George Ivanovich Gurdjieff - this name is familiar to many spiritual seekers not only in Russia, but throughout the world in general. During his lifetime and to this day, he remains one of the greatest mystical philosophers, spiritual mentors, composers and travelers of the first half of the 20th century. Many facts of his life are shrouded in mystery., for example, date of birth: according to one source, he was born January 14, 1866, according to others - 1874 or even 1877, for the third - December 28, 1872; as well as the place where he was born: some sources say that this is an Armenian city Gyumri, while others are city Kars in eastern Turkey. However, the date and place of his death are known for certain - Gurdjieff died on October 29, 1949 in France in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a commune on the western outskirts of Paris.
Origin of the surname
If we talk about the surname, then it can be interpreted as Gruzinov or Georgian, after all, it was the word “Gurji” (“Gurji”) that Persians used to call Georgians earlier, and today they continue to call almost all residents of Islamic countries. Also, the surname Gyurjyan or Gyurjiev is carried by many Greeks who once moved to the territory of Armenia from Georgia and other neighboring countries. For example, even today there is a fairly large colony of Greeks in the region of the Georgian lake Tsalka.
Formation of Gurdjieff
According to the words of Georgy Ivanovich himself, it was his own father, together with his spiritual father, who at that time was the rector of the cathedral, who aroused in him a craving for knowledge of the life process taking place on our planet and, mainly, for knowledge of the meaning of human existence. All his work and life were devoted to such processes as the self-development of a person, the growth of his awareness and being in ordinary daily life. In addition, Gurdjieff paid great influence to the physical development of man. For this reason, he was called (and in the last years of his life he called himself that) "dance teacher." For some period of time Gurdjieff referred to his teaching as "esoteric Christianity".
Georgy Ivanovich very early began to travel the world, in particular, in the countries of Africa and Asia, where he did his best to find answers to questions that interested him. The countries he visited include Afghanistan, Turkey, Egypt, some areas of the Middle East and Turkistan, as well as the famous city of Mecca.
Gurdjieff's travels, among other things, were very similar to the expeditions that he carried out together with his like-minded people from the society he created by himself called the Seekers of Truth.
Gurdjieff devoted his wanderings to the study of various spiritual traditions and even folklore, to the collection of fragments of ancient knowledge, and sometimes to archaeological excavations.
"The Fourth Way" Gurdjieff
More in 1912-1913 Gurdjieff came to Moscow, continuing his career as a "Teacher of Theosophy". In Moscow, he was very quickly able to gather students around him, whom he began to teach. Already in 1915, he met the Russian philosopher, journalist, traveler, mystic and esotericist Pyotr Demyanovich Uspensky, who was 37 years old at that time. They joined forces and created a common group in St. Petersburg.
Subsequently, the so-called sorting and systematization of the very diverse experience of Grudjiev began, which was greatly facilitated by both Uspensky himself and his like-minded people, who not only became interested in the ideas of Georgy Ivanovich, but also constantly asked more and more new questions and argued with him on issues of interest to them. themes.
In addition, Ouspensky, who already had a solid experience in working with esoteric teachings, was able to identify and comprehend the new ideas of Eastern schools, which often appeared in the presentation of Gurdjieff himself, and was also able to adapt them to the European mentality - he translated them into a language that was understandable to the psychological culture of the West. Thanks to this collaboration, a new set of certain concepts and practices was formed - it was called the "Teaching of Gurdjieff-Ouspensky", but later it was called the "Fourth Way".
Institute for Harmonious Human Development
In general, attempts to establish the "Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man" were made several times by Gurdjieff. The first time it happened in 1919 in Tiflis, after that in 1920 in Constantinople. Then a similar attempt was made in Germany, but it failed because of conflicts with the authorities.
Having moved to the UK after Ouspensky, Gurdjieff tried to create an "Institute" there, but he again failed, because. his students were not allowed into the country.
And only after that the great teacher was able to create the "Institute". It happened in 1922 near Fontainebleau near Paris in the Prieuré estate - there Gurdjieff bought a castle with funds raised by Ouspensky's English students. At the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man, Gurdjieff taught not only the complex principles of the Fourth Way, but also the simplified, albeit exotic, ideas of Aida Yoga.
