Georges Gurdjieff
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George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (; rus, Гео́ргий Ива́нович Гурджи́ев, r=Geórgy Ivánovich Gurdzhíev, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj ɪˈvanəvʲɪd͡ʑ ɡʊrd͡ʐˈʐɨ(j)ɪf; hy, Գեորգի Իվանովիչ Գյուրջիև; c. 1866–1877 – 29 October 1949) was an Armenian
philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
, mystic,
spiritual teacher This is an index of religious honorifics from various religions. Buddhism Christianity Eastern Orthodox The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Protestantism Catholicism Hinduism Islam Judaism ...
, and
composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...
of
Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
and
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
descent, born in
Alexandropol Gyumri ( hy, Գյումրի, ) is an urban municipal community and the second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th century, when the city w ...
,
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
(now
Gyumri Gyumri ( hy, Գյումրի, ) is an urban municipal community and the second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th century, when the city w ...
,
Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
). Gurdjieff taught that most humans do not possess a unified consciousness and thus live their lives in a state of hypnotic "waking sleep", but that it is possible to awaken to a higher state of consciousness and achieve full human potential. Gurdjieff described a method attempting to do so, calling the discipline "The Work" (connoting "work on oneself") or "the System". According to his principles and instructions, Gurdjieff's method for awakening one's consciousness unites the methods of the
fakir Fakir ( ar, فقیر, translit=faḳīr or ''faqīr'') is an Islamic term traditionally used for Sufi Muslim ascetics who renounce their worldly possessions and dedicate their lives to the worship of God. They do not necessarily renounce al ...
,
monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
and
yogi A yogi is a practitioner of Yoga, including a sannyasin or practitioner of meditation in Indian religions.A. K. Banerjea (2014), ''Philosophy of Gorakhnath with Goraksha-Vacana-Sangraha'', Motilal Banarsidass, , pp. xxiii, 297-299, 331 Th ...
, and thus he referred to it as the "
Fourth Way The Fourth Way is an approach to self-development developed by George Gurdjieff over years of travel in the East (c. 1890 – 1912). It combines and harmonizes what he saw as three established traditional "ways" or "schools": those of the body, ...
". Gurdjieff's teaching and practice inspired the formation of many groups organized as Foundations, Institutes, and Societies many of which are now connected by the International Association of the Gurdjieff Foundations (IAGF). After his death in 1949, th
Gurdjieff Foundation Paris
 was organized and led by
Jeanne de Salzmann Jeanne de Salzmann (born Jeanne-Marie Allemand) often addressed as Madame de Salzmann (January 26, 1889, Reims – May 24, 1990, Paris) was a French-Swiss dance teacher and a close pupil of the spiritual teacher G. I. Gurdjieff. Life Jean ...
from the early 1950s, in cooperation with other direct pupils, until her death in 1990; and until his death in 2001 by
Michel de Salzmann Michel de Salzmann (31 December 1923 in Paris – 4 August 2001 in Paris), son of Jeanne de Salzmann, was a psychiatrist, and the president of the Gurdjieff Foundation from 1990 until his death. His friends and pupils salute him as one of the m ...
. The International Association of the Gurdjieff Foundations is an umbrella group for the four main organisations: The Gurdjieff Foundation in the USA, with centers in New York and San Francisco, The Gurdjieff Society in the UK, the Institut Gurdjieff in France and GI Gurdjieff Foundation - Caracas in Venezuela with a network of partner foundations in South America.


Biography


Early years

Gurdjieff was born to a Caucasus Greek father, Yiannis Georgiades ( el, Ἰωάννης Γεωργιάδης), and an
Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
mother, Evdokia (according to biographer Paul Beekman Taylor), in
Alexandropol Gyumri ( hy, Գյումրի, ) is an urban municipal community and the second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th century, when the city w ...
of the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
in the
Transcaucasus The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...
. The name Gurdjieff represents a
Russified Russification (russian: русификация, rusifikatsiya), or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether involuntarily or voluntarily, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian cultur ...
form of the
Pontic Greek Pontic Greek ( pnt, Ποντιακόν λαλίαν, or ; el, Ποντιακή διάλεκτος, ; tr, Rumca) is a variety of Modern Greek indigenous to the Pontus region on the southern shores of the Black Sea, northeastern Anatolia, ...
surname "Georgiades" ( el, Γεωργιάδης). Greek-Georgian were also very common combinations in Kars Oblast and Georgia under Tsarist rule, The Caucasus Greeks of
Kars Oblast The Kars Oblast was a province (''oblast'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire between 1878 and 1917. Its capital was the city of Kars, presently in Turkey. The ''oblast'' bordered the Ottoman Empire to the west, the Batum Oblast ...
were generally regarded as Russianized eastern
Pontic Greeks The Pontic Greeks ( pnt, Ρωμαίοι, Ρωμίοι, tr, Pontus Rumları or , el, Πόντιοι, or , , ka, პონტოელი ბერძნები, ), also Pontian Greeks or simply Pontians, are an ethnically Greek group in ...
and lived in areas and villages with large indigenous Armenian populations, which explains the variant spellings of the surname of Gurdjieff's father and the fact that like many in the Kars region he was of mixed Greek and Armenian parentage. Greek-Russian and Greek-Georgian were also very common combinations in Kars Oblast and
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
under the
Tsarist Tsarist autocracy (russian: царское самодержавие, transcr. ''tsarskoye samoderzhaviye''), also called Tsarism, was a form of autocracy (later absolute monarchy) specific to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states ...
rule.
which is also a possible root of his surname, as Muslims around Georgia call the Georgian people "Gurdji" (with
Russified Russification (russian: русификация, rusifikatsiya), or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether involuntarily or voluntarily, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian cultur ...
ending ''-eff''). The exact year of his birth remains unknown; conjectures range from 1866 to 1877. Some authors (such as James Moore) argue for 1866. Both Olga de Hartmann, the woman Gurdjieff called "the first friend of my inner life", and Louise Goepfert March, Gurdjieff's secretary in the early 1930s, believed that Gurdjieff was born in 1872. A passport gave a birthdate of November 28, 1877, but he once stated that he was born at the stroke of midnight at the beginning of New Year's Day (
Julian calendar The Julian calendar, proposed by Roman consul Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on , by edict. It was designed with the aid of Greek mathematicians and astronomers such as Sosigenes of Alexandr ...
). Although the dates of his birth vary, the year of 1872 is inscribed in a plate on the gravemarker in the cemetery of
Avon, Seine-et-Marne Avon () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Geography Avon and Fontainebleau, together with three other smaller communes, form an urban area of 36,713 inhabitants. The two towns shar ...
, France, where his body was buried. Gurdjieff spent his childhood in
Kars Kars (; ku, Qers; ) is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. Its population is 73,836 in 2011. Kars was in the ancient region known as ''Chorzene'', (in Greek Χορζηνή) in classical historiography ( Strabo), part of ...
, which, from 1878 to 1918, was the administrative capital of the Russian-ruled Transcaucasus province of Kars Oblast, a border region recently captured from the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
. It contained extensive grassy plateau-steppe and high mountains, and was inhabited by a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional population that had a history of respect for travelling mystics and holy men, and for religious
syncretism Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various school of thought, schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or religious assimilation, assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in t ...
and
conversion Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series * "The Conversion" ...
. Both the city of Kars and the surrounding territory were home to an extremely diverse population: although part of the Armenian Plateau, Kars Oblast was home to Armenians, Russians, Caucasus Greeks, Georgians, Turks, Kurds and smaller numbers of Christian communities from eastern and central Europe such as
Caucasus Germans Caucasus Germans (german: Kaukasiendeutsche) are part of the History of Germans in Russia, Ukraine and the Soviet Union, German minority in Russia and the Soviet Union. They migrated to the Caucasus largely in the first half of the 19th century and ...
,
Estonians Estonians or Estonian people ( et, eestlased) are a Finnic ethnic group native to Estonia who speak the Estonian language. The Estonian language is spoken as the first language by the vast majority of Estonians; it is closely related to other ...
and Russian sectarian communities like the
Molokans The Molokans ( rus, молокан, p=məlɐˈkan or , "dairy-eater") are a Spiritual Christian sect that evolved from Eastern Orthodoxy in the East Slavic lands. Their traditions—especially dairy consumption during Christian fasts—did not ...
,
Doukhobors The Doukhobours or Dukhobors (russian: духоборы / духоборцы, dukhobory / dukhobortsy; ) are a Spiritual Christian ethnoreligious group of Russian origin. They are one of many non-Orthodox ethno-confessional faiths in Russia an ...
, ''Pryguny'', and
Subbotniks Subbotniks ( rus, Субботники, p=sʊˈbotnʲɪkʲɪ, "Sabbatarians") is a common name for adherents of Russian religious movements that split from Sabbatarian sects in the late 18th century. The majority of Subbotniks were converts t ...
. Gurdjieff makes particular mention of the
Yazidi Yazidis or Yezidis (; ku, ئێزیدی, translit=Êzidî) are a Kurmanji-speaking endogamous minority group who are indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. The majo ...
community. Growing up in a multi-ethnic society, Gurdjieff became fluent in Armenian, Pontic Greek, Russian and Turkish, speaking the last in a mixture of elegant Osmanlı and some dialect. He later acquired "a working facility with several European languages". Early influences on him included his father, a carpenter and amateur ''
ashik An ashik ( az, aşıq, ; tr, âşık; fa, عاشیق) or ashugh ( hy, աշուղ; ka, აშუღი) is traditionally a singer-poet and bard who accompanies his song—be it a dastan (traditional epic story, also known as '' hikay ...
'' or
bard In Celtic cultures, a bard is a professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise t ...
ic poet, and the priest of the town's Russian church,
Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...
Borsh, a family friend. The young Gurdjieff avidly read Russian-language scientific literature. Influenced by these writings, and having witnessed a number of phenomena that he could not explain, he formed the conviction that there existed a hidden truth not to be found in science or in mainstream religion.


