, being Gurdjieff‘s teaching during the years between 1915 and 1924, the only time when his vision and system of thought where taught by him in a logical and rational way.

This similarity of subject does invite a detailed comparison. First to verify in how far both books, Ouspensky‘s and Daly King‘s, are in agreement about the main topics covered. Second, to see if there might even be a possible completion; one book providing the missing elements of the other. In my view, there is a clear overall agreement and, what is even more important, a mutual completion between both versions cannot be doubted.

Ouspensky‘ book is widely read and regarded as the best and most comprehensive introduction to Gurdjieff‘s teaching. It seems to be all too easily forgotten, by the way, that the teaching as represented in his book does not capture the versatility of Gurdjieff‘s different ways of teaching. Music and Movements were no doubt a vehicle of equal validity and relevance for his teaching as any logical overview. Daly King‘s manuscript is almost unknown. He himself wanted it that way. He allowed for only a hundred typewritten copies and forbade any further publication. This does not mean that Daly King‘s manuscript is inferior to Ouspensky‘s famous book.

Let us compare In search of the Miraculous to The Oregean Version in broad outlines. Ouspensky‘s book is very well written, exciting to read, and seems to capture Gurdjieff‘s exact words one by one. This was even confirmed by Gurdjieff himself. Daly King‘s manuscript is difficult to read, a certain dogmatism might even irritate the reader, but is nevertheless also very precisely formulated. Throughout his book, the author proceeds with the strict logic that might be expected from a scientist. The theoretic outline of Gurdjieff‘s teaching is presented even more coherently. A crucial diagram in the Oragean Version, the octave of the human being, is entirely missing in Ouspensky‘s book. This diagram, where self-observation is in the position of the note Fa and thus a sine-qua-non for development, is the key to understand the true meaning of the Oragean Version. Ouspensky‘ book is a brilliant report of how Gurdjieff perceives the human condition. Daly King‘s book is a method, a step-by-step practical approach, consisting of several series of exercises, all aimed at self-observation.

In our group we have worked for two years with these seemingly simple exercises. In reality, they proved to be difficult and frustrating. After these two years, all the participants of our weekly exchanges agreed that the Oragean Version had taught us at least one thing: what self-observation is not! Self-observation has nothing to do with a function of the mind, analysis or introspection, nor with feelings such as judgment or a desire to improve. It can be reached only by observation of the body. In rare moments, these exercises did bring a completely new understanding of self-observation as the door to a new form of consciousness, the only form of consciousness which allows us perceive, in a flash, what our reality is.

Unfortunately, because of the break between Gurdjieff and Orage in the nineteen thirties, Daly King‘s method has remained incomplete. Still, in the opinion of the undersigned, as a practical guide to inner work it has no equal in Gurdjieff literature, and this includes Ouspensky‘s book.


Wim van Dullemen
Berlin, 7 April 2008