British psychiatrist Dr Maurice Nicoll (1884-1953) was a friend and close colleague of Carl Jung and was expected to become successor to Jung in providing leadership to the emerging psychiatry profession. But this role was never fulfilled by Nicoll, because he gave up a lucrative Harley Street practice to study with P. D. Ouspensky who taught the Fourth Way spiritual work brought to the west by Gurdjieff. Nicoll was also insightful in Working with dreams, which was well suited to his growing interest in the writings of Swedenborg, especially as he matured in years and as a spiritual teacher, eventually making Swedenborg and the bible his primary reading sources. Nicoll demonstrated a deep understanding of the psychology of spiritual work, as can be seen in his notes written for students, collected under the title “Psychological Commentaries on the teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky.” Nicoll’s books “The Mark” and “The New Man” show a deep understanding and use of parables of the New Testament, and very much demonstrate his familiarity with Swedenborg.
In these reading sessions we will be exploring some of the material from “Commentaries…”, helped by Swedenborg’s writings and Fourth Way teachings. We will also mix it occasionally with sessions on other Nicoll Works such as “Simple Explanation of Work Ideas”, “The Mark” and “The New Man”.
You will find a very informative page on Nicoll’s interest in Swedenborg here written by Jeffrey Adams who has done extensive and excellent research into Dr Nicoll’s personal life and diaries.
Drop in to the Centre in person, or participate using Zoom. See events column for further details, event dates, and for a Zoom link.