Travels

In early adulthood, according to his own account, Gurdjieff's curiosity led him to travel to
Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
,
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
,
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
,
Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
and
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
before he returned to
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
for a few years in 1912. He was never forthcoming about the source of his teachings. The only account of his wanderings appears in his book ''
Meetings with Remarkable Men ''Meetings with Remarkable Men, autobiographical in nature, is the second volume of the ''All and Everything'' trilogy written by the Greek-Armenian spiritual teacher G. I. Gurdjieff. Gurdjieff started working on the Russian manuscript in 1927, ...
''. Most commentators leave his background unexplained, and ''Meetings'' is not generally considered to be a reliable or straightforward autobiography. Each chapter is named after an individual "remarkable man"; many are putatively members of a society of "seekers of truth". After Gurdjieff's death,
J. G. Bennett John Godolphin Bennett (8 June 1897 – 13 December 1974) was a British academic and author. He is best known for his books on psychology and spirituality, particularly on the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff. Bennett met Gurdjieff in Istanbul in ...
researched his sources extensively and suggested that these characters were symbolic of the three types of people to whom Gurdjieff referred: No. 1 centred in their physical body; No. 2 centred in their emotions and No. 3 centred in their minds. He asserts that he has encounters with
dervish Dervish, Darvesh, or Darwīsh (from fa, درویش, ''Darvīsh'') in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity A fraternity (from Latin language, Latin ''wiktionary:frater, frater'': "brother (Christian), brother"; whence, ...
es,
fakir Fakir ( ar, فقیر, translit=faḳīr or ''faqīr'') is an Islamic term traditionally used for Sufi Muslim ascetics who renounce their worldly possessions and dedicate their lives to the worship of God. They do not necessarily renounce al ...
s and descendants of the extinct
Essenes The Essenes (; Hebrew: , ''Isiyim''; Greek: Ἐσσηνοί, Ἐσσαῖοι, or Ὀσσαῖοι, ''Essenoi, Essaioi, Ossaioi'') were a mystic Jewish sect during the Second Temple period that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st c ...
, whose teaching had been, he said, conserved at a monastery in Sarmoung. The book also has an overarching
quest A quest is a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. The word serves as a plot device in mythology and fiction: a difficult journey towards a goal, often symbolic or allegorical. Tales of quests figure prominently in the folklore of ever ...
narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller (ge ...
involving a map of "pre-sand Egypt" and culminating in an encounter with the "
Sarmoung Brotherhood The Sarmoung Brotherhood was an alleged esoteric Sufi brotherhood based in Asia. The reputed existence of the brotherhood was brought to light in the writings of George Gurdjieff, a Greek-Armenian spiritual teacher. Some contemporary Sufi-related ...
".Mark Sedgwick,
European Neo-Sufi Movements in the Inter-war Period
in ''Islam in Inter-War Europe'', ed. by Natalie Clayer and Eric Germain. Columbia Univ. Press, 2008 p. 208.


Business career

Gurdjieff wrote that he supported himself during his travels with odd jobs and trading schemes (one of which he described as dyeing hedgerow birds yellow and selling them as canaries). On his reappearance, as far as the historical record is concerned, he had become a businessman. His only autobiographical writing concerning this period is ''
The Herald of Coming Good ''The Herald of Coming Good. First Appeal to Contemporary Humanity'' is the first book published by G. I. Gurdjieff. The book was privately published in Paris in 1933. The book was published with the help of Charles Stanley Nott a student of Gur ...
''. In it, he mentions acting as hypnotherapist specialising in the cure of addictions and using people as guinea pigs for his methods. It is also speculated that during his travels he was engaged in a certain amount of political activity, as part of
The Great Game The Great Game is the name for a set of political, diplomatic and military confrontations that occurred through most of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century – involving the rivalry of the British Empire and the Russian Empi ...
.


In Russia

From 1913 to 1949, the chronology appears to be based on material that can be confirmed by primary documents, independent witnesses, cross-references and reasonable inference. On New Year's Day in 1912, Gurdjieff arrived in Moscow and attracted his first students, including his cousin, the sculptor Sergey Merkurov, and the eccentric Rachmilievitch. In the same year, he married the
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
Julia Ostrowska in
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. In 1914, Gurdjieff advertised his ballet, ''The Struggle of the Magicians,'' and he supervised his pupils' writing of the sketch ''Glimpses of Truth.'' In 1915, Gurdjieff accepted P. D. Ouspensky as a pupil, and in 1916, he accepted the composer
Thomas de Hartmann Thomas Alexandrovich de Hartmann (russian: Фома́ Алекса́ндрович Га́ртман; October 3 .S.: September 21 1884March 28, 1956) was a Ukrainian-born composer, pianist and professor of composition. Life De Hartmann was born o ...
and his wife, Olga, as students. Then, he had about 30 pupils. Ouspensky already had a reputation as a writer on mystical subjects and had conducted his own, ultimately disappointing, search for wisdom in the East. The Fourth Way "system" taught during this period was complex and metaphysical, partly expressed in scientific terminology. In the midst of revolutionary upheaval in Russia, Gurdjieff left
Petrograd Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
in 1917 to return to his family home in Alexandropol. During the
October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
, he set up temporary study communities in
Essentuki Yessentuki ( rus, Ессентуки́, p=jɪsɪntʊˈkʲiˑ) is a city in Stavropol Krai, Russia, located in the shadow of Mount Elbrus at the base of the Caucasus Mountains. The city serves as a railway station in the Mineralnye Vody—Kislov ...
in the
Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...
, then in
Tuapse Tuapse (russian: Туапсе́; ady, Тӏуапсэ ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated on the northeast shore of the Black Sea, south of Gelendzhik and north of Sochi. Population: Tuapse i ...
,
Maikop Maykop (russian: Майкоп, p=mɐjˈkop Help:IPA/Russian, mɐj'kop); ady, Мыекъуапэ, Mıéquapə ) is the capital city of the Republic of Adygea in Russia, located on the right bank of the Belaya River (Kuban), Belaya River (a tribut ...
,
Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...
and
Poti Poti ( ka, ფოთი ; Mingrelian: ფუთი; Laz: ჶაში/Faşi or ფაში/Paşi) is a port city in Georgia, located on the eastern Black Sea coast in the region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti in the west of the country. Built near t ...
, all on the
Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
coast of southern Russia, where he worked intensively with many of his Russian pupils. Gurdjieff said, "Begin in Russia, End in Russia". In March 1918, Ouspensky separated from Gurdjieff, settling in England and teaching the Fourth Way in his own right. The two men were to have a very ambivalent relationship for decades to come. Four months later, Gurdjieff's eldest sister and her family reached him in
Essentuki Yessentuki ( rus, Ессентуки́, p=jɪsɪntʊˈkʲiˑ) is a city in Stavropol Krai, Russia, located in the shadow of Mount Elbrus at the base of the Caucasus Mountains. The city serves as a railway station in the Mineralnye Vody—Kislov ...
as refugees, informing him that Turks had shot his father in
Alexandropol Gyumri ( hy, Գյումրի, ) is an urban municipal community and the second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th century, when the city w ...
on 15 May. As Essentuki became more and more threatened by civil war, Gurdjieff fabricated a newspaper story announcing his forthcoming "scientific expedition" to "Mount Induc". Posing as a scientist, Gurdjieff left Essentuki with fourteen companions (excluding Gurdjieff's family and Ouspensky). They travelled by train to Maikop, where hostilities delayed them for three weeks. In spring 1919, Gurdjieff met the artist Alexandre de Salzmann and his wife Jeanne and accepted them as pupils. Assisted by Jeanne de Salzmann, Gurdjieff gave the first public demonstration of his Sacred Dances (Movements at the
Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...
Opera House, 22 June).


In Georgia and Turkey

In 1919, Gurdjieff and his closest pupils moved to
Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...
. There, Gurdjieff's wife Julia Ostrowska, the Stjoernvals, the Hartmanns, and the de Salzmanns gathered the fundamentals of his teaching. Gurdjieff concentrated on his still unstaged ballet,
The Struggle of the Magicians
'.
Thomas de Hartmann Thomas Alexandrovich de Hartmann (russian: Фома́ Алекса́ндрович Га́ртман; October 3 .S.: September 21 1884March 28, 1956) was a Ukrainian-born composer, pianist and professor of composition. Life De Hartmann was born o ...
(who had made his debut years ago, before Czar
Nicholas II of Russia Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pola ...
), worked on the music for the ballet, and Olga Ivanovna Hinzenberg (who years later wed the American architect
Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...
), practiced the ballet dances. In 1919, Gurdjieff established his first
Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man The Fourth Way is an approach to self-development developed by George Gurdjieff over years of travel in the East (c. 1890 – 1912). It combines and harmonizes what he saw as three established traditional "ways" or "schools": those of the body, ...
. In late May 1920, when political conditions in
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
changed and the old order was crumbling, his party travelled to
Batumi Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ) is the second largest city of Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia's southwest. It is situated in a subtropical zone at the foot of th ...
on the
Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
coast and then travelled by ship to
Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
. Gurdjieff rented an apartment on Kumbaracı Street in Péra and later at 13 Abdullatif Yemeneci Sokak near the
Galata Tower The Galata Tower ( tr, Galata Kulesi), officially the Galata Kulesi Museum ( tr, Galata Kulesi Müzesi), is an old Genoese tower in the Galata part of the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, Turkey. Built as a watchtower at the highest point of the ( ...
. The apartment is near the kha'neqa'h (dervish lodge) of the
Mevlevi Order The Mevlevi Order or Mawlawiyya ( tr, Mevlevilik or Mevleviyye; fa, طریقت مولویه) is a Sufi order that originated in Konya (a city now in Turkey; formerly capital of the Seljuk Sultanate) and which was founded by the followers of Jalal ...
(a
Sufi order A tariqa (or ''tariqah''; ar, طريقة ') is a school or order of Sufism, or specifically a concept for the mystical teaching and spiritual practices of such an order with the aim of seeking ''haqiqa'', which translates as "ultimate truth". ...
following the teachings of
Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī ( fa, جلال‌الدین محمد رومی), also known as Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī (), Mevlânâ/Mawlānā ( fa, مولانا, lit= our master) and Mevlevî/Mawlawī ( fa, مولوی, lit= my ma ...
), where Gurdjieff, Ouspensky and
Thomas de Hartmann Thomas Alexandrovich de Hartmann (russian: Фома́ Алекса́ндрович Га́ртман; October 3 .S.: September 21 1884March 28, 1956) was a Ukrainian-born composer, pianist and professor of composition. Life De Hartmann was born o ...
witnessed the ''
sema Sama ( tr, Sema, Persian, Urdu and ar, سَمَاع - ''samā‘un'') is a Sufi ceremony performed as part of the meditation and prayer practice dhikr. Sama means "listening", while dhikr means "remembrance".During, J., and R. Sellheim. "Sama ...
'' ceremony of
the Whirling Dervishes Sama ( tr, Sema, Persian, Urdu and ar, سَمَاع - ''samā‘un'') is a Sufi ceremony performed as part of the meditation and prayer practice dhikr. Sama means "listening", while dhikr means "remembrance".During, J., and R. Sellheim. "Sama ...
. In Istanbul, Gurdjieff also met his future pupil Capt.
John G. Bennett John Godolphin Bennett (8 June 1897 – 13 December 1974) was a British academic and author. He is best known for his books on psychology and spirituality, particularly on the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff. Bennett met Gurdjieff in Istanbul in ...
, then head of
British Military Intelligence The Intelligence Corps (Int Corps) is a corps of the British Army. It is responsible for gathering, analysing and disseminating military intelligence and also for counter-intelligence and security. The Director of the Intelligence Corps is a br ...
in
Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
, who describes his impression of Gurdjieff as follows:
It was there that I first met Gurdjieff in the autumn of 1920, and no surroundings could have been more appropriate. In Gurdjieff, East and West do not just meet. Their difference is annihilated in a world outlook which knows no distinctions of race or creed. This was my first, and has remained one of my strongest impressions. A Greek from the Caucasus, he spoke
Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...
with an accent of unexpected purity, the accent that one associates with those born and bred in the narrow circle of the Imperial Court. His appearance was striking enough even in Turkey, where one saw many unusual types. His head was shaven, immense black moustache, eyes which at one moment seemed very pale and at another almost black. Below average height, he gave nevertheless an impression of great physical strength


