George Gurdjieff

Who was George Gurdjieff?

George Ivanovich Gurdjieff was a Greco-Armenian mystic, philosopher, spiritual teacher, writer, and composer who founded an influential, quasi-religious movement.

With many students and followers, he established the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man in 1919, –in what is now Tbilisi, Georgia– which (upon traveling abroad in Western Europe) was reestablished in Prieuré at Avon, France in 1922. While his early teachings were more metaphysical in nature, they broadened to include lectures, manual work, and music as well as ritual exercise in the forms of sacred movements and dance. Believing people needed to develop, not just physically, but intellectually and emotionally as well, Gurdjieff's biggest assertion was that most ordinary, human life was similar to being in a state of unaware, 'waking' sleep; however with discipline and work, transcendence of this state was possible and when achieved, an individual could reach remarkable levels of vitality and potential. His method of "awakening" the consciousness is akin to (though augments) those of the monk, fakir, and yogi and was dubbed the "Fourth Way."

Writing extensively during his lifetime (including a ballet) his trilogy, All and Everything, remains as his legominism, or means of transference of timeless, absolute truths and ideas to his initiates. Though the Institute in France was closed in 1933, Gurdjieff continued teaching in Paris until his death–though his instruction had progressed to be less rigid and demanding.