In the castle in the Prieure, Gurdjieff often organized demonstrations of the Sacred Movements which were special exercises and dances. Gurdjieff developed them himself, taking as a basis the temple and folk dances, which he managed to perfectly study while traveling through the countries of Asia.
These performances were known to a huge number of people, both in France and abroad, for example in the USA, where he visited from time to time with his students to give lectures and organize performances of Sacred Movements.
Separate material on Gurdjieff's Sacred Movements is presented.
Break with P. D. Uspensky
In January 1924, a significant event happened - Gurdjieff's break with Ouspensky. For this reason, some students of Georgy Ivanovich began to consider Uspensky just an ordinary student, and especially zealous ones - even an apostate. However, the reality was quite different.
In fact, Peter Demyanovich can be called one of the few associates of Gurdjieff who could go against the will of the Teacher in order to defend the right of his English group to work independently.
The rest of the groups, led by the other three main assistants and students of Gurdjieff, were reformed, after which they could not continue to function properly.
By the way, already July 1924, just six months after breaking up with Ouspensky, Georgy Ivanovich miraculously escaped after a terrible car accident. As a result, the Prieure becomes a practically inaccessible abode, but the closest students of Gurdjieff remain there, while others systematically visit their mentor.
Work "Everything and Everything"
It was during this period that Gurdjieff began the main work of his life - a series of books "Everything and Everything", which will include the three books "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson", "Meetings with Remarkable People" (based on this book in 1979, director Peter Brook will make a film of the same name) and "Life is only real when I am". At the same time, together with the composer Thomas de Hartmann, Gurdjieff creates about 150 small pieces of music for piano, many of which are based on Asian motifs, and music specifically for the performance of Sacred Movements.
In 1932 the "Institute" was closed, and Gurdjieff moved to Paris, from where he began to visit the United States from time to time. In the States (Chicago and New York), groups of Gurdjieff's students were mostly led by a man named Orage, once the owner of the New Age magazine. Gurdjieff, on the other hand, continued to work with his students at his home or in a cafe where he arranged his meetings.
It is impossible not to mention that during the Second World War, and even during the occupation of Paris by the troops of Nazi Germany, Georgy Ivanovich did not stop his activity, although, of course, its intensity began to decline.
After World War II
When the Second World War ended, in Paris Gurdjieff brought together students from various groups, including those of the late Ouspensky. Among them, the mathematician and philosopher John Bennett, who wrote The Dramatic Universe, a work in which an attempt is made to adapt Gurdjieff's ideas to European philosophy, deserves special attention.
1949 - the last year of the life of Georgy Ivanovich- was marked by the fact that the Teacher gave instructions to the students about the publication of two of his works, as well as the manuscript of Uspensky, which turned out to be in his possession, entitled "In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching." This work was perceived by Gurdjieff as a very peculiar presentation of his lectures, which he gave in Russia in 1915-1917.
After the death of Gurdjieff
Georgy Ivanovich Gurdjieff died on October 29, 1949 Years at the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine. After his death his closest colleague Jeanne de Salzman tried to unite the students– it was to her that the Master entrusted the spread of his Teaching. The activities of Madame de Salzmann served as the basis for the creation Gurdjieff Foundation, principal in New York in 1953.
In addition, the aforementioned John Bennett and some of Ouspensky's students actively disseminated Gurdjieff's ideas: Lord Pantland, Rodney Collin, Maurice Niccol and others. And Lord Pantland was appointed President of the Gurdjieff Foundation, a position he held until his death in 1984.
Among other famous students of Gurdjieff we can name the American publisher Jane Heap and the American artist Paul Reynard, the English writer Katherine Mansfield, the French poet René Daumal, and the English writer Pamela Travers, who is familiar to many from the children's book about Mary Poppins. Later, famous musicians Robert Fripp and Keith Jarrett were trained by Gurdjieff's students.
