G. I. Gurdjieff

Georges Ivanovich Gurdjieff (January 13, 1872? - October 29, 1949), was a Greek-Armenian mystic and 'teacher of dancing'. His teaching is about becoming more aware of ourselves in our daily lives through the development of one's awareness.

Teaching

Those who had contact with Gurdjieff saw him as a Master - able to practice self-remembering, and work on oneself. In other words a human being able to be conscious of himself.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

About his teaching, Gurdjieff once said, "What do I teach? I teach people how to listen to themselves." The teaching addresses the question of man's place in the Universe and his possibilities for spiritual development. Gurdjieff's teaching has many aspects that are well described in 'In Search of the Miraculous' - a book written by P D Ouspensky who met Gurdjieff in Moscow in 1915 and who studied under him for several years.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gurdjieff brought alive again the ancient knowledge that man lives his life in a form of sleep, and that higher levels of consciousness are possible. In developing the inner possibility of becoming more aware of ourselves in our daily lives, one is shown a whole new way of living that can enrich our experience of life and acquaint us with our real selvs. 'Know thyself' takes on a more concrete meaning. The ability to be 'present' more often (instead of being absent as we usually are in our lives), requires work on oneself over time, guided initially by a teacher trained in the practice of the teaching by those who in turn were taught directly by Gurdjieff or by one of his pupils.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Instead of spending our lives asleep in dreams, we can by making frequent efforts to activate our attention in small things, such as walking, speaking or sitting etc, gradually become more aware of ourselves as living beings through the development of our attention. To this end Gurdjieff also taught movements as an aid, which are performed as part of a class; and he also left a body of music that he brought back from his visits to remote monasteries, and which was set down by one of his pupils, Thomas de Hartmann.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gurdjieff is best-known through the published works of his pupils, such as P.D. Ouspensky (author of '), which is regarded as the definitive 'work' book.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many accounts about Gurdjiff have been written by various authors: A.R. Orage, Thomas and Olga de Hartmann, Fritz Peters, René Daumal, John G. Bennett and Maurice Nicoll among others. Many others were drawn to his 'ideas table': Frank Lloyd Wright, Kathryn Hulme, P.L. Travers, Katherine Mansfield, and the pianist and composer Keith Jarrett.

Related Topics:
Thomas and Olga de Hartmann - René Daumal - John G. Bennett - Maurice Nicoll - Frank Lloyd Wright - Kathryn Hulme - P.L. Travers - Katherine Mansfield - Pianist - Composer - Keith Jarrett

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Three books by Gurdjieff were published after his death: Beelzebub's Tales to his Grandson, Meetings with Remarkable Men, and Life is Real Only Then, When 'I Am'. This trilogy is Gurdjieff's legominism known collectively as All and Everything. 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, and published in 1973 as '.

Related Topics:
Beelzebub's Tales to his Grandson - Meetings with Remarkable Men - Life is Real Only Then, When 'I Am' - Trilogy - All and Everything - Olga de Hartmann - 1973

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The feature film Meetings with Remarkable Men (1979), based on Gurdjieff's book by the same name, depicts rare performances of the sacred dances taught to serious students of his work known simply as the movements. The film was was written by Jeanne de Salzmann and Peter Brook, directed by Brook, and stars Dragan Maksimovic and Terence Stamp.

Related Topics:
Movements - Jeanne de Salzmann - Peter Brook - Dragan Maksimovic - Terence Stamp

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A new DVD about his life was released in the summer of 2005.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

His teaching has been continued by various groups formed after his death under the unbrella of the Gurdjieff Foundations in New York, London, and Paris. For many years after his death, the worldwide organisation of groups fell to his main pupil Jeanne de Salzmann. Gurdjieff founded the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man to train what he called "helper-instructors" to help disseminate and practice his teaching. Today many groups use Gurdjieff's name and ideas, but they may not have been developed via a teacher-student relationship originating with Gurdjieff and continued under Jeane de Salzmann.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~