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alfa

Who's Gurdjeif?

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I've heard about this man, but what did he do? What's his philosophy, if he had one? I don't seem to find anything comprehensive on the net, no books at all written by or about him.

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I've heard about this man, but what did he do? What's his philosophy, if he had one? I don't seem to find anything comprehensive on the net, no books at all written by or about him.

 

 

There are tons of books written about him and a few written by him, there are also "teachers" and entire schools following his teaching on every single continent on this planet and in all major cities in the world....

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Do a search for The Fourth Way. www.bythewaybooks.com has most of his works and those of his students.

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lots of information on the net, easy to find. His books are out there too, no problem getting your hands on them. His major disciple is Ouspensky, who wrote a number of books about him and his teachings. also see the movie Meetings with Remarkable Men, from the book G wrote.

 

G is a very mysterious character, his early life is open to speculation, many doubt the story he told about himself. His methodology seems very much steeped in Sufism, but perhaps and unorthodox one. lots of mysteries.

 

his public life as a teacher began in russia before the revolution. he moved to paris to escape the revolution and later and ended up in america due to WWII.

 

Try spelling it Gurdijieff, you will get more results

Edited by erdweir

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His major disciple is Ouspensky, who wrote a number of books about him and his teachings.

 

 

I would have to partially disagree with you. While Ouspensky is the main author on the subject besides Gurdjieff himself - Ouspensky was not his major disciple - although he started that way...

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I like Edmond Andre's pov on G, i consider it the most reliable

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I like Edmond Andre's pov on G, i consider it the most reliable

 

 

Why would you read somebody else's take on the subject when he wrote books himself on a teaching that he himself brought to the west. If somebody wants to understand Gurdjieff's ideas - then read Gurdjieff's books he even tells you how to read them in the beginning of his own book. Also Ouspensky's book is awesome because he just plainly used Gurdjieff's words as he wrote them all down after hearing them directly and Gurdjieff was very happy with Ouspensky's book....

Edited by orb

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Why would you read somebody else's take on the subject when he wrote books himself on a teaching that he himself brought to the west. If somebody wants to understand Gurdjieff's ideas - then read Gurdjieff's books he even tells you how to read them in the beginning of his own book. Also Ouspensky's book is awesome because he just plainly used Gurdjieff's words as he wrote them all down after hearing them directly and Gurdjieff was very happy with Ouspensky's book....

 

Of course you are right, but first read the book... to me it provided the answer for questions like how did G manage to get in touch with his teachers, where are they, was G group a mass proportion experiment, why didn't any of his students come to noticeable acheivement...

I loved In search of the miraculous, and Meeting with remarkable men (I can't find the movie though).

It was an interesting step in the evolution of human awareness...

Ouspensky was G's biggest dissapointment.

O's story, to me, was an example of how close you can be to a teaching, and still miss it's message.

Like the age-old story of missing the moon by staring at the finger...

 

L1

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I would have to partially disagree with you. While Ouspensky is the main author on the subject besides Gurdjieff himself - Ouspensky was not his major disciple - although he started that way...

 

 

Ok maybe you are right, but he wrote down the most of what G said out of any of his disciples. G disowned him for it, but later in life admitted that O had pretty much published his exact words.

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The main position comes from man being unconscious and asleep - and to become conscious and awake. I think G is of some interest, but the students arising from the school would have, IMO, more interest to you - and most people in this day and age.

 

alfa, here's some info to get you started http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._I._Gurdjieff

 

* note the spelling of the last name.

 

I'd recommend you look into some of the writings of PD Ouspensky, who's work is much more approachable

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._D._Ouspensky

 

Other students of interest would include

http://www.bardic-press.com/rcollin/collinindex.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Richard_Orage

http://www.johnclilly.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_G._Bennett

 

Also, the Enneagram has many applications for discovery.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enneagram

 

Hope that helps some in your search. cheers...

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hello!

 

if you want to find out more about gurdieffs teachings i would recommend the book "transformation" by john g. bennett. bennett was - in my opinion - the most important of g.`s students. and he managed to understand gurdieffs message. and he quite successfully tried to translate this message into a language which is easy to understand. the result was the book "transformation".

 

bennett was the founder of the "sherbourne house of continous education" in england. this is a study centre for gurdieffs and bennetts teachings. one of the famous students of the "sherbourne house" was the experimental rock musician robert fripp (king crimson).

 

good luck on the path!

 

sirius

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one of the famous students of the "sherbourne house" was the experimental rock musician robert fripp (king crimson).