Today separate groups of Gurdjieff function in different cities around the world. and recruit followers into their ranks. The “Fourth Way” itself is often compared with many traditional teachings, such as, for example, Eastern offshoots of Christianity, Sufism, Tibetan Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, Tantrism, yoga, as well as the mystical traditions of Egypt and Mesopotamia.
The Master himself always said that it was completely impossible to understand his teaching.. But the essence of the main idea is that a person must wake up from the "sleep in reality", stop degrading and act mechanically, like a machine.
However, Gurdjieff nevertheless carried away the main secrets of his doctrine with him, as he predicted in his unfinished work “Life is real only when I am.”
Bibliography Gurdjieff
- Views from the real world
- Questions and answers
- Eight meetings in Paris
- Beelzebub's stories to his grandson
- Meeting wonderful people
- Life is only real when I am
- Man is a complex being
Moreover, when there is such a rhythm of work as in a workshop in Ashgabat, which is actually around the clock, changes occur in me, in my body, which are inexplicable from the point of view of ordinary science. And so it always happened in such situations, throughout my life: there is a change in the regulation of the rhythm of consumption and expenditure of vital energy: during periods of such work, I get the opportunity not to sleep at all for several weeks and even months, but at the same time to show activity that does not weaken at all, but, on the contrary, becomes more intense than in normal circumstances.
And here is the result:
“My workshop in Ashgabat functioned for three and a half months. During this time I earned fifty thousand rubles.
Let's indirectly try to imagine what this amount was like in the Russian Empire in 1909. The salary of a person in the public service - an official, a gymnasium teacher, a bank clerk, etc. - averaged 33 rubles 30 kopecks per month; on this salary it was possible to support a large family, to have a 5-6-room apartment in the city with servants, once a year to go with children and household members on vacation abroad. The salary of an officer in the middle rank in the army ranged from 45 to 50 rubles per month. Now - the prices. Meat cost 6 kopecks a pound (400 grams), bread - 2-3 kopecks, good grapes - 6 kopecks a pound. Let's make the simplest calculations: divide 50,000 by 3.5 months. We will receive 14,280 rubles. Here is George Gurdjieff's monthly "salary" for the time he worked in the "universal mobile workshop" in Ashgabat. In other words, in three and a half months, our hero has earned a gigantic fortune, which a successful businessman or entrepreneur can only amass during his entire working life.
Throughout "his journey" George Ivanovich Gurdjieff was always engaged in entrepreneurial, commercial activities, never shunning, if circumstances so required, simple physical labor. At the same time, on average, his time was distributed as follows: eighty percent for spiritual searches, twenty percent for making money. And only when he set himself a fundamental task: to create the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man, did this proportion reverse in a mirror way for several years.
“I will only say that when I set myself the task of creating a certain capital, I already acquired diverse, many-sided experience in this matter. Therefore, when I directed all my abilities to raising money for this purpose (Institute), even though this aspect of human endeavor itself never interested me, I did it in such a way that the results could cause the envy of your the best specialists in the dollar business.
I was engaged in the most various enterprises and sometimes very big. For example, I carried out private and government orders for the construction of railways and highways and supply them with all building materials; I opened a large number of warehouses, restaurants and sold them when they started to work well; I organized various rural enterprises and drove cattle to Russia from several countries; I took part in oil drilling and fishing; sometimes I ran several businesses at the same time. But the business I preferred to all others, which never required my special devotion to it, any fixed time or any permanent residence, and which, moreover, proved to be very profitable, was the trade in carpets and antiques of all kinds.
This "excited" activity took three or four years. When I had several millions, I transferred them to one of the Swiss banks, because, returning to Russia in 1916, I felt - in the conditions of the war - all the instability of the country: I felt the impending catastrophe ...
Thus, once in Europe, I already had a solid capital, which brought considerable bank interest, in addition, I brought with me two priceless collections, one of ancient and rare carpets, and the other of the rarest Chinese porcelain. Each of these collections is a state."
But in 1922, when the Russian magician, magician and mystic Mr. Gurdjieff settled with his Institute in Fontainebleau near Paris, in his luxurious castle Prieuré, no one in the French capital, naturally, knew about the origin of his wealth, and Paris was full of fantastic rumors.