''Prieuré'' at Avon

In August 1921 and 1922, Gurdjieff travelled around western Europe, lecturing and giving demonstrations of his work in various cities, such as
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
and
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. He attracted the allegiance of Ouspensky's many prominent pupils (notably the editor
A. R. Orage Alfred Richard Orage (22 January 1873 – 6 November 1934) was a British influential figure in socialist politics and modernist culture, now best known for editing the magazine ''The New Age'' before the First World War. While he was working as a ...
). After an unsuccessful attempt to gain British citizenship, Gurdjieff established the
Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man The Fourth Way is an approach to self-development developed by George Gurdjieff over years of travel in the East (c. 1890 – 1912). It combines and harmonizes what he saw as three established traditional "ways" or "schools": those of the body, ...
south of
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
at the ''Prieuré des Basses Loges'' in Avon near the famous ''
Château de Fontainebleau Palace of Fontainebleau (; ) or Château de Fontainebleau, located southeast of the center of Paris, in the commune of Fontainebleau, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. The medieval castle and subsequent palace served as a residence f ...
.'' The once-impressive but somewhat crumbling mansion set in extensive grounds housed an entourage of several dozen, including some of Gurdjieff's remaining relatives and some White Russian refugees. New pupils included
C. S. Nott Charles Stanley Nott (1887–1978) was an author, publisher, translator and a student of G. I. Gurdjieff. He first met Gurdjieff and A. R. Orage in New York in 1923. He spent time at the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man and became a ...
, René Zuber, Margaret Anderson and her ward Fritz Peters. The generally intellectual and middle-class types who were attracted to Gurdjieff's teaching often found the Prieuré's spartan accommodation and emphasis on hard labour in the grounds disconcerting. Gurdjieff was putting into practice his teaching that people need to develop physically, emotionally and intellectually, hence the mixture of lectures, music, dance, and manual work. Older pupils noticed how the Prieuré teaching differed from the complex metaphysical "system" that had been taught in Russia. In addition to the physical hardships, his personal behaviour towards pupils could be ferocious:
Gurdjieff was standing by his bed in a state of what seemed to me to be completely uncontrolled fury. He was raging at Orage, who stood impassively, and very pale, framed in one of the windows.... Suddenly, in the space of an instant, Gurdjieff's voice stopped, his whole personality changed, he gave me a broad smile—looking incredibly peaceful and inwardly quiet— motioned me to leave, and then resumed his tirade with undiminished force. This happened so quickly that I do not believe that Mr. Orage even noticed the break in the rhythm.
During this period, Gurdjieff acquired notoriety as "the man who killed Katherine Mansfield" after
Katherine Mansfield Kathleen Mansfield Murry (née Beauchamp; 14 October 1888 – 9 January 1923) was a New Zealand writer, essayist and journalist, widely considered one of the most influential and important authors of the modernist movement. Her works are celebra ...
died there of
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
under his care on 9 January 1923. However, James Moore and Ouspensky argue that Mansfield knew she would soon die and that Gurdjieff made her last days happy and fulfilling.


First car accident, writing and visits to North America

Starting in 1924, Gurdjieff made visits to North America, where he eventually received the pupils taught previously by A.R. Orage. In 1924, while driving alone from Paris to Fontainebleau, he had a near-fatal car accident. Nursed by his wife and mother, he made a slow and painful recovery against medical expectation. Still convalescent, he formally "disbanded" his institute on 26 August (in fact, he dispersed only his "less dedicated" pupils), which he explained as an undertaking "in the future, under the pretext of different worthy reasons, to remove from my eyesight all those who by this or that make my life too comfortable". After recovering, he began writing ''Beelzebub's Tales'', the first part of ''All and Everything'' in a mixture of Armenian and Russian. The book was deliberately convoluted and obscure, forcing the reader to "work" to find its meaning. He also composed it according to his own principles, writing in noisy cafes to force a greater effort of concentration. Gurdjieff's mother died in 1925 and his wife developed
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
and died in June 1926. Ouspensky attended her funeral. According to Fritz Peters, Gurdjieff was in New York from November 1925 to the spring of 1926, when he succeeded in raising over $100,000. He was to make six or seven trips to the US, where he alienated a number of people with his brash and impudent demands for money. Some have interpreted that in terms of his following the ''
Malamatiyya The Malāmatiyya () or Malamatis were a Muslim mystic group active in 9th century Greater Khorasan. The root word of their name is the Arabic word ''malāmah'' () "blame". The Malamatiyya believed in the value of self-blame, that piety should be ...
'' technique of the Sufis, he was deliberately attracting disapproval. A Chicago-based Gurdjieff group was founded by
Jean Toomer Jean Toomer (born Nathan Pinchback Toomer; December 26, 1894 – March 30, 1967) was an American poet and novelist commonly associated with the Harlem Renaissance, though he actively resisted the association, and with modernism. His reputatio ...
in 1927 after he had trained in Prieuré for a year.
Diana Huebert Diana Huebert (born Josephine Campbell; 1899–1983), later Diana Huebert Faidy, was a Chicago modern dancer and advocate of the experimental humanities. She was first exposed to dancing through her father, who was a ballet teacher in Chicago. A ...
was a regular member of the Chicago group, and documented the several visits Gurdjieff made to the group in 1932 and 1934 in her memoirs on the man. Despite his fund-raising efforts in America, the Prieuré operation ran into debt and was shut down in 1932. Gurdjieff constituted a new teaching group in Paris. Known as The Rope, it was composed of only women, many of them writers, and several
lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...
s. Members included
Kathryn Hulme Kathryn Hulme (July 6, 1900 – August 25, 1981) was an American author and memoirist most noted for her novel '' The Nun's Story''. The book is often misunderstood to be semi-autobiographical. Writing Her 1956 book ''The Nun's Story'' wa ...
,
Jane Heap Jane Heap (November 1, 1883 – June 18, 1964) was an American publisher and a significant figure in the development and promotion of literary modernism. Together with Margaret Anderson, her friend and business partner (who for some years was al ...
, Margaret Anderson and
Enrico Caruso Enrico Caruso (, , ; 25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic first lyrical tenor then dramatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles (74) ...
's widow, Dorothy. Gurdjieff became acquainted with
Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny West neighborhood and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris ...
through Rope members, but she was never a follower. In 1935, Gurdjieff stopped work on ''All and Everything.'' He had completed the first two parts of the planned trilogy but only started on the ''Third Series.'' (It was later published under the title ''Life Is Real Only Then, When 'I Am'.'') In 1936, he settled in a flat at 6, Rue des Colonels-Renard in Paris, where he was to stay for the rest of his life. In 1937, his brother Dmitry died, and The Rope disbanded.


World War II

Although the flat at 6 Rue des Colonels-Renard was very small for the purpose, he continued to teach groups of pupils throughout
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Visitors recalled the pantry, stocked with an extraordinary collection of eastern delicacies, which served as his inner sanctum, and the suppers he held with elaborate toasts to "idiots" in vodka and cognac. Having cut a physically impressive figure for many years, he was now distinctly paunchy. His teaching was now far removed from the original "system", being based on proverbs, jokes and personal interaction, although pupils were required to read, three times if possible, copies of his magnum opus ''Beelzebub's Tales''. His personal business enterprises (he had intermittently been a dealer in oriental rugs and carpets for much of his life, among other activities) enabled him to offer charitable relief to neighbours who had been affected by the difficult circumstances of the war, and it also brought him to the attention of the authorities, leading to a night in the cells.


Final years

After the war, Gurdjieff tried to reconnect with his former pupils. Ouspensky was reluctant, but after his death (October 1947), his widow advised his remaining pupils to see Gurdjieff in Paris. J. G. Bennett also visited from England, their first meeting in 25 years. Ouspensky's pupils in England had all thought that Gurdjieff was dead. They discovered he was alive only after the death of Ouspensky, who had not told them that Gurdjieff was still living. They were overjoyed to hear so, and many of Ouspensky's pupils including Rina Hands, Basil Tilley and Catherine Murphy visited Gurdjieff in Paris. Hands and Murphy worked on the typing and retyping of the forthcoming book ''All and Everything''. Gurdjieff suffered a second car accident in 1948 but again made an unexpected recovery.
" was looking at a dying man. Even this is not enough to express it. It was a dead man, a corpse, that came out of the car; and yet it walked. I was shivering like someone who sees a ghost." With iron-like tenacity, he managed to gain his room, where he sat down and said: "Now all organs are destroyed. Must make new". Then, he turned to Bennett, smiling: "Tonight you come dinner. I must make body work". As he spoke, a great spasm of pain shook his body and blood gushed from an ear. Bennett thought: "He has a cerebral haemorrhage. He will kill himself if he continues to force his body to move". But then he reflected: "He has to do all this. If he allows his body to stop moving, he will die. He has power over his body".
After recovering, Gurdjieff finalised plans for the official publication of ''Beelzebub's Tales'' and made two trips to New York. He also visited the famous prehistoric cave paintings at
Lascaux Lascaux ( , ; french: Grotte de Lascaux , "Lascaux Cave") is a network of caves near the village of Montignac, in the department of Dordogne in southwestern France. Over 600 parietal wall paintings cover the interior walls and ceilings of ...
, giving his interpretation of their significance to his pupils. Gurdjieff died of cancer at the American Hospital in
Neuilly-sur-Seine Neuilly-sur-Seine (; literally 'Neuilly on Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is a commune in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in France, just west of Paris. Immediately adjacent to the city, the area is composed of mostly select residentia ...
, France. His funeral took place at the St. Alexandre Nevsky Russian Orthodox Cathedral at 12 Rue Daru, Paris. He is buried in the cemetery at Avon (near Fontainebleau).


Children

Although no evidence or documents have certified anyone as a child of Gurdjieff, the following seven people are believed to be his children:Paul Beekman Taylor, ''Shadows of Heaven: Gurdjieff and Toomer'' (Red Wheel, 1998), p. 3. * Svetlana Hinzenberg (1917–1946), daughter of Olga (Olgivanna) Ivanovna Hinzenberg and a future stepdaughter of architect
Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...
. * Nikolai Stjernvall (1919–2010), whose mother was Elizaveta Grigorievna, wife of Leonid Robertovich de Stjernvall. *
Michel de Salzmann Michel de Salzmann (31 December 1923 in Paris – 4 August 2001 in Paris), son of Jeanne de Salzmann, was a psychiatrist, and the president of the Gurdjieff Foundation from 1990 until his death. His friends and pupils salute him as one of the m ...
(1923–2001), whose mother was Jeanne Allemand de Salzmann; he later became head of the Gurdjieff Foundation. * Cynthie Sophia "Dushka" Howarth (1924–2010); her mother was dancer Jessmin Howarth. She went on to found the Gurdjieff Heritage Society. * Eve Taylor (born 1928), whose mother was one of his followers, American socialite Edith Annesley Taylor. * Sergei Chaverdian; his mother was Lily Galumnian Chaverdian.Paul Beekman Taylor, ''Shadows of Heaven: Gurdjieff and Toomer'' (Red Wheel, 1998), page xv * Andrei, born to a mother known only as Georgii. Gurdjieff had a niece,
Luba Gurdjieff Everitt Luba may refer to: Geography *Kingdom of Luba The Kingdom of Luba or Luba Empire (1585–1889) was a pre-colonial Central African state that arose in the marshy grasslands of the Upemba Depression in what is now southern Democratic Repub ...
, who for about 40 years (1950s–1990s) ran a small but rather famous restaurant, Luba's Bistro, in
Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End. ...
, London.


