When Maurice Nicholl was studying in Zurich, he met Jung, and Ouspensky. He went on to study with Gurdjieff, and from 1931 to his death in 1953, he began at Ouspensky's request, a programme of work devoted to passing on the ideas he had received. Reissued in hard cover, these five unedited commentaries are taken from the weekly lectures and talks Nicoll gave to his students in England and which were recorded verbatim; the sixth volume is an index produced by the Gurdjieff society Washington DC. These differ from Nicholl's more polished works - they are more concerned with directly applying certain deep ideas to daily life.

An important book on liberating ourselves from the state of “waking sleep” in which we live our lives, as taught by one of the most influential spiritual teachers of the 20th century As the closest pupil of the charismatic spiritual master G. I. Gurdjieff (1866–1949), Jeanne de Salzmann was charged with carrying on his teachings of spiritual transformation. Known as the Fourth Way or “The Work,” Gurdjieff’s system was based on teachings of the East that he adapted for modern life in the West. Now, some twenty years after de Salzmann's death, the notebooks that she filled with her insights over a forty-year period (and intended to publish) have been translated and edited by a small group of her family and followers. The result is this long-awaited guide to Gurdjieff's teaching, describing the routes to be traveled and the landmarks encountered along the way. Organized according to themes, the chapters touch on all the important concepts and practices of the Work, including: • Awakening from the sleep of identification with the ordinary level of being • Self-observation and self-remembering • Conscious effort and voluntary suffering • Understanding symbolic concepts like the Enneagram • The Gurdjieff Movements, bodily exercises that provide training in Presence and the awareness of subtle energies • The necessity of a "school," meaning the collective practice of the teaching in a group Madame de Salzmann brings to the Work her own strong, direct language and personal journey in learning to live that knowledge of a higher level of being, which, she insists, “you have to see for yourself” on a level beyond theory and concept. De Salzmann consistently refused to discuss the teaching in terms of ideas, for this Fourth Way is to be experienced, not simply thought or believed.

The Psychological Commentaries on the teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky by Maurice Nicoll are the best, most in depth and easiest to understand books on the subject of Gurdjieff's and Ouspensky's teachings. Everyone interested in Gurdjieff's and Ouspensky's teachings should read all five volumes. Regardless of what spiritual path a person is on, the psychological commentaries can be a big help because they detail on a day-to-day basis the obstacles the false personality creates and how to conquer and remove those obstacles. Very few books have ever been written that go into great detail exposing the tricks the imaginary I uses to prevent people from succeeding in their spiritual goals. The psychological commentaries do just that. The Psychological Commentaries is the classic work on the fundamental ideas of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, expounded by one of their foremost students. The Commentaries, concerned with the immediate processes of applying certain principles in daily life, have come to be known and loved by entire generations of people interested in the ongoing evolution of psychological transformation. One of the leading British psychologists of his time, Maurice Nicoll was a student of Jung, Gurdjieff, and Ouspensky. At the latter's request, he devoted the last twenty years of his life to passing on the ideas he had received from his teachers. This devotion culminated in the five volumes of the Psychological Commentaries on the teaching of Gurdjieff & Ouspensky. The ISBN's are: Volume One 978-0-9829651-5-3. Volume Two 978-0-9829651-6-0. Volume Three 978-0-9829651-7-7. Volume Four 978-0-9829651-8-4. Volume Five 978-0-9829651-9-1.