“... Here all kinds of legends have already arisen about this subject (the capital of the owner of the castle), which clearly show the all-round idiocy of their inventors and which are always more and more decorated with new and new fantastic details, since they have spread everywhere among parasites and idlers of both sexes. They say, for example, that I receive money from some occult center in India; or that the Institute is supported by a black magic organization; or is maintained by the legendary Georgian prince Mukhrinsky; or that I know the secret of the philosopher's stone and can make as much money as I wish, or that I am an alchemist and it costs me nothing to create gold from sulfur and saltpeter; or lately they have been saying a lot that the Bolsheviks are supplying me with funds directly from the Kremlin. Well, and much more in the same spirit.
Such is the man George Ivanovich Gurdjieff. Was... Was in the last earthly incarnation. He was just one of his many incarnations, probably the most exciting - attractive to the overwhelming number of bipedal inhabitants of our planet at the end of the twentieth century. Alas…
Because the rest of his incarnations manifested themselves spiritually - in his teachings, physically - in the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man, in himself and his students. And in the followers of the Teacher after his departure.
"THE FOURTH WAY" GEORGE GURDJIEFF
G. I. Gurdjieff "Everything and everything." Paris, 1968
Georgy Ivanovich Gurdjieff's teaching on the development of a harmonious person, of course, belongs to the Eastern occult-religious schools. Quite often in Europe it is called the “fourth”, that is, the new way. Why?
There is a teaching in the East about the three ways of a person to immortality and merging with God - these are the ways of a fakir, a monk and a yogi.
A fakir is a person who seeks to conquer his physical body. Having gone through terrible suffering, exhausting exercises and even torture (by fire, piercing the body or tongue with sharp objects, plunging bare feet into an anthill, and so on), the fakir tempers his physical will, gains incredible power over his body. But emotionally and intellectually he remains undeveloped, incapable of spiritual growth. A fakir can form a stable astral body as a result of constant internal efforts, but he does not acquire true immortality in the Divine, cosmic understanding.
The monk follows the path of uncompromising religious faith, and it does not matter in the name of which God - Christ, Buddha or Allah. The essence is the same: he concentrates his will on feelings. Throughout his life, he cultivates in himself the unity of feelings and emotions in the name of his God. However, his physical body and intellectual abilities, as a rule, remain undeveloped. A monk can achieve immortality if he begins to develop - the sooner the better - his physical body and the ability to think independently.
The yogi develops the mind, achieving immortality on the path of knowledge. He comprehends many things, acquires the right direction of thinking. Intellectual development gives advantages to the yogi in comparison with the fakir and the monk, but he always has the danger of stopping his own development, he can be satisfied with any one achievement.
All three paths involve a complete renunciation of the world and past life, going to the desert, a monastery or a yoga school. Those who follow these paths also have something in common: the obligatory presence of a teacher-mentor.
The "Fourth Way" - the teaching of Gurdjieff - also implies, moreover, necessarily, the presence of a Teacher, who must be obeyed unquestioningly. This is the only thing that unites the "fourth way" with the roads followed by the fakir and the monk. With the yogi, Gurdjieff is united by the desire for intellectual and spiritual development, for knowledge. However, for a yogi, this desire is limited by rather rigid boundaries of a religious persuasion. For those who follow the "fourth way", intellectual perfection and thirst for knowledge are not limited by anything: there are no limits for perfection. It is with this that the “fourth Gurdjieff path” to immortality and merging with God begins.
What is the main essence of the "fourth way"? Here is a summary of the teachings of George Ivanovich Gurdjieff.
A human being is a unique particle of the infinite cosmos, capable of joining its eternal existence. But for this it is necessary to overcome the limitations of that bodily shell, in which, like in a grain, potential opportunities for spiritual growth are laid.
The vast majority of people on Earth are in constant "hibernation", obeying the instincts, requirements and habits of their body all their lives. In this "waking dream" people act like machines, or rather robots, being completely at the mercy of circumstances and external influences. They are passive, irresponsible, inevitably mortal.
