G. I. Gurdjieff (1866–1949)
Author of Meetings with Remarkable Men
About the Author
George Gurdjieff was a modern magus who was born in Alexandropol, Armenia, and traveled widely as a young man, spending several years in Central Asia and Tibet. His experiences during this time led to his famous book Meetings with Remarkable Men, an account of his alleged encounters with Eastern show more spiritual teachers that was published posthumously in 1963. Gurdjieff's system draws on diverse sources, including Sufism, Buddhism, and the Cabala. He taught that human beings have neither soul nor true will and must strive to cure these defects by work and suffering. The ordinary person is asleep, acting merely according to habit, and needs the shock of awakening. To this end he sponsored experiences of dance, exercise, hard labor, and sometimes surprises or acute frustration. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by G. I. Gurdjieff
Beelzebub's Tales To His Grandson: An Objectively Impartial Criticism of the Life of Man (1950) 740 copies, 5 reviews
Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson: An Objectively Impartial Criticism of the Life of Man First Book (1950) 62 copies, 1 review
Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson: An Objectively Impartial Criticism of the Life of Man Second Book (1985) 62 copies, 1 review
Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson: an Objectively Impartial Criticism of the Life of Man, 3rd Book (1974) 58 copies, 1 review
Guide and Index to Gurdjieff's All and Everything: Beezlebub's Tales To His Grandson (1979) 38 copies
Point in the Work: A Continuation of the Teaching of the Work of GI Gurdjieff, PD Ouspensky and Maurice Nicoll (1986) 8 copies
Harmonic Development 6 copies
Beelzebubs Erzählungen für seinen Enkel. Eine objektiv unparteiische Kritik des Lebens des Menschen. 3 Bände. (1997) 2 copies
Improvisations 1 copy
Gurdjieff and the Women of the Rope: Notes of Meetings in Paris and New York 1935-1939 and 1948-1949 (2019) 1 copy
CD Music "Sacred music" 1 copy
Il nunzio del bene venturo 1 copy
gruppi di parigi 1 copy
oltre confine 1 copy
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Gurdjieff, George Ivanovich
Գյուրջիև, Գեորգի Իվանովիչ - Other names
- Gurdjieff, Georges Ivanovitch
- Birthdate
- 1866-01-13
- Date of death
- 1949-10-29
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- Spiritual teacher
- Relationships
- Ouspensky, P. D. (pupil)
Bennett, J. G. (pupil)
Bennett, Elizabeth (pupil) - Short biography
- George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (c. 1866–1877 – 29 October 1949) was a philosopher, mystic, spiritual teacher, and composer. Gurdjieff taught that most humans are not conscious of themselves 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 thus achieve our 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, monk and yogi, and thus his student P. D. Ouspensky referred to it as the "Fourth Way".
- Wikipedia - Cause of death
- cancer
- Nationality
- Russian Empire
- Birthplace
- Alexandropol, Russian Empire (Gyumri, Armenia)
- Places of residence
- Alexandropol, Russian Empire
Istanbul, Turkey
Fontainebleau, France
Moscow, Russia - Place of death
- Neully-sur-Seine, France
- Burial location
- Avon Cemetery, Fontainebleau, France
- Map Location
- Armenia
Members
Reviews
Incomprehensible. This is what would happen if you threw Sufism, Gnosticism and Scientology into a blender. The author recommends reading this through three times to understand it. I made it a little over halfway before my eyeballs were twitchin' and my brain was itchin'. Smoke this book, it'll really get you out there!
This is a book that I have read several times over the last thirty years. It defies characterization. You can call it autobiography, but much is symbolic or allegorical and not "factual." Much, but not all, is about travel. The organizing principle is by individuals (the remarkable men, although one remarkable woman, Vivitskaia, is given a subsection). These are overlapping circles, with people popping up in more than one, and events are not in chronological sequence. Sometimes it is like show more Billy Pilgrim being unstuck in time. In the course of it, Mr. G provides a lot of examples of what he considers proper education and the right way to live. I am not going to say more about content; if you want to know, read it.
