Book excerpt: It would be fitting to say of Henri Tracol that throughout his life he called many sides of himself into action toward the “harmonious development” advocated by Gurdjieff. For this reason, the talks and interviews collected here are of the greatest help to other seekers of truth. Whether writing about Gurdjieff or ancient world traditions, Tracol skillfully draws from a vast knowledge of them and of his own and other cultures. He brings archetypes and heroes close enough for the reader to see more clearly what they represent, reveals that help is at hand from sacred sources, and that it is possible to penetrate the genesis of the common essence of traditional wisdom. This newly revised and expanded edition includes two of Tracol’s earlier works — The Taste for Things That are True and Further Talks and Essays — in their entirety, as well as previously unpublished material from his many visits to the United States in the 1970s and 1980s and all of his remarkable contributions to Parabola during the same period.