What they consider to be their consciousness, in reality, is only the "sleep" consciousness of a sleeping robot, allowing it to somehow navigate in the world around it. The robot is not able to really do anything, realize the real essence of things and ongoing events, he is not free in his actions and is not able to influence the natural - and hidden from him - the course of things. Everything that happens to a robot man is what happens to him for some reason unknown to him.
With the birth of each person, his body is formed as a certain “machine” with the necessary internal mechanisms. Heredity received from parents, geographical conditions of development in childhood and existence in adulthood, nutrition, movement - these are the necessary data that form the physical body. It develops the motor, instinctive and sexual centers. Emotional life, based solely on heredity, depends on circumstances and lifestyle, social environment, communication, and the like. The peculiarity of a person's emotional life forms his essence. The development of thinking, intellectual abilities forms a personality.
According to Gurdjieff, the body, essence and personality in a person manifest and develop independently of each other. The combination of their diverse work within one human being does not make it possible to unambiguously characterize it, to find something permanent and definite in it. In each person there are many "I" and many sides, unpredictable and contradictory manifestations. A person is both kind and evil, honest and mercenary, bold and cowardly, active and lazy, and so on.
In general, sleeping human robots can be divided into three main categories, depending on the predominance of one of the centers working in the bodily “machine” in them: motor, instinctive (sexual); emotional and intellectual.
In people of the first type, the "center of gravity" is located in the motor or instinctive center, in the second type - in the region of the emotional center, and in the third, the intellectual center is most developed. Accordingly, the three human types differ in their habits, tastes, lifestyle. They are inclined towards different kinds of art, religion and in general to different forms of "spiritual activity". But from this they do not become more independent, they continue to sleep and in a dream automatically and unconsciously act, feel, communicate, and so on. A person of the motor type, leading the life of a semi-animal, or a hedonist, unconsciously chasing new pleasures, or an intellectual, accumulating an increasingly significant amount of knowledge and information - they are all just sleeping robots, using the resources of their physical body from birth to death.
Gurdjieff categorically stated that a soul is not given to a person at birth and after death it does not necessarily acquire immortality. If we call the “soul” the vital (life) force given from birth to a person, then it is no different from the same force that animates any earthly creature or even a plant. With the death of a person, this "soul" returns to nature, and does not rise to God. But a person, unlike all life on Earth, has the opportunity to acquire what is often called the soul, namely, a certain substance of a higher order, which remains after his death and is even able to take a way out of the Earth. This is what is formed in a person as a result of conscious and purposeful efforts for self-development, or rather, as a result of the formation in him, in addition to the initially given physical body, of higher bodies - astral, mental and causal.
A person who has set foot on the path of self-development gradually wakes up, rising above the automatism of everyday life. He knows himself, all the functions and centers of his body become balanced. He realizes the purpose and meaning of the necessary actions, takes responsibility for his thoughts, desires and actions. Thus, gradually an astral body is formed in it, which has more subtle vibrations than the physical one. Then, as the person develops, he sheds the guise of personality, acquires the unity of his own “I” and self-consciousness (according to Gurdjieff, “holistic individuality”), higher centers develop and begin to work in him - the highest emotional and the highest intellectual, which are absent from the robot. Reaching "objective consciousness", a person also acquires a mental body, which is a combination of several higher centers. The higher type man achieves a permanent "I" and free will, he is able to control all states of his consciousness; he acquires a higher, causal body.
Gurdjieff told his disciples:
“Nothing is immortal, even God is mortal. But there is a huge difference between man and God, and, of course, God is not mortal in the same way as man.
Thus, it is possible to speak about immortality conditionally even on a general cosmic scale. Within the limits of human life, it is better to consider the possibility of "existence after death", that is, the ability of a human being to overcome the boundaries of the laws established by his mother planet Earth, the inexorable laws of the alternation of birth and death of material bodies. In other words, death is a strict law of the Earth, but a person, as a cosmic being, can choose a different way of existence, according to other, higher laws of being, according to which the very concept of death will have a different meaning, incomprehensible within the limits of earthly existence. In fact, he can gain immortality in terms of his earthly life.
