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John Godolphin Bennett (1897-1974)

This website is about John Godolphin Bennett and his life and his work. It is owned and operated by his two sons, George and Ben, and his middle daughter Hero Selwood. We take full responsibility for what follows. We can be contacted via the e-mail addresses given below.

JOHN BENNETT began to teach the work in 1930, but did not consider himself a teacher until, in October 1971 he inaugurated his own school named “The International Academy for Continuous Education”, at Sherborne House, Gloucestershire, England. From then until his death in December 1974, Bennett worked full-time with an annual intake of 90 – 100 students. The school was strictly experimental in curriculum, and he taught what he had learned from his own various teachers and also from his own researches and observations. For more about Sherborne House and the International Academy, follow the link to the left of this page.

As a writer, Bennett is best known for his commentaries on Gurdjieff, but his most important work is undoubtedly “The Dramatic Universe”, begun in the 1940s. The fourth and final volume was published in 1966, but he did not consider it a complete work, and encouraged others to continue to develop the ideas contained in it. A lot of the other material in print today is composed of transcriptions of lectures he gave to both public and closed audiences. Bennett’s autobiography, “Witness: The Story of a Search” tells the story of his outward life, of his meetings with various significant men and women, and also many personal insights and teaching stories. The first edition was published in 1960, and he re-wrote the last chapters in 1974 to include the events of the last 14 years of his life.

Bennett’s early career was in the British Army, and later in Military Intelligence. After some attempts as a financial entrepreneur ended in failure in 1929, he entered on what was to be his main and most successful profession as a research scientist in the fuel industry. This came to an abrupt end in 1952, when he was implicated in the investigation of communist activities. Between that time and the opening of the Academy, he engaged mostly in writing, travel, lecturing, study and, in the late 1960s, in research in education and business management.

Bennett trained many students in the use of the practical inner exercises that were taught to him by Gurdjieff. This body of techniques is passed from one individual to others entirely by personal transmission, and formed an important part of the curriculum of his Academy.

The work that Bennett taught at the Academy at Sherborne can be described as “TRANSFORMATION”. Echoing Gurdjieff, he taught the notion of Conditional Immortality – that human beings are born with the possibility of a soul, but that a fully formed soul is very, very unlikely, and only attainable by determined hard work. This is the essence of “Conscious Labour and Intentional Suffering” or Being Partkdolgduty as described in Gurdjieff’s “Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson”. All of the inner exercises and the Movements that Gurdjieff taught enable us to create within ourselves the substance Hanbledzoin, or Baraka as it is known in Sufism, spiritual force. Hanbledzoin was described by Gurdjieff as “the blood of the body Kesdjan”, the vessel of the Soul. By means of determined and unceasing work on the inner exercises, in conjunction with the undertaking of conscious labour and intentional suffering, the creation of the soul is made possible for us. But who can do this, and why should we undertake something so arduous??

Bennett was introduced by Gurdjieff to the notion of Solioonensius, or times of heightened energy within a part of our planet, or the whole of our planet. Bennett researched this idea, and reached the conclusion that times of such heightened energy are often seen as terrestrial catastrophes, but that in fact these have always been times of accelerated evolution for the human race. In other words, this is a time of great creativity for us people.

Gurdjieff indicated to Bennett, that according to certain ancient and secret wisdom schools, the present period of Solioonensius commenced as early as 1903, and will continue for some considerable time into the future, placing great demands on all forms of life, particularly human beings. This is a challenge for mankind. The nature of our world will change and humanity must adapt, evolve or be destroyed.

How this applies to us is contained in the notion that Bennett took up from Gurdjieff and also from the Sermon on the Mount, that of two streams of life, involution and evolution. This has been formulated in various ways, but in Volume 3 of his “Dramatic Universe” Bennett expounded his vision of an Ideal Society consisting of three groups, or three modes of existence –

1. Psychostatic group, those who remain in a single unchanging mode
2. Psychokinetic group, or those who are on a path of transformation to a higher level of being,
3. Psychoteleios, or those fully transformed individuals who are able to be channels between mankind and higher intelligence – similar to what Buddhists term “buddhisattva” – for the benefit of all mankind, now and in the future.

Now more than ever before in human history, candidates are needed for the path of transformation. If you are interested in what we are saying, and in joining us in studying this, please contact us.

George and Ben Bennett

JG Bennett Web Site
28 West Street
Petersham, MA 01366