Ideas

Gurdjieff believed that people cannot perceive reality in their current condition because they do not possess a unified consciousness but rather live in a state of a hypnotic "waking sleep". "Man lives his life in sleep, and in sleep he dies." As a result of this each person perceives things from a completely subjective perspective. He asserted that people in their typical state function as unconscious
automaton An automaton (; plural: automata or automatons) is a relatively self-operating machine, or control mechanism designed to automatically follow a sequence of operations, or respond to predetermined instructions.Automaton – Definition and More ...
s, but that a person can "wake up" and become a different sort of human being altogether. Some contemporary researchers claim Gurdjieff's concept of self-remembering is "close to the Buddhist concept of awareness or a popular definition of 'mindfulness.'... The Buddhist term translated into English as 'mindfulness' originates in the Pali term 'sati,' which is identical to Sanskrit 'smṛti.' Both terms mean 'to remember.


Self-development teachings

Gurdjieff argued that many of the existing forms of religious and spiritual tradition on Earth had lost connection with their original meaning and vitality and so could no longer serve humanity in the way that had been intended at their inception. As a result, humans were failing to realize the truths of ancient teachings and were instead becoming more and more like automatons, susceptible to control from outside and increasingly capable of otherwise unthinkable acts of mass psychosis such as
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. At best, the various surviving sects and schools could provide only a one-sided development, which did not result in a fully integrated human being. According to Gurdjieff, only one dimension of the three dimensions of the person—namely, either the emotions, or the physical body or the mind—tends to develop in such schools and sects, and generally at the expense of the other faculties or ''centers,'' as Gurdjieff called them. As a result, these paths fail to produce a properly balanced human being. Furthermore, anyone wishing to undertake any of the traditional paths to spiritual knowledge (which Gurdjieff reduced to three—namely the path of the
fakir Fakir ( ar, فقیر, translit=faḳīr or ''faqīr'') is an Islamic term traditionally used for Sufi Muslim ascetics who renounce their worldly possessions and dedicate their lives to the worship of God. They do not necessarily renounce al ...
, the path of the
monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
, and the path of the
yogi A yogi is a practitioner of Yoga, including a sannyasin or practitioner of meditation in Indian religions.A. K. Banerjea (2014), ''Philosophy of Gorakhnath with Goraksha-Vacana-Sangraha'', Motilal Banarsidass, , pp. xxiii, 297-299, 331 Th ...
) were required to renounce life in the world. Gurdjieff thus developed a "Fourth Way" which would be amenable to the requirements of modern people living modern lives in Europe and America. Instead of developing body, mind, or emotions separately, Gurdjieff's discipline worked on all three to promote comprehensive and balanced inner development. In parallel with other spiritual traditions, Gurdjieff taught that a person must expend considerable effort to effect the
transformation Transformation may refer to: Science and mathematics In biology and medicine * Metamorphosis, the biological process of changing physical form after birth or hatching * Malignant transformation, the process of cells becoming cancerous * Trans ...
that leads to awakening. The effort that is put into practice Gurdjieff referred to as "The Work" or "Work on oneself". According to Gurdjieff, "...Working on oneself is not so difficult as wishing to work, taking the decision." Though Gurdjieff never put major significance on the term "Fourth Way" and never used the term in his writings, his pupil P. D. Ouspensky from 1924 to 1947 made the term and its use central to his own teaching of Gurdjieff's ideas. After Ouspensky's death, his students published a book titled ''The Fourth Way'' based on his lectures. Gurdjieff's teaching addressed the question of humanity's place in the universe and the importance of developing latent potentialities—regarded as our natural endowment as human beings but rarely brought to fruition. He taught that higher levels of consciousness, higher bodies, inner growth and development are real possibilities that nonetheless require conscious work to achieve. P. D. Ouspensky (1971). ''
The Fourth Way The Fourth Way is an approach to self-development developed by George Gurdjieff over years of travel in the Eastern World, East (c. 1890 – 1912). It combines and harmonizes what he saw as three established traditional "ways" or "schools": thos ...
,'' Chapter 1
In his teaching Gurdjieff gave a distinct meaning to various ancient texts such as the
Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
and many religious
prayer Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified a ...
s. He believed that such texts possess meanings very different from those commonly attributed to them. "Sleep not"; "Awake, for you know not the hour"; and "The Kingdom of Heaven is Within" are examples of biblical statements which point to teachings whose essence has been forgotten. Gurdjieff taught people how to increase and focus their attention and energy in various ways and to minimize daydreaming and absentmindedness. According to his teaching, this inner development of oneself is the beginning of a possible further process of change, the aim of which is to transform people into what Gurdjieff believed they ought to be. Distrusting "morality", which he describes as varying from culture to culture, often contradictory and hypocritical, Gurdjieff greatly stressed the importance of "
conscience Conscience is a cognitive process that elicits emotion and rational associations based on an individual's moral philosophy or value system. Conscience stands in contrast to elicited emotion or thought due to associations based on immediate sens ...
". To provide conditions in which inner attention could be exercised more intensively, Gurdjieff also taught his pupils "sacred dances" or "movements", later known as the
Gurdjieff movements The Gurdjieff movements are a series of sacred dances that were collected or authored by G. I. Gurdjieff and taught to his students as part of the work of ''self observation'' and ''self study''. Significance Gurdjieff taught that the movement ...
, which they performed together as a group. He also left a body of music, inspired by what he heard in visits to remote monasteries and other places, written for piano in collaboration with one of his pupils,
Thomas de Hartmann Thomas Alexandrovich de Hartmann (russian: Фома́ Алекса́ндрович Га́ртман; October 3 .S.: September 21 1884March 28, 1956) was a Ukrainian-born composer, pianist and professor of composition. Life De Hartmann was born o ...
. Gurdjieff also used various exercises, such as the "Stop" exercise, to prompt self-observation in his students. Other shocks to help awaken his pupils from constant daydreaming were always possible at any moment.


Methods

"The Work" is in essence a training in the development of consciousness. Gurdjieff used a number of methods and materials, including meetings, music, movements (sacred dance), writings, lectures, and innovative forms of group and individual work. Part of the function of these various methods was to undermine and undo the ingrained habit patterns of the mind and bring about moments of insight. Since each individual has different requirements, Gurdjieff did not have a one-size-fits-all approach, and he adapted and innovated as circumstance required. In Russia he was described as keeping his teaching confined to a small circle, whereas in Paris and North America he gave numerous public demonstrations. Gurdjieff felt that the traditional methods of self-knowledge—those of the
fakir Fakir ( ar, فقیر, translit=faḳīr or ''faqīr'') is an Islamic term traditionally used for Sufi Muslim ascetics who renounce their worldly possessions and dedicate their lives to the worship of God. They do not necessarily renounce al ...
,
monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
, and
yogi A yogi is a practitioner of Yoga, including a sannyasin or practitioner of meditation in Indian religions.A. K. Banerjea (2014), ''Philosophy of Gorakhnath with Goraksha-Vacana-Sangraha'', Motilal Banarsidass, , pp. xxiii, 297-299, 331 Th ...
(acquired, respectively, through pain, devotion, and study)—were inadequate on their own and often led to various forms of stagnation and one-sidedness. His methods were designed to augment the traditional paths with the purpose of hastening the developmental process. He sometimes called these methods ''The Way of the Sly Man'' because they constituted a sort of short-cut through a process of development that might otherwise carry on for years without substantive results. The teacher, more adept, sees the individual requirements of the disciple and sets tasks that he knows will result in a transformation of consciousness in that individual. Instructive historical parallels can be found in the annals of
Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...
Buddhism, where teachers employed a variety of methods (sometimes highly unorthodox) to bring about the arising of
insight Insight is the understanding of a specific cause and effect within a particular context. The term insight can have several related meanings: *a piece of information *the act or result of understanding the inner nature of things or of seeing intu ...
in the student.


Music

Gurdjieff's music divides into three distinct periods. The "first period" is the early music, including music from the ballet ''Struggle of the Magicians'' and music for early movements dating to the years around 1918. The "second period" music, for which Gurdjieff arguably became best known, written in collaboration with Russian composer
Thomas de Hartmann Thomas Alexandrovich de Hartmann (russian: Фома́ Алекса́ндрович Га́ртман; October 3 .S.: September 21 1884March 28, 1956) was a Ukrainian-born composer, pianist and professor of composition. Life De Hartmann was born o ...
, is described as the Gurdjieff-de Hartmann music. Dating to the mid-1920s, it offers a rich repertoire with roots in Caucasian and Central Asian folk and religious music, Russian Orthodox liturgical music, and other sources. This music was often first heard in the salon at the Prieuré, where much was composed. Since the publication of four volumes of this piano repertoire by Schott, recently completed, there has been a wealth of new recordings, including orchestral versions of music prepared by Gurdjieff and de Hartmann for the Movements demonstrations of 1923–24. Solo piano versions of these works have been recorded by
Cecil Lytle Cecil may refer to: People with the name * Cecil (given name), a given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name) * Cecil (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) Places Canada * Cecil, Albert ...
,
Keith Jarrett Keith Jarrett (born May 8, 1945) is an American jazz and classical music pianist and composer. Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey and later moved on to play with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s, he has also been a ...
,
Frederic Chiu Frederic Chiu (born 20 October 1964) is an American classical concert pianist. Education Chiu was born in Ithaca, New York. He studied music seriously with William Eltzroth at Butler University in Indianapolis, IN, with Karen Shaw (and also stud ...
. The "last musical period" is the improvised
harmonium The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. T ...
music which often followed the dinners Gurdjieff held at his Paris apartment during the Occupation and immediate post-war years to his death in 1949. In all, Gurdjieff in collaboration with de Hartmann composed some 200 pieces. In May 2010, 38 minutes of unreleased solo piano music on
acetate An acetate is a salt (chemistry), salt formed by the combination of acetic acid with a base (e.g. Alkali metal, alkaline, Alkaline earth metal, earthy, Transition metal, metallic, nonmetallic or radical Radical (chemistry), base). "Acetate" als ...
was purchased by Neil Kempfer Stocker from the estate of his late step-daughter, Dushka Howarth. In 2009, pianist
Elan Sicroff Elan David Sicroff (born March 20, 1950) is a concert pianist, recording artist, and educator. He is the foremost interpreter of music composed by Thomas de Hartmann (1885–1956) and the spiritualist George Gurdjieff (1866 or 1867–1949). As a t ...
released ''Laudamus: The Music of Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff and Thomas de Hartmann'', consisting of a selection of Gurdjieff/de Hartmann collaborations (as well as three early romantic works composed by de Hartmann in his teens). In 1998
Alessandra Celletti Alessandra Celletti (born 6 June 1966) is an Italian pianist, vocalist, songwriter and composer, best known as an interpreter of Erik Satie. Biography Alessandra Celletti comes from a purely classical background, graduating at the Conserva ...
released "Hidden Sources" (Kha Records) with 18 tracks by Gurdjieff/de Hartmann. The English concert pianist and composer
Helen Perkin Helen Craddock Perkin (25 February 1909 – 19 October 1996) was a pianist and composer, best known today for her association with John Ireland (composer), John Ireland during the 1920s and 1930s.Richards, Fiona. 'Helen Perkin: Pianist, Composer a ...
(married name Helen Adie) came to Gurdjieff through
Ouspensky Pyotr Demianovich Ouspenskii (known in English as Peter D. Ouspensky; rus, Пётр Демья́нович Успе́нский, Pyotr Demyánovich Uspénskiy; 5 March 1878 – 2 October 1947) was a Russian esotericist known for his expositions ...
and first visited Gurdjieff in Paris after the war. She and her husband George Adie emigrated to Australia in 1965 and established the Gurdjieff Society of Newport. Recordings of her performing music by
Thomas de Hartmann Thomas Alexandrovich de Hartmann (russian: Фома́ Алекса́ндрович Га́ртман; October 3 .S.: September 21 1884March 28, 1956) was a Ukrainian-born composer, pianist and professor of composition. Life De Hartmann was born o ...
were issued on CD. But she was also a Movements teacher and composed music for the Movements as well. Some of this music has been published and privately circulated.