 

Great tidbit, sirius!

I love Fripp's work and it's cool to know this about him.

Another very spiritual guitarist is John McLaughlin - his website has some interesting info about him.

I managed to contact him a short while ago and he currently studies Ch'an poetry.

 

But I digress...

 

My sister-n-law recently gave me Eating the I but I haven't yet read it.

Anyone familiar with this book?

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hello!

 

if you want to find out more about gurdieffs teachings i would recommend the book "transformation" by john g. bennett. bennett was - in my opinion - the most important of g.`s students. and he managed to understand gurdieffs message. and he quite successfully tried to translate this message into a language which is easy to understand. the result was the book "transformation".

 

bennett was the founder of the "sherbourne house of continous education" in england. this is a study centre for gurdieffs and bennetts teachings. one of the famous students of the "sherbourne house" was the experimental rock musician robert fripp (king crimson).

 

good luck on the path!

 

sirius

 

Bennett is pretty good but can deviate quite a bit. I would say that his group teaching was actually more efficient then his writings, but I insist on saying this one more time:

 

Gurdjieff wrote his books with a very precise goal in mind - they are meant to kill all the inherited beliefs in ones brain and perform some sort of a brainwash if you want - which will allow you to see the world unfiltered and unbiased by the regular influence from education, religious dogma or whatever such and such told you etc.

His books are a different kind of animal. The reason they are difficult to be understood is because they were designed that way. You are supposed to make a certain type of effort when you read his books and after that your understanding would be of a different kind, your eyes will open. Each book is meant to be read 3 times in 3 different ways and only after that you can say that you have read about Gourdjieff's system (which still doesn't mean much).

 

By trying to avoid reading his books and reading all these other author's opinions you defy the purpose of his teaching and will NOT understand his ideas, guaranteed.

Just consider this: Ouspensky for example - a very popular figure of his time in Russia and abroad - great mathematician and journalist and writer. There are areas in science that were developed because of his research, he was also quite versed in different religions and traditions as well as occult matters before even meeting Gourdjieff (and not from reading random books) etc etc he got first hand teaching from Gourdjieff and he still deviated quite a bit and later regretted it.

 

Gourdjieff's teaching is a higher level of teaching and it's not meant to be received by your intelectual function - if you do that - then you are guaranteed to fail because it's like putting diesel fuel in a regular gas engine - it's just a different thing.... Also you cannot compare it nor combine it with a regular religion or philosophy.

There are also quite a few side effects possible if you don't follow G's recommendations.

 

Anyway enough for me on this subject ... over and out

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Read in Search of the Miraculous.

 

I've heard about this man, but what did he do? What's his philosophy, if he had one? I don't seem to find anything comprehensive on the net, no books at all written by or about him.

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I've heard about this man, but what did he do? What's his philosophy, if he had one? I don't seem to find anything comprehensive on the net, no books at all written by or about him.

 

Ah, Gurdjieff! A mysterious individual indeed -- Recommend that you pick up "Gurdjeiff; An Introduction to His Life and Ideas" by John Shirley. T'is a good place to start.

Edited by FAT

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Read Beelzebub's Tales and follow the reading guide beginning of the book. If you approach any Work group, one of the first things they will ask is if you have read the book. After that, In Search of the Miraculous by Ouspensky. Most of the G. Foundation groups have new students read through that book in a group setting.

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Read Beelzebub's Tales and follow the reading guide beginning of the book. If you approach any Work group, one of the first things they will ask is if you have read the book. After that, In Search of the Miraculous by Ouspensky. Most of the G. Foundation groups have new students read through that book in a group setting.

 

 

WOW jaloo bravo, nice surprise- both your posts on the subject show a lot about you . You know exactly what r u talking about, my friend - quite a rare thing around this forum...Thank you. I would actually be interested in speaking with you if you didn't mind

Edited by orb

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WOW jaloo bravo, nice surprise- both your posts on the subject show a lot about you . You know exactly what r u talking about, my friend - quite a rare thing around this forum...Thank you. I would actually be interested in speaking with you if you didn't mind

 

I'll answer anything I can. Send me a PM or post here if you'd prefer.

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By the way, an interesting book about one man's experience in the Work is: On a Spaceship with Beelzebub: By a Grandson of Gurdjieff by David Kherdian.

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I read "Meetings with Remarkable Men" back in the early 80s and thought it was one serious adventure tale, with perennial lessons thrown in. Lots of fun.

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