Walker, Kenneth Macfarlane (1882-1966)
Walker, Kenneth Macfarlane (1882-1966)
Surgeon and author of books relating to parapsychology and mysticism. Walker was born in 1882 in London, England. He studied at Cambridge University (M.A., M.B., Ch.B.), the Royal College of Surgeons, and the International College of Surgeons. He was a captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps during World War I(1915-19) and later a consulting surgeon at London hospitals.
As an adult Walker was introduced to the writings and work of Georgei I. Gurdjieff, a mystic. In England he studied with Maurice Nicoll and P. D. Ouspensky. He visited Gurdjieff in France in 1948-49 (a visit described in a 1952 article). He wrote both autobiographically of his time as a Gurdjieff student and about his philosophical conclusions. By the time of his death, January 25, 1966, he was a well-known exponent of Gurdjieff's perspective.
Sources:
Driscoll, J. Walter. Gurdjieff: An Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland Publishing, 1985.
Walker, Kenneth. Diagnosis of Man. Harmondsworth, U.K.: Penguin Books, 1942.
——. I Talk of Dreams. London: Jonathan Cape, 1946.
——. The Making of Man. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1963.
——. Meaning and Purpose. London: Jonathan Cape, 1944.
——. A Study of Gurdjieff's Teachings. London: Jonathan Cape, 1957.
——. The Unconscious Mind. London: Rider, 1961. Reprinted as The Extra-sensory Mind. New York: Emerson, 1961.
——. Venture with Ideas. London: Jonathan Cape, 1951.