Movements

Movements, or sacred dances, constitute an integral part of the Gurdjieff Work. Gurdjieff sometimes referred to himself as a "teacher of dancing" and gained initial public notice for his attempts to put on a ballet in Moscow called ''Struggle of the Magicians.'' In ''Views from the Real World'' Gurdjieff wrote, "You ask about the aim of the movements. To each position of the body corresponds a certain inner state and, on the other hand, to each inner state corresponds a certain posture. A man, in his life, has a certain number of habitual postures and he passes from one to another without stopping at those between. Taking new, unaccustomed postures enables you to observe yourself inside differently from the way you usually do in ordinary conditions." Films of movements demonstrations are occasionally shown for
private viewing A private view is a special viewing of an exhibition by invitation only, often an art exhibition and normally a preview at the start of a public exhibition.Alice-Azania JarvisHow to behave at a private view... ''The Independent, 10 October 2008. ...
by the Gurdjieff Foundations, and one is shown in a scene in the
Peter Brook Peter Stephen Paul Brook (21 March 1925 – 2 July 2022) was an English theatre and film director. He worked first in England, from 1945 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, from 1947 at the Royal Opera House, and from 1962 for the Royal Shak ...
movie ''
Meetings with Remarkable Men ''Meetings with Remarkable Men, autobiographical in nature, is the second volume of the ''All and Everything'' trilogy written by the Greek-Armenian spiritual teacher G. I. Gurdjieff. Gurdjieff started working on the Russian manuscript in 1927, ...
''.


Writings

Gurdjieff wrote a unique trilogy with the Series title ''All and Everything''. The first volume, finalized by Gurdjieff shortly before his death and first published in 1950, is the First Series and titled '' An Objectively Impartial Criticism of the Life of Man'' or ''
Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson ''Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson'' or ''An Objectively Impartial Criticism of the Life of Man'' is the first volume of the ''All and Everything'' trilogy written by the Greek-Armenia mystic G. I. Gurdjieff. The All and Everything trilogy als ...
''. At 1238 pages it is a lengthy allegorical work that recounts the explanations of Beelzebub to his grandson concerning the beings of the planet Earth and laws which govern the universe. It provides a vast platform for Gurdjieff's deeply considered philosophy. A controversial redaction of ''Beelzebub's Tales'' was published by some of Gurdjieff's followers as an alternative "edition", in 1992. ee Paul Beekman Taylor's' ''Gurdjieff's Worlds of Words'' (2014) for an informed account.On his page of ''Friendly Advice'' facing the first Contents page of ''Beelzebub's Tales'' Gurdjieff lays out his own program of three obligatory initial readings of each of the three series in sequence and concludes, "Only then will you be able to count upon forming your own impartial judgement, proper to yourself alone, on my writings. And only then can my hope be actualized that according to your understanding you will obtain the specific benefit for your self which I anticipate." The posthumous second series, edited by
Jeanne de Salzmann Jeanne de Salzmann (born Jeanne-Marie Allemand) often addressed as Madame de Salzmann (January 26, 1889, Reims – May 24, 1990, Paris) was a French-Swiss dance teacher and a close pupil of the spiritual teacher G. I. Gurdjieff. Life Jean ...
, is titled ''
Meetings with Remarkable Men ''Meetings with Remarkable Men, autobiographical in nature, is the second volume of the ''All and Everything'' trilogy written by the Greek-Armenian spiritual teacher G. I. Gurdjieff. Gurdjieff started working on the Russian manuscript in 1927, ...
'' (1963) and is written in a seemingly accessible manner as a memoir of his early years, but also contains some 'Arabian Nights' embellishments and allegorical statements. His posthumous Third Series, (''
Life Is Real Only Then, When 'I Am' George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (; rus, Гео́ргий Ива́нович Гурджи́ев, r=Geórgy Ivánovich Gurdzhíev, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj ɪˈvanəvʲɪd͡ʑ ɡʊrd͡ʐˈʐɨ(j)ɪf; hy, Գեորգի Իվանովիչ Գյուրջիև; c. 1 ...
''), written as if unfinished and also edited by Jeanne de Salzmann, contains an intimate account of Gurdjieff's inner struggles during his later years, as well as transcripts of some of his lectures. An enormous and growing amount has been written about Gurdjieff's ideas and methods, but his own challenging writings remain the primary sources.


