This book provides a fresh, detailed explanation of the fundamental ideas that Ouspensky introduced in In Search of the Miraculous, which were also described by Gurdjieff in Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson in a more obtuse manner. It starts out by discussing contemporary science and its conceptual foundation. It then draws a distinction between its approach and what Gurdjieff describes as objective science. They are different approaches based on different principles.

It goes from there to provide a detailed discussion of scientific ideas described in In Search of the Miraculous (and The Tales). It focuses first on The Ray of Creation and its consequences and, after a short but necessary digression into discussing the nature of plasma as the fourth state of matter, it focuses its attention on the Step Diagram. In doing so, it leans on research drawn from many sources and disciplines. Perhaps most importantly, the book works towards and culminates with a narrative that explains the universe from the perspective of objective science.

Gurdjieff clearly wanted his pupils to try to understand objective science. And yet most books written about The Work steer clear of the subject.