Tradition, Esotericism, Secrecy and Hiddenness in the Gospel Studies of P.D. Ouspensky and Maurice Nicoll

Abstract This article examines the views of Gurdjieff’s disciples P.D. Ouspensky and Maurice Nicoll on the esoteric nature of the Gospels. Utilising one of Wouter Hanegraaff’s definitions of esotericism as religious activity concerned predominantly with salvific knowledge of the ‘inner mysteries of religion’ reserved for a selected elite, Ouspensky’s and Nicoll’s view of the Gospels as the rendering in metaphorical form of esoteric knowledge as the formulation of the esoteric psychology of the path of inner evolution is discussed. Sources for this discussion are Ouspensky’s A New Model of the Universe (1931), and Nicoll’s The New Man (1950) and The Mark (1954). It is suggested that the Gospels render esoteric knowledge and its linguistic expression secret and hidden. Nicoll’s idea of the necessity for this secrecy and hiddenness in dealing with the esoteric, that esoteric knowledge given to those unprepared for it is dangerous, both because it will be spoiled, its truth and beauty destroyed, and because it will turn into what Nicoll calls “world poison”, is illustrated in a discussion of the thesis presented in Jacob Needleman’s A Sense of the Cosmos (1975), that the rise of modern science represents an abuse of esoteric knowledge. The article concludes by presenting ideas from Needleman, Ouspensky and Nicoll of what needs to be done in the face of this current widespread abuse of esoteric knowledge.