Reception and influence

Opinions on Gurdjieff's writings and activities are divided. Sympathizers regard him as a charismatic master who brought new knowledge into Western culture, a psychology and cosmology that enable insights beyond those provided by established science. At the other end of the spectrum, some critics assert he was a
charlatan A charlatan (also called a swindler or mountebank) is a person practicing quackery or a similar confidence trick in order to obtain money, power, fame, or other advantages through false pretenses, pretense or deception. Synonyms for ''charlatan ...
with a large ego and a constant need for self-glorification. Gurdjieff had significant influence on some artists, writers, and thinkers, including
Walter Inglis Anderson Walter Inglis Anderson (September 29, 1903 – November 30, 1965) was an American painter and writer. Anderson died from cancer November 30, 1965, at the age of 62. Early life and education Anderson was born in New Orleans to George Walter A ...
,
Peter Brook Peter Stephen Paul Brook (21 March 1925 – 2 July 2022) was an English theatre and film director. He worked first in England, from 1945 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, from 1947 at the Royal Opera House, and from 1962 for the Royal Shak ...
,
Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer. In 1978, at the age of 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights (song), Wuthering Heights", ...
,
Darby Crash Jan Paul Beahm (better known by his stage name Darby Crash, formerly Bobby Pyn; September 26, 1958 – December 7, 1980) was an American punk rock vocalist who, along with longtime friend Pat Smear (born Georg Ruthenberg), co-founded the punk ro ...
,
Muriel Draper Muriel Draper (c. 1886 – August 26, 1952) was an American writer, artist and social activist. Biography Moving in English and American art circles, she participated in the Harlem Renaissance. A follower of Russian mystic G. I. Gurdjieff, she ...
,
Robert Fripp Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session ...
,
Keith Jarrett Keith Jarrett (born May 8, 1945) is an American jazz and classical music pianist and composer. Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey and later moved on to play with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s, he has also been a ...
,
Timothy Leary Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from bold oracle to publicity hound. He was "a her ...
,
Dennis Lewis Dennis Lewis (born 1940) is a non-fiction writer and teacher in the areas of breathing, qigong, meditation, and self-enquiry. In the book ''The Complete Idiot's Guide to Taoism'' Lewis is recommended as a source of instruction in Taoism for peop ...
, James Moore,
A. R. Orage Alfred Richard Orage (22 January 1873 – 6 November 1934) was a British influential figure in socialist politics and modernist culture, now best known for editing the magazine ''The New Age'' before the First World War. While he was working as a ...
, P. D. Ouspensky,
Maurice Nicoll Henry Maurice Dunlop Nicoll (19 July 1884 – 30 August 1953) was a Scottish neurologist, psychiatrist, author and noted Fourth Way esoteric teacher. He is best known for his ''Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspen ...
,
Louis Pauwels Louis Pauwels (; 2 August 1920 – 28 January 1997) was a French journalist and writer. Born in Paris, France, he wrote in many monthly literary French magazines as early as 1946 (including ''Esprit'' and ''Variété'') until the 1950s. He partic ...
,
Robert S de Ropp Robert Sylvester de Ropp (1913–1987) was an English biochemist and a researcher and academic in that field. After retiring from biochemistry, he brought other long-time personal interests to the fore, becoming a prominent author in the fields of ...
, George Russell,
David Sylvian David Sylvian (born David Alan Batt, 23 February 1958) is an English musician, singer and songwriter who came to prominence in the late 1970s as frontman and principal songwriter of the band Japan. The band's androgynous look and increasingly ...
,
Jean Toomer Jean Toomer (born Nathan Pinchback Toomer; December 26, 1894 – March 30, 1967) was an American poet and novelist commonly associated with the Harlem Renaissance, though he actively resisted the association, and with modernism. His reputatio ...
,
Jeremy Lane Jeremy Rashaad Lane (born July 14, 1990) is a former American football cornerback. He played college football at Northwestern State University of Louisiana and was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the sixth round of the 2012 NFL Draft. He b ...
, Therion,
P. L. Travers Pamela Lyndon Travers (; born Helen Lyndon Goff; 9 August 1899 – 23 April 1996) was an Australian-British writer who spent most of her career in England. She is best known for the ''Mary Poppins'' series of books, which feature the eponymous ...
,
Alan Watts Alan Wilson Watts (6 January 1915 – 16 November 1973) was an English writer, speaker and self-styled "philosophical entertainer", known for interpreting and popularising Japanese, Chinese and Indian traditions of Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu ...
, Minor White,
Colin Wilson Colin Henry Wilson (26 June 1931 – 5 December 2013) was an English writer, philosopher and novelist. He also wrote widely on true crime, mysticism and the paranormal, eventually writing more than a hundred books. Wilson called his phil ...
,
Robert Anton Wilson Robert Anton Wilson (born Robert Edward Wilson; January 18, 1932 – January 11, 2007) was an American author, futurist, psychologist, and self-described agnostic mystic. Recognized within Discordianism as an Episkopos, pope and saint, Wilson ...
,
Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...
,
John Zorn John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". Zorn's avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of jaz ...
, and
Franco Battiato Francesco "Franco" Battiato (; 23 March 1945 – 18 May 2021) was an Italian musician, singer, composer, filmmaker and, under the pseudonym Süphan Barzani, also a painter. Battiato's songs contain esoteric, philosophical and religious themes, a ...
. Gurdjieff's notable personal students include P. D. Ouspensky,
Olga de Hartmann Thomas Alexandrovich de Hartmann (russian: Фома́ Алекса́ндрович Га́ртман; October 3 .S.: September 21 1884March 28, 1956) was a Ukrainian-born composer, pianist and professor of composition. Life De Hartmann was born o ...
,
Thomas de Hartmann Thomas Alexandrovich de Hartmann (russian: Фома́ Алекса́ндрович Га́ртман; October 3 .S.: September 21 1884March 28, 1956) was a Ukrainian-born composer, pianist and professor of composition. Life De Hartmann was born o ...
,
Jane Heap Jane Heap (November 1, 1883 – June 18, 1964) was an American publisher and a significant figure in the development and promotion of literary modernism. Together with Margaret Anderson, her friend and business partner (who for some years was al ...
,
Jeanne de Salzmann Jeanne de Salzmann (born Jeanne-Marie Allemand) often addressed as Madame de Salzmann (January 26, 1889, Reims – May 24, 1990, Paris) was a French-Swiss dance teacher and a close pupil of the spiritual teacher G. I. Gurdjieff. Life Jean ...
,
Willem Nyland Willem () is a Dutch and West FrisianRienk de Haan, ''Fryske Foarnammen'', Leeuwarden, 2002 (Friese Pers Boekerij), , p. 158. masculine given name. The name is Germanic, and can be seen as the Dutch equivalent of the name William in English, Gui ...
, Lord Pentland (Henry John Sinclair),
John G. Bennett John Godolphin Bennett (8 June 1897 – 13 December 1974) was a British academic and author. He is best known for his books on psychology and spirituality, particularly on the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff. Bennett met Gurdjieff in Istanbul in ...
,
Alfred Richard Orage Alfred Richard Orage (22 January 1873 – 6 November 1934) was a British influential figure in socialist politics and modernist culture, now best known for editing the magazine ''The New Age'' before the First World War. While he was working as a ...
,
Maurice Nicoll Henry Maurice Dunlop Nicoll (19 July 1884 – 30 August 1953) was a Scottish neurologist, psychiatrist, author and noted Fourth Way esoteric teacher. He is best known for his ''Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspen ...
, and Rene Daumal. Gurdjieff gave new life and practical form to ancient teachings of both East and West. For example, the Socratic and Platonic emphasis on "the examined life" recurs in Gurdjieff's teaching as the practice of self-observation. His teachings about self-discipline and restraint reflect Stoic teachings. The Hindu and Buddhist notion of attachment recurs in Gurdjieff's teaching as the concept of identification. His descriptions of the "three being-foods" matches that of Ayurveda, and his statement that "time is breath" echoes jyotish, the Vedic system of astrology. Similarly, his cosmology can be "read" against ancient and esoteric sources, respectively Neoplatonic and in such sources as Robert Fludd's treatment of macrocosmic musical structures. An aspect of Gurdjieff's teachings which has come into prominence in recent decades is the
enneagram Enneagram is a compound word derived from the Greek neoclassical stems for "nine" (''ennea'') and something "written" or "drawn" (''gramma''). Enneagram may refer to: * Enneagram (geometry), a nine-sided star polygon with various configurations ...
geometric figure. For many students of the Gurdjieff tradition, the enneagram remains a
koan A (; , ; ko, 화두, ; vi, công án) is a story, dialogue, question, or statement which is used in Zen practice to provoke the "great doubt" and to practice or test a student's progress in Zen. Etymology The Japanese term is the Sino-Jap ...
, challenging and never fully explained. There have been many attempts to trace the origins of this version of the enneagram; some similarities to other figures have been found, but it seems that Gurdjieff was the first person to make the enneagram figure publicly known and that only he knew its true source. Others have used the enneagram figure in connection with personality analysis, principally with the
Enneagram of Personality The Enneagram of Personality, or simply the Enneagram (from the Greek words meaning "nine"and meaning something "written" or "drawn", is a model of the Psyche (psychology), human psyche which is principally understood and taught as a ...
as developed by
Oscar Ichazo Oscar Ichazo (July 24, 1931 in Bolivia – March 26, 2020 in Kihei, Hawaii, USA) was a Bolivian and American philosopher and the originator of Integral Philosophy. In 1968, Ichazo founded the Arica School in Chile. An American headquarters was l ...
,
Claudio Naranjo Claudio Benjamín Naranjo Cohen (24 November 1932 – 12 July 2019) was a Chilean-born psychiatrist who is considered a pioneer in integrating psychotherapy and the spiritual traditions. He was one of the three successors named by Fritz Perls ( ...
and others. Most aspects of this application are not directly connected to Gurdjieff's teaching or to his explanations of the enneagram. Gurdjieff inspired the formation of many groups after his death, all of which still function today and follow his ideas. The
Gurdjieff Foundation G. I. Gurdjieff's teaching and practice inspired the formation of many groups organized as Foundations, Institutes, and Societies many of which are now connected by the International Association of the Gurdjieff Foundations (IAGF). After his deat ...
, the largest establishment organization influenced by the ideas of Gurdjieff, was organized by
Jeanne de Salzmann Jeanne de Salzmann (born Jeanne-Marie Allemand) often addressed as Madame de Salzmann (January 26, 1889, Reims – May 24, 1990, Paris) was a French-Swiss dance teacher and a close pupil of the spiritual teacher G. I. Gurdjieff. Life Jean ...
during the early 1950s, and led by her in cooperation with other pupils of his. Other pupils of Gurdjieff formed independent groups. Willem Nyland, one of Gurdjieff's closest students and an original founder and trustee of The Gurdjieff Foundation of New York, left to form his own groups in the early 1960s.
Jane Heap Jane Heap (November 1, 1883 – June 18, 1964) was an American publisher and a significant figure in the development and promotion of literary modernism. Together with Margaret Anderson, her friend and business partner (who for some years was al ...
was sent to London by Gurdjieff, where she led groups until her death in 1964. Louise Goepfert March, who became a pupil of Gurdjieff's in 1929, started her own groups in 1957 and founded the Rochester Folk Art Guild in the
Finger Lakes The Finger Lakes are a group of eleven long, narrow, roughly north–south lakes located south of Lake Ontario in an area called the ''Finger Lakes region'' in New York, in the United States. This region straddles the northern and transitional ...
region of New York State. Independent thriving groups were also formed and initially led by
John G. Bennett John Godolphin Bennett (8 June 1897 – 13 December 1974) was a British academic and author. He is best known for his books on psychology and spirituality, particularly on the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff. Bennett met Gurdjieff in Istanbul in ...
and A. L. Staveley near Portland, Oregon.