Gurdjieff insisted on this position and in numerous conversations with his students he emphasized: a person has the possibility of an afterlife existence, but this possibility can be realized only at will and subject to the application of enormous efforts, even super efforts of the person himself.
A person in a state of "sleep" lives without higher bodies, completely content with the resources of the physical body. After death, his body turns to dust, and the vital force goes to the moon. If during his life he formed an astral body in the process of spiritual tension, it survives the death of the physical and can exist autonomously for some time, and sometimes it is reborn in another physical body (this is what is called reincarnation, incarnation). But after a certain period of time, it also dies, therefore, strictly speaking, the astral body is not immortal even within the Earth. The mental body formed in a person does not disappear even after the death of the astral body, it goes beyond the limits of the Earth and its laws, existing at the level of the Sun. And only the highest, causal body is completely immortal within the solar system, obeying the higher cosmic laws of "all suns". Thus, with the development of higher bodies in a person (which is possible only with a strong-willed and constant effort, “work on oneself”), the most active, causal body lives endlessly, that is, it is “immortal” in relation to the lower body.
The core of the "fourth way" is the constant, selfless work of a person on himself: "immortality must be earned by serving the Good."
And then a certain paradox arises in the new teaching, which, however, with in-depth analysis, ceases to be one. Gurdjieff demanded that each of his disciples openly recognize himself as a "conscious egoist" and become one. This is, of course, not about the mechanical, general natural egoism that is inherent in all life on Earth as one of the aspects of the ability to survive. “Conscious egoism” is the real embodiment of the ancient call to man: “Know thyself”, the principle of a real attitude towards oneself and the world around on the basis of a formed objective understanding of the surrounding world on a cosmic scale. The "conscious egoist" denies all artificial restrictions on the path of his self-improvement, all the barriers erected by his own and others' misunderstanding, all the conventions by which the world of robots lives. Plunging into the “egoism” of creating himself, he finds himself in that dimension in which it is only possible to create great works of art, discover new scientific truths, comprehend the philosophical meanings of cosmic and earthly phenomena. “Conscious egoism” is a turn towards oneself along the axis of being, it is a different vision of oneself on the real scale of the universe, a distinction between an instantaneous flash of personal existence, a molecular separation into the blackness of infinity.
“Conscious egoism” is a state of inner freedom, which in the human sense turns into loneliness, and in the cosmic and creative sense - a condition for endless development, independent comprehension of the creative laws of activity.
Gurdjieff convinced his students that the path of conscious egoism is constant self-knowledge, which means work, tireless, everyday, creative, on the verge of possibilities.
The road to immortality will be mastered by the walking one.
Etc. In a word, everything that can be useful to a person in his daily life, if you look at it from a pragmatic point of view. But, you see, intellectual and physical development is not all that makes up a person’s life, because, in addition to this, he must also develop spiritually - enrich his inner world, perhaps seek, find ways to know something higher.
And, quite significantly departing from the topics familiar to our resource, we want to tell you about a very unusual teaching, which is one of the spiritual ways of awakening human consciousness called the “Fourth Way”. We sincerely believe that material of this kind will find its readers among our highly respected audience.
And, of course, the story of the "Fourth Way" cannot begin with anything else than with a small introduction for you of the personality of this truly unusual and wonderful person - George Gurdjieff. But let's say right away that we will not delve into all the details of his biography, but will indicate only its main points.
Who is George Ivanovich Gurdjieff?
George Ivanovich Gurdjieff can be called one of the most unusual, amazing and mysterious people of the 20th century. This man was a composer, esotericist, mystic philosopher, hypnotist, magician, spiritual mentor, dance teacher and founder of the "Fourth Way". Even during his lifetime, the personality of this man, as well as his life path and activities, were covered with a fog of mysteries, secrets and legends.
