John G. Bennett
Witness to Death and Resurrection
Joseph Azize
Paperback
ISBN 9781960090829
$35.00 US
eBook available
August 27, 2024
“I am only a bridge; when you have got over the stream you can kick me away.” —Gurdjieff to John G. Bennett
This work advances a thesis about Gurdjieff’s mysticism and shows how one of Gurdjieff’s most eminent pupils developed the heritage. It also compares John G. Bennett-for whom this is the first biographical study-with other Gurdjieff pupils, notably Ouspensky and Jeanne de Salzmann.
Bennett has been a controversial figure in the Gurdjieff lineage, rising to prominence, as he did, in the generation after Gurdjieff’s death. Scholar Joseph Azize scrutinizes Bennett's visions (near-death, out-of-body, and mystical experiences), showing the original ways he witnessed life, death, and resurrection.
Azize also reveals how Bennett was taken advantage of by Idries Shah, and why there's a widespread view among students of Gurdjieff that Idries Shah was a poseur, a pretender to esoteric knowledge, prepared to deceive others when it was to his advantage.
Bennett’s later connections with Shivapuri Baba, and his correspondence with David Bohm, are also sure to stimulate more explorations of Gurdjieff-related matters.
Joseph Azize was born in 1957 to a Lebanese family in Sydney. After working as a lawyer for many years, he became a priest in the Maronite Church, where he now lives a contemplative life. An honorary associate at the University of Sydney, Azize has taught there and at the University of Notre Dame Australia and the Catholic Institute of Sydney. Azize earned a PhD in philosophy (ancient history) and has published several books on Gurdjieff and his pupils, most recently, Gurdjieff: Mysticism, Contemplation, and Exercises (Oxford University Press, 2020).
“This is a fine study of the mystical visions of John G. Bennett, an English polymath best known as writer and teacher in the Gurdjieff and Ouspensky lineage. Bennett is an emblematic figure whose trans-religious and ‘esoteric’ interests span the spectrum of twentieth century sources for seekers from Gurdjieff to neo-Sufism to Catholicism. Joseph Azize, the pre-eminent international scholar on Gurdjieff, has written a meticulously researched commentary on Bennett's experiences which will be the standard source for many years to come. No one in this field can afford to miss this.” —Dr. Steven Sutcliffe, senior lecturer in the Study of Religion, The University of Edinburgh
“Joseph Azize has produced a mystical biography of a major esoteric teacher and paradigmatic spiritual seeker of the twentieth century—a charismatic, inspiring, wildly original person in his own right, a soldier, scientist, artist, linguist, adventurer, and civil servant; a formidable autodidact whose competence ranged over many diverse fields. As a teacher he influenced hundreds if not thousands. Azize’s compelling narrative is structured around twenty-four ‘visions’ Bennett experienced, and adds much to our knowledge of esotericism, spirituality, and religious questing in Western modernity. The book is supremely readable, a tale of adventure and human experience, set against a backdrop of dramatic social change, spanning most of the twentieth century.” —Carole M. Cusack, professor of religious studies, The University of Sydney