Pupils

Gurdjieff's notable pupils include: Peter D. Ouspensky (1878–1947) was a Russian journalist, author and philosopher. He met Gurdjieff in 1915 and spent the next five years studying with him, then formed his own independent groups at London in 1921. Ouspensky became the first "career" Gurdjieffian and led independent Fourth Way groups in London and New York for his remaining years. He wrote ''
In Search of the Miraculous ''In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching'' is a 1949 book by Russian philosopher P. D. Ouspensky which recounts his meeting and subsequent association with George Gurdjieff George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (; rus, Гео́ ...
'' about his encounters with Gurdjieff and it remains the best known and most widely read account of Gurdjieff's early experiments with groups.
Thomas de Hartmann Thomas Alexandrovich de Hartmann (russian: Фома́ Алекса́ндрович Га́ртман; October 3 .S.: September 21 1884March 28, 1956) was a Ukrainian-born composer, pianist and professor of composition. Life De Hartmann was born o ...
(1885–1956) was a Russian composer. He and his wife Olga first met Gurdjieff in 1916 at Saint Petersburg. They remained Gurdjieff's close students until 1929. During that time they lived at Gurdjieff's Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man near Paris. Between July 1925 and May 1927 Thomas de Hartmann transcribed and co-wrote some of the music that Gurdjieff collected and used for his Movements exercises. They collaborated on hundreds of pieces of concert music arranged for the piano. This concert music was first recorded and published privately from the 1950s to 1980s; then first issued publicly as the ''Music of Gurdjieff / de Hartmann'', Thomas de Hartmann, piano by Triangle Records, with 49 tracks on 4 vinyl disks in 1998, then reissued as a 3-CD set in containing 56 tracks in 1989. A more extensive compilation was later issued as the ''Gurdjieff / de Hartmann Music for the Piano'' in 4 printed volumes by Schott between 1996 and 2005, and as audio CDs under the same title in four volumes with nine discs recorded with three concert pianists, by Schott/Wergo between 1997 and 2001. Olga de Hartmann (née Arkadievna, 1885–1987) was Gurdjieff's personal secretary during their Prieuré years and took most of the original dictations of his writings during that period. She also authenticated Gurdjieff's early talks in the book ''Views from the Real World'' (1973). The de Hartmanns' memoir, ''Our Life with Mr Gurdjieff'' (1st ed, 1964, 2nd ed, 1983, 3rd ed 1992), records their Gurdjieff years in great detail. Their Montreal Gurdjieff group, literary and musical estate is represented by retired Canadian
National Film Board The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary fi ...
producer Tom Daly.
Jeanne de Salzmann Jeanne de Salzmann (born Jeanne-Marie Allemand) often addressed as Madame de Salzmann (January 26, 1889, Reims – May 24, 1990, Paris) was a French-Swiss dance teacher and a close pupil of the spiritual teacher G. I. Gurdjieff. Life Jean ...
(1889–1990). Alexander and Jeanne de Salzmann met Gurdjieff in Tiflis in 1919. She was originally a dancer, a Dalcroze Eurythmics teacher. She was, along with Jessmin Howarth and Rose Mary Nott, responsible for transmitting Gurdjieff's choreographed movement exercises and institutionalizing Gurdjieff's teachings through the
Gurdjieff Foundation G. I. Gurdjieff's teaching and practice inspired the formation of many groups organized as Foundations, Institutes, and Societies many of which are now connected by the International Association of the Gurdjieff Foundations (IAGF). After his deat ...
of New York, the Gurdjieff Institute of Paris, London's Gurdjieff Society Inc., and other groups she established in 1953. She also established Triangle Editions in the US, which imprint claims copyright on all Gurdjieff's posthumous writings.
John G. Bennett John Godolphin Bennett (8 June 1897 – 13 December 1974) was a British academic and author. He is best known for his books on psychology and spirituality, particularly on the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff. Bennett met Gurdjieff in Istanbul in ...
(1897–1974) was a British intelligence officer, polyglot (fluent in English, French, German, Turkish, Greek, Italian), technologist, industrial research director, author, and teacher, best known for his many books on psychology and spirituality, particularly the teachings of Gurdjieff. Bennett met both Ouspensky and then Gurdjieff at Istanbul in 1920, spent August 1923 at Gurdjieff's Institute, became Ouspensky's pupil between 1922 and 1941 and, after learning that Gurdjieff was still alive, was one of Gurdjieff's frequent visitors in Paris during 1949. See ''Witness: the Autobiography of John Bennett'' (1974), ''Gurdjieff: Making a New World''(1974), ''Idiots in Paris: diaries of J. G. Bennett and Elizabeth Bennett, 1949'' (1991).
Alfred Richard Orage Alfred Richard Orage (22 January 1873 – 6 November 1934) was a British influential figure in socialist politics and modernist culture, now best known for editing the magazine ''The New Age'' before the First World War. While he was working as a ...
(1873–1934) was an influential British editor best known for the magazine ''New Age''. He began attending Ouspensky's London talks in 1921 then met Gurdjieff when the latter first visited London early in 1922. Shortly thereafter, Orage sold ''New Age'' and relocated to Gurdjieff's institute at the Prieré, and in 1924 was appointed by Gurdjieff to lead the institute's branch in New York. After Gurdjieff's nearly fatal automobile accident in July 1924 and because of his prolonged recuperation during 1924 and intense writing period for several years, Orage continued in New York until 1931. During this period, Orage was responsible for editing the English typescript of ''Beelzebub's Tales'' (1931) and ''Meetings with Remarkable Men'' (1963) as Gurdjieff's assistant. This period is described in some detail by Paul Beekman Taylor in his ''Gurdjieff and Orage: Brothers in Elysium'' (2001).
Maurice Nicoll Henry Maurice Dunlop Nicoll (19 July 1884 – 30 August 1953) was a Scottish neurologist, psychiatrist, author and noted Fourth Way esoteric teacher. He is best known for his ''Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspen ...
(1884–1953) was a Harley Street psychiatrist and
Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philo ...
's delegate in London. Along with Orage he attended Ouspensky's 1921 London talks where he met Gurdjieff. With his wife Catherine and their daughter, he spent almost a year at Gurdjieff's Prieuré institute. A year later, when they returned to London, Nicoll rejoined Ouspensky's group. In 1931, on Ouspensky's advice he started his own Fourth Way groups in England. He is best known for the encyclopedic six-volume series of articles in ''Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky'' (Boston: Shambhala, 1996, and Samuel Weiser Inc., 1996).
Willem Nyland Willem () is a Dutch and West FrisianRienk de Haan, ''Fryske Foarnammen'', Leeuwarden, 2002 (Friese Pers Boekerij), , p. 158. masculine given name. The name is Germanic, and can be seen as the Dutch equivalent of the name William in English, Gui ...
(1890–1975) was a Dutch-American chemist who first met Gurdjieff early in 1924 during the latter's first visit to the US. He was a charter member of the NY branch of Gurdjieff's Institute, participated in Orage's meetings between 1924 and 1931, and was a charter member of the Gurdjieff Foundation from 1953 and through its formative years. In the early 1960s he established an independent group in Warwick NY, where he began making reel-to-reel audio recordings of his meetings, which became archived in a private library of some 2600 90-minute audio tapes. Many of these tapes have also been transcribed and indexed, but remain unpublished. ''Gurdjieff Group Work with Wilhem (sic-Willem) Nyland'' (1983) by Irmis B. Popoff, sketches Nyland's group work.
Jane Heap Jane Heap (November 1, 1883 – June 18, 1964) was an American publisher and a significant figure in the development and promotion of literary modernism. Together with Margaret Anderson, her friend and business partner (who for some years was al ...
(1883–1964) was an American writer, editor, artist, and publisher. She met Gurdjieff during his 1924 visit to New York, and set up a Gurdjieff study group at her apartment in Greenwich Village. In 1925, she moved to Paris to study at Gurdjieff's Institute, and re-established her group in Paris until 1935 when Gurdjieff sent her to London to lead the group C. S. Nott had established and which she continued to lead until her death. Jane Heap's Paris group became Gurdjieff's 'Rope' group after her departure, and contained several notable writers, including Margaret Anderson,
Solita Solano Solita Solano (October 30, 1888 – November 22, 1975), born Sarah Wilkinson, was an American writer, poet and journalist. Biography Early life Sarah Wilkinson came from a middle-class family and attended the Emma Willard School in Troy, Ne ...
,
Kathryn Hulme Kathryn Hulme (July 6, 1900 – August 25, 1981) was an American author and memoirist most noted for her novel '' The Nun's Story''. The book is often misunderstood to be semi-autobiographical. Writing Her 1956 book ''The Nun's Story'' wa ...
, and others who proved helpful to Gurdjieff while he was editing his first two books. Kenneth Macfarlane Walker (1882–1966) was a prominent British surgeon and prolific author. He was a member of Ouspensky's London group for decades, and after the latter's death in 1947 visited Gurdjieff in Paris many times. As well as many accessible medical books for lay readers, he wrote some of the earliest informed accounts of Gurdjieff's ideas, ''Venture with Ideas'' (1951) and ''A Study of Gurdjieff's Teaching'' (1957).
Henry John Sinclair, 2nd Baron Pentland Henry John Sinclair, 2nd Baron Pentland (6 June 1907 – 14 February 1984) was the President of thfrom its formation in 1953 and the President of thGurdjieff Foundation of Californiafrom its inception in 1955. He held both posts until his death ...
(1907–1984) was a pupil of Ouspensky's during the 1930s and 1940s. He visited Gurdjieff regularly in Paris in 1949, then was appointed as President of the Gurdjieff Foundation of America by Jeanne de Salzmann when she founded that institution at New York in 1953. He established the Gurdjieff Foundation of California in the mid-1950s and remained President of the US Foundation branches until his death. Pentland also became President of Triangle Editions when it was established in 1974.


Critics

Louis Pauwels Louis Pauwels (; 2 August 1920 – 28 January 1997) was a French journalist and writer. Born in Paris, France, he wrote in many monthly literary French magazines as early as 1946 (including ''Esprit'' and ''Variété'') until the 1950s. He partic ...
, among others, criticizes Gurdjieff for his insistence on considering people as "asleep" in a state closely resembling "hypnotic sleep". Gurdjieff said, even specifically at times, that a pious, good, and moral person was no more "spiritually developed" than any other person; they are all equally "asleep".
Henry Miller Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical ref ...
approved of Gurdjieff not considering himself holy but, after writing a brief introduction to Fritz Peters' book ''Boyhood with Gurdjieff'', Miller wrote that people are not meant to lead a "harmonious life" as Gurdjieff believed in naming his institute. Critics note that Gurdjieff gives no value to most of the elements that compose the life of an average person. According to Gurdjieff, everything an average person possesses, accomplishes, does, and feels is completely accidental and without any initiative. A common everyday ordinary person is born a machine and dies a machine without any chance of being anything else. This belief seems to run counter to the Judeo-Christian tradition that man is a living soul. Gurdjieff believed that the possession of a soul (a state of psychological unity which he equated with being "awake") was a "luxury" that a disciple could attain only by the most painstaking work over a long period of time. The majority—in whom the true meaning of the
gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
failed to take root—went the "broad way" that "led to destruction." In ''Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson'' (see bibliography), Gurdjieff expresses his reverence for the founders of the mainstream religions of East and West and his contempt (by and large) for what successive generations of believers have made of those religious teachings. His discussions of "orthodoxhydooraki" and "heterodoxhydooraki"—orthodox fools and heterodox fools, from the Russian word ''durak'' (fool)—position him as a critic of religious distortion and, in turn, as a target for criticism from some within those traditions. Gurdjieff has been interpreted by some, Ouspensky among others, to have had a total disregard for the value of mainstream religion, philanthropic work and the value of doing right or wrong in general. Gurdjieff's former students who have criticized him argue that, despite his seeming total lack of pretension to any kind of "guru holiness", in many anecdotes his behavior displays the unsavory and impure character of a man who was a cynical manipulator of his followers. Gurdjieff's own pupils wrestled to understand him. For example, in a written exchange between Luc Dietrich and Henri Tracol dating to 1943: "L.D.: How do you know that Gurdjieff wishes you well? H.T.: I feel sometimes how little I interest him—and how strongly he takes an interest in me. By that I measure the strength of an intentional feeling." Louis Pauwels wrote ''Monsieur Gurdjieff'' (first edition published in Paris in 1954 by Editions du Seuil). In an interview, Pauwels said of the Gurdjieff work: "... After two years of exercises which both enlightened and burned me, I found myself in a hospital bed with a thrombosed central vein in my left eye and weighing ninety-nine pounds... Horrible anguish and abysses opened up for me. But it was my fault." Pauwels believed that
Karl Haushofer Karl Ernst Haushofer (27 August 1869 – 10 March 1946) was a German general, professor, geographer, and politician. Through his student Rudolf Hess, Haushofer's conception of Geopolitik influenced the development of Adolf Hitler's expansio ...
, the father of
geopolitics Geopolitics (from Greek γῆ ''gê'' "earth, land" and πολιτική ''politikḗ'' "politics") is the study of the effects of Earth's geography (human and physical) on politics and international relations. While geopolitics usually refers to ...
whose protégée was Deputy Reich Führer
Rudolf Hess Rudolf Walter Richard Hess (Heß in German; 26 April 1894 – 17 August 1987) was a German politician and a leading member of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Appointed Deputy Führer to Adolf Hitler in 1933, Hess held that position unt ...
, was one of the real "seekers after truth" described by Gurdjieff. According to Rom Landau, a journalist in the 1930s,
Achmed Abdullah Achmed Abdullah (12 May 1881 – 12 May 1945) was the pseudonym of American writer Alexander Nicholayevitch Romanoff (his legal name). He is most noted for his pulp stories of crime, mystery and adventure. He wrote screenplays for some successf ...
told him at the beginning of the 20th century that Gurdjieff was a Russian secret agent in Tibet who went by the name of "Hambro Akuan Dorzhieff" (i.e.
Agvan Dorjiev Agvan Lobsan Dorzhiev, also Agvan Dorjiev or Dorjieff and Agvaandorj (russian: link=no, Агван Лобсан Доржиев, bua, Доржиин Агбан, bo, ངག་དབང་བློ་བཟང་; 1853, Khara-Shibir ulus,  — Ja ...
), a tutor to the
Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...
. However, the actual Dorzhieff went to live in the Buddhist temple erected in St. Petersburg and after the revolution was imprisoned by
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
. James Webb conjectured that Gurdjieff might have been Dorzhieff's assistant Ushe Narzunoff (i.e. Ovshe Norzunov).
Colin Wilson Colin Henry Wilson (26 June 1931 – 5 December 2013) was an English writer, philosopher and novelist. He also wrote widely on true crime, mysticism and the paranormal, eventually writing more than a hundred books. Wilson called his phil ...
writes about "...Gurdjieff's reputation for seducing his female students. (In Providence, Rhode Island, in 1960, a man was pointed out to me as one of Gurdjieff's illegitimate children. The professor who told me this also assured me that Gurdjieff had left many children around America.)" In ''The Oragean Version'', C. Daly King surmised that the problem that Gurdjieff had with Orage's teachings was that the "Oragean Version", Orage himself, was not emotional enough in Gurdjieff's estimation and had not enough "incredulity" and faith. King wrote that Gurdjieff did not state it as clearly and specifically as this, but was quick to add that, to him, nothing Gurdjieff said was specific or clear. According to
Osho Rajneesh (born Chandra Mohan Jain; 11 December 193119 January 1990), also known as Acharya Rajneesh, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, and later as Osho (), was an Indian godman, mystic, and founder of the Rajneesh movement. He was viewed as a controv ...
, the Gurdjieff system is incomplete, drawing from
Dervish Dervish, Darvesh, or Darwīsh (from fa, درویش, ''Darvīsh'') in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity A fraternity (from Latin language, Latin ''wiktionary:frater, frater'': "brother (Christian), brother"; whence, ...
sources inimical to
Kundalini In Hinduism, Kundalini ( sa, कुण्डलिनी, translit=kuṇḍalinī, translit-std=IAST, lit=coiled snake, ) is a form of divine feminine energy (or ''Shakti'') believed to be located at the base of the spine, in the ''muladhara'' ...
. Some
Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
orders, such as the
Naqshbandi The Naqshbandi ( fa, نقشبندی)), Neqshebendi ( ku, نه‌قشه‌به‌ندی), and Nakşibendi (in Turkish) is a major Sunni order of Sufism. Its name is derived from Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari. Naqshbandi masters trace their ...
, draw from and are amenable to Kundalini.Osho, ''Kundalini Yoga: In Search of the Miraculous,'' volume I, p. 208, Sterling Publisher Ltd., 1997 '' The Teachers of Gurdjieff'', a book by "Rafael Lefort" was published in 1966. It suggested that Gurdjieff's teachings were actually derived from those of Naqshbandi
Sufis Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spiri ...
. The book has since been attributed to the Sufi school of the brothers
Idries Shah Idries Shah (; hi, इदरीस शाह, ps, ادريس شاه, ur, ; 16 June 1924 – 23 November 1996), also known as Idris Shah, né Sayed Idries el- Hashimi (Arabic: سيد إدريس هاشمي) and by the pen name Arko ...
and
Omar Ali-Shah Omar Ali-Shah ( hi, ओमर अली शाह, ur, عمر علی شاہ, nq; 19227 September 2005) was a prominent exponent of modern Naqshbandi Sufism. He wrote a number of books on the subject, and was head of a large number of Sufi groups ...
, its authenticity questioned, and even described by Gurdjieff biographer James Moore as a "distasteful fabrication". First published in ''Religion Today'' magazine (1986). Gurdjieffian student and writer
John G. Bennett John Godolphin Bennett (8 June 1897 – 13 December 1974) was a British academic and author. He is best known for his books on psychology and spirituality, particularly on the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff. Bennett met Gurdjieff in Istanbul in ...
also claimed that "more than anything else", Gurdjieff was a Sufi. Though this view has been questioned "by more orthodox followers of Gurdjieff", it is claimed by other researchers such as William James Thompson and Anna Challenger that textual analysis of Gurdjieff's works shows references to Islamic and Sufi figures, including the Naqshbandi and the wise fool of Sufic folklore, Mulla Nasrudin.


