Gurdjieff and the Fourth Way
G. I. Gurdjieff
Teacher of the Fourth Way: that ordinary humans live in a largely mechanical state of sleep, and require intentional work, self-observation and self-remembering.
- Dates
- c. 1866/77, disputed – 29 October 1949
- Dating
- approximate dates
- Born
- Alexandropol, Russian Empire
- Died
- near Paris
The life
He claimed extensive youthful travels in search of ancient spiritual teachings, emerged publicly as a teacher shortly before the First World War, and later established his Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man near Paris. He died only weeks after approving publication of Ouspensky's account of his teaching.
Place in the tradition
The vocabulary of 'waking up' that saturates later self-development literature is largely downstream of him.
a note on the record
History and later legend
Claims for his birth year range across more than a decade, and many of his travel stories are difficult to verify. Most of his major books appeared after his death.
the written record
Principal works
-
1950, posthumous
Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson
A vast and deliberately difficult allegorical cosmology meant to interrupt habitual thought.
-
1963, posthumous
Meetings with Remarkable Men
Semi-autobiographical narratives of his search for wisdom.
-
posthumous, 1970s
Life Is Real Only Then, When 'I Am'
An unfinished third series concerned more directly with inner work.