The Peter Brook film is good, but sacrifices fidelity to the book in order to have a more coherent narrative; if that is what Mr. G wanted, I am sure he would have written it that way. show less
The Peter Brook film is good, but sacrifices fidelity to the book in order to have a more coherent narrative; if that is what Mr. G wanted, I am sure he would have written it that way. show less
This has been sitting unread on my shelves for a few years.
Very little is known about this work. As David Kherdian's introduction makes clear, it is even uncertain who actually wrote it. The scenario seems to have been written to attract the interest of suitable students, the production(to the extent there was one) a Work exercise.
The story takes place in an exotic Central Asian town, such as can be found in Meetings with Remarkable Men or Beelzebub's Tales or, for that matter, the Arabian show more Nights. Its portrait of life in such a town reminds me of the shield of Achilles in Homer. On its surface it is a simple tale of good vs. evil, the White Magician vs. the Black Magician. The first "act" sets the scene and introduces Zeinab and Gafar. The second introduces the White Magician and describes his workshop. In the third Gafar unsuccessfully attempts to seduce Zeinab. In the fourth we get the Black Magician and his workshop (balancing the second) and Gafar obtains his services. The fifth act resolves the situation: the White Magician defeats the Black Magician, saving Zeinab.
Clearly the story is designed to appeal to those interested in the mysteries of the east, as Ouspensky was in 1914 when he saw the newspaper notice for the ballet. Interwoven are key concepts from the Work. The first act ends with mention of the three and the seven. The second introduces the enneagram and the sacred dances, as well as the Hermetic "as above, so below" and the idea of the Ray of Creation (not named as such). The actions of Gafar and his associates illustrate mindless, mechanical action, people lacking awareness and consciousness as much as self-control. At the conclusion the White Magician says:
"Lord Creator, and all you His assistants, help us to be able to remember ourselves at all times in order that we may avoid involuntary actions, as only through them can evil manifest itself."
Much is introduced, very little explained. show less
Very little is known about this work. As David Kherdian's introduction makes clear, it is even uncertain who actually wrote it. The scenario seems to have been written to attract the interest of suitable students, the production(to the extent there was one) a Work exercise.
The story takes place in an exotic Central Asian town, such as can be found in Meetings with Remarkable Men or Beelzebub's Tales or, for that matter, the Arabian show more Nights. Its portrait of life in such a town reminds me of the shield of Achilles in Homer. On its surface it is a simple tale of good vs. evil, the White Magician vs. the Black Magician. The first "act" sets the scene and introduces Zeinab and Gafar. The second introduces the White Magician and describes his workshop. In the third Gafar unsuccessfully attempts to seduce Zeinab. In the fourth we get the Black Magician and his workshop (balancing the second) and Gafar obtains his services. The fifth act resolves the situation: the White Magician defeats the Black Magician, saving Zeinab.
Clearly the story is designed to appeal to those interested in the mysteries of the east, as Ouspensky was in 1914 when he saw the newspaper notice for the ballet. Interwoven are key concepts from the Work. The first act ends with mention of the three and the seven. The second introduces the enneagram and the sacred dances, as well as the Hermetic "as above, so below" and the idea of the Ray of Creation (not named as such). The actions of Gafar and his associates illustrate mindless, mechanical action, people lacking awareness and consciousness as much as self-control. At the conclusion the White Magician says:
"Lord Creator, and all you His assistants, help us to be able to remember ourselves at all times in order that we may avoid involuntary actions, as only through them can evil manifest itself."
Much is introduced, very little explained. show less
Life Is Real Only Then, When I Am: All And Everything Third Series (All and Everything, 3rd Series) by G. I. Gurdjieff
I have read Meetings with Remarkable Men more than once and Beelzebub (parts of it several times). Life has sat unread on my shelves until now. This a challenging book, both because it is by Mr G and because it is fragmentary. One reading is certainly only scratching the surface, so some initial observations. There is much about Mr G's life, especially his early life (prologue) and his relationship with Orage. The third talk has the clearest distinction of feeling and sensing that I have show more seen in any book on G's teachings. The fourth and fifth present practical exercises, on which see also Joseph Azize's Gurdjieff: Mysticism, Contemplation, and Exercises. show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 52
- Also by
- 1
- Members
- 2,817
- Popularity
- #9,108
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 33
- ISBNs
- 192
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- 14
- Favorited
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