Bibliography

Three books by Gurdjieff were published in the English language in the United States after his death: ''
Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson ''Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson'' or ''An Objectively Impartial Criticism of the Life of Man'' is the first volume of the ''All and Everything'' trilogy written by the Greek-Armenia mystic G. I. Gurdjieff. The All and Everything trilogy als ...
'' published in 1950 by E. P. Dutton & Co. Inc., ''
Meetings with Remarkable Men ''Meetings with Remarkable Men, autobiographical in nature, is the second volume of the ''All and Everything'' trilogy written by the Greek-Armenian spiritual teacher G. I. Gurdjieff. Gurdjieff started working on the Russian manuscript in 1927, ...
'', published in 1963 by E. P. Dutton & Co. Inc., and ''
Life is Real Only Then, When 'I Am' George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (; rus, Гео́ргий Ива́нович Гурджи́ев, r=Geórgy Ivánovich Gurdzhíev, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj ɪˈvanəvʲɪd͡ʑ ɡʊrd͡ʐˈʐɨ(j)ɪf; hy, Գեորգի Իվանովիչ Գյուրջիև; c. 1 ...
'', printed privately by E. P. Dutton & Co. and published in 1978 by Triangle Editions Inc. for private distribution only. This
trilogy A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part wor ...
is Gurdjieff's legominism, known collectively as ''
All and Everything George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (; rus, Гео́ргий Ива́нович Гурджи́ев, r=Geórgy Ivánovich Gurdzhíev, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj ɪˈvanəvʲɪd͡ʑ ɡʊrd͡ʐˈʐɨ(j)ɪf; hy, Գեորգի Իվանովիչ Գյուրջիև; c. 1 ...
''. A ''legominism'' is, according to Gurdjieff, "one of the means of transmitting information about certain events of long-past ages through initiates". A book of his early talks was also collected by his student and personal secretary,
Olga de Hartmann Thomas Alexandrovich de Hartmann (russian: Фома́ Алекса́ндрович Га́ртман; October 3 .S.: September 21 1884March 28, 1956) was a Ukrainian-born composer, pianist and professor of composition. Life De Hartmann was born o ...
, and published in 1973 as '' Views from the Real World: Early Talks in Moscow, Essentuki, Tiflis, Berlin, London, Paris, New York, and Chicago, as recollected by his pupils''. Gurdjieff's views were initially promoted through the writings of his pupils. The best known and widely read of these is P. D. Ouspensky's '' In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching'', which is widely regarded as a crucial introduction to the teaching. Others refer to Gurdjieff's own books (detailed below) as the primary texts. Numerous anecdotal accounts of time spent with Gurdjieff were published by
Charles Stanley Nott Charles Stanley Nott (1887–1978) was an author, publisher, translator and a student of G. I. Gurdjieff. He first met Gurdjieff and A. R. Orage in New York in 1923. He spent time at the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man and became a ...
, Thomas and Olga de Hartmann, Fritz Peters,
René Daumal René Daumal (; 16 March 1908 – 21 May 1944) was a French spiritual para-surrealist writer, critic and poet, best known for his posthumously published novel ''Mount Analogue'' (1952) as well as for being an early, outspoken practitioner of ...
,
John G. Bennett John Godolphin Bennett (8 June 1897 – 13 December 1974) was a British academic and author. He is best known for his books on psychology and spirituality, particularly on the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff. Bennett met Gurdjieff in Istanbul in ...
,
Maurice Nicoll Henry Maurice Dunlop Nicoll (19 July 1884 – 30 August 1953) was a Scottish neurologist, psychiatrist, author and noted Fourth Way esoteric teacher. He is best known for his ''Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspen ...
, Margaret Anderson and
Louis Pauwels Louis Pauwels (; 2 August 1920 – 28 January 1997) was a French journalist and writer. Born in Paris, France, he wrote in many monthly literary French magazines as early as 1946 (including ''Esprit'' and ''Variété'') until the 1950s. He partic ...
, among others. The feature film ''
Meetings with Remarkable Men ''Meetings with Remarkable Men, autobiographical in nature, is the second volume of the ''All and Everything'' trilogy written by the Greek-Armenian spiritual teacher G. I. Gurdjieff. Gurdjieff started working on the Russian manuscript in 1927, ...
'' (1979), loosely based on Gurdjieff's book by the same name, ends with performances of Gurdjieff's dances known simply as the "exercises" but later promoted as ''
movements Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...
''.
Jeanne de Salzmann Jeanne de Salzmann (born Jeanne-Marie Allemand) often addressed as Madame de Salzmann (January 26, 1889, Reims – May 24, 1990, Paris) was a French-Swiss dance teacher and a close pupil of the spiritual teacher G. I. Gurdjieff. Life Jean ...
and Peter Brook wrote the film, Brook directed, and Dragan Maksimovic and
Terence Stamp Terence Henry Stamp (born 22 July 1938) is an English actor. Stamp is known for his sophisticated villain roles. He was named by ''Empire Magazine'' as one of the 100 Sexiest Film Stars of All Time in 1995. He has received various accolades inc ...
star, as does South African playwright and actor
Athol Fugard Athol Fugard, Hon. , (born 11 June 1932), is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director widely regarded as South Africa's greatest playwright. He is best known for his political and penetrating plays opposing the system of apart ...
.


Books

* ''
The Herald of Coming Good ''The Herald of Coming Good. First Appeal to Contemporary Humanity'' is the first book published by G. I. Gurdjieff. The book was privately published in Paris in 1933. The book was published with the help of Charles Stanley Nott a student of Gur ...
'' by G. I. Gurdjieff (1933, 1971, 1988) * ''Transcripts of Gurdjieff's Meetings 1941–1946'' *''All and Everything'' trilogy: ** ''
Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson ''Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson'' or ''An Objectively Impartial Criticism of the Life of Man'' is the first volume of the ''All and Everything'' trilogy written by the Greek-Armenia mystic G. I. Gurdjieff. The All and Everything trilogy als ...
'' by G. I. Gurdjieff (1950) ** ''
Meetings with Remarkable Men ''Meetings with Remarkable Men, autobiographical in nature, is the second volume of the ''All and Everything'' trilogy written by the Greek-Armenian spiritual teacher G. I. Gurdjieff. Gurdjieff started working on the Russian manuscript in 1927, ...
'' by G. I. Gurdjieff (1963) ** ''Life is Real Only Then, When 'I Am': All and Everything...'' by G. I. Gurdjieff (1974) * ''Views from the Real World'' gathered talks of G. I. Gurdjieff by his pupil Olga de Hartmann (1973) * ''Scenario of the Ballet: The Struggle of the Magicians'' by G. I. Gurdjieff (2014) * ''In Search of Being: The Fourth Way to Consciousness'' by G. I. Gurdjieff and Stephen A. Grant (editor) (2021)


See also

* ''
In Search of the Miraculous ''In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching'' is a 1949 book by Russian philosopher P. D. Ouspensky which recounts his meeting and subsequent association with George Gurdjieff George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (; rus, Гео́ ...
''


References

;Notes ;Citations


Further reading

* Jean Vaysse, ''Toward Awakening, An Approach to the Teaching Left by Gurdjieff''. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980, .


External links


International Association of Gurdjieff Foundations

Gurdjieff Reading Guide compiled by J. Walter Driscoll
Fifty-two articles which provide an independent survey of the literature by or about George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff and offer a wide range of informed opinion (admiring, critical, and contradictory) about him, his activities, writings, philosophy, and influence. * Writings on Gurdjieff's teachings in th
Elizabeth Jenks Clark Collection of Margaret Anderson Papers
at Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Howarth Gurdjieff Archive
at The New York Public Library
George Gurdjieff: "Seeker of Truth"
A video documentary on Gurdjieff's life and teaching. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gurdjieff, George 19th-century births 1949 deaths People from Gyumri People from Erivan Governorate Fourth Way 20th-century Russian philosophers Russian spiritual writers Mystics Spiritual teachers New Age predecessors Russian hypnotists Burials in Île-de-France People from the Russian Empire of Armenian descent People from the Russian Empire of Greek descent