78 talks of Dr. Michel de Salzmann given at Chandolin, Switzerland, during the last eight years of his life while he was director of the worldwide network of Gurdjieff institutes. 376 pages, with introduction and color frontispiece photograph. Rare, direct source material. Published with the permission of Alexandre de Salzmann.

Review:

“These are recollected notes and moments of Work with Michel de Salzmann. A much anticipated and welcome first attempt to bring to a wider audience an impression, primarily through his own words, of this extraordinary awakener of men and women.... I highly recommend this book.” --A. Francis, Gurdjieff Internet Guide

Book Description:

To help one explore the process of waking up, Dr. Michel de Salzmann makes a distinction between something one does with one’s attention and something one receives. He speaks of a subtle energy that is both sacred and accessible. In the instant one recognizes this energy and consciously receives this finer attention, one awakens and begins to be.

“We are in a process to come under another influence,” he says in these talks to groups from around the world. “There is my attention, secondary attention, that runs up the mountain, sees obstacles, does this or that. If it is my attention, it is not this other attention, which transforms.”

This other attention, which transforms, is the subject of this book. Here is a voice that may open the listener to this next Attention.

Excerpts From the Recollected Talks of Michel de Salzmann:

Everything we need is here in us. Everything for fuller being. There is a kind of sacred descent of attention that can bring this about. Seeing the obstacles, thoughts, feelings, yes, perhaps a pressure that keeps me from it. But if I can relax inside, just allow the pure attention to flow in, be in that. Very natural. It’s what we are.

Attention: a sacred energy coming into me. Be sensitive to it. Recognize again and again that it is there. Be touched by it, link with it, something real in you. Not thoughts, techniques, not the head, but that touch. Can I liberate myself from all my concerns and enter the mystery?

Stay just exactly as I am. There is an intelligence in me that can accept. Like the sun. It does not care if an ant is crawling across the rug. The sun radiates with life. The whole of me becomes sensitive to this intelligence, listening for it. We were made for it. When very quiet inside--need an atmosphere of sensitivity--aware of breathing--become more interested in that, in this connection with something precious, so ego and vanity and judgment melt away.

We cannot change ourselves, but when we are related to this energy inside us, the goodness of it pours through me and changes everything. From it can come my best action in the world, my best action for others. There is a calm, a quietness. A look upon me, not from my ordinary self, but from that which sees objectively as it is. If you keep looking, prefer that look upon you no matter what is taking place, you will be able to become stable in this attention, and a new freedom and possibility will appear.

You are not alone. There is a network always, actively working, since the dawn of humanity. Offering reminders. And you can come near to it. Create a link with this network of influence. This energy creates love in you, creates consciousness in you. But it needs your care, your full care.

For more excerpts, go to http://thenextattention.com