Gurdjieff was born in the Russian Empire, in the second largest city of Armenia - Alexandropol (now the city of Gyumri), which is located near the border with Turkey. His father was Greek and his mother was Armenian. And the first riddles begin right here: according to some sources, Gurdjieff was born on January 14, 1866, according to others - on January 14, 1874, according to the third - on January 13, 1877, and according to the fourth - on December 28, 1872.
Father George Gurdjieff - Ivan Ivanovich Gurdjieff was seriously interested in religious issues, and was in close friendly relations with the diocesan bishop and rector of one of the Christian churches of Alexandropol - Borsh. It was Borsh who became the spiritual father of George Gurdjieff, and began to educate him, deciding to train him as a priest, as well as a doctor, because, according to Borsh, these were two parts of a single whole.
But, having reached adolescence, Gurdjieff, for some reason, abruptly left his studies and founded the "Society of Seekers of Truth", and also became its head. Subsequently, he spent almost all his youthful years in wanderings around the countries of Africa and Asia, among which were Turkestan, Turkey, Afghanistan, Egypt, Greece and others. All his travels, which were often accompanied by archaeological excavations, were devoted to the search for the most ancient world religion.
According to one version of his biography, Gurdjieff spent about ten years in Tibet, being a Russian secret agent and adviser to the Dalai Lama, but it is not possible to confirm this. But, be that as it may, having accumulated a certain amount of knowledge and gained certain experience, Gurdjieff came to Moscow and opened his own school called "The Fourth Way", where he began to teach his system to interested people. A similar school was also opened in St. Petersburg.
After the revolution in Russia, a teacher with a small number of students goes first to Georgia, then to Turkey, then to Germany and Great Britain with the aim of founding the "Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man", but for a number of various reasons, he does not have to do this in any of these countries happened. In the end, the "Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man" was founded in France, near Paris, in the Prieuré estate. And to a large extent, this was facilitated by one of Gurdjieff's closest associates, Pyotr Demyanovich Uspensky, a Russian theosophist, esotericist and philosopher who wrote such books as The Fourth Dimension, In Search of the Miraculous, The Fourth Way, and many others. This man contributed to the spread of Gurdjieff's teachings in the West, and also supported him in buying a castle in the Prieure, where the "Institute" was founded.
Gurjiev's whole life was filled with a mass of interesting and unusual events. But on this we will bring to an end the story of his life, because. several voluminous books can be written on this topic, and within the framework of one article it would be inappropriate to go into the details of the life path of this person, and we will proceed to the presentation of the main ideas of his teaching - the “Fourth Way”.
"The Fourth Way" by George Gurdjieff
The "Fourth Way" is a unique practice of inner development, which includes everything that George Gurdjieff achieved in his spiritual quest and acquaintance with esoteric teachings during his travels. The "Fourth Way" includes elements of Eastern Christianity, Buddhism, Sufism, fragments of ancient knowledge, as well as dance and music components.
Man is a machine
The basis of Gurdjieff's system is the concept that a person is a mechanical machine that responds in a pattern to any external influence. A person's awareness of this idea is the foundation on which a person's work on himself should be based.
Everything that a person does in his daily life, all his actions, deeds, opinions, beliefs, views, thoughts, feelings, words, and so on - all this is the result of external influence and impressions received from outside. Man is incapable of producing or doing anything that comes from within him. Everything that makes up a person's life simply happens to him, happens automatically.
To define this for oneself, to understand, realize and be convinced of this is getting rid of the illusion about a person, and that he is able to independently influence his life, organize it, etc. In reality, none of this exists - it all just happens, up to global phenomena such as wars, revolutions, strikes, presidential changes, etc. And all this happens in the same exact way as such events and processes as birth, creativity, activity, death occur in people's lives. Even desires, love and hate are things that happen to people.
However, no one will ever believe our words if we tell someone that he is not able to change anything. This will become one of the most unpleasant insults for a person. And it will become so for the simple reason that it is the truth, and no one wants to know the truth. But the main problem is that this should not just be understood intellectually, but be realized with all your human being.
"Doing"
Another very important point of the "Fourth Way" is the question of the so-called "doing".
People always think that someone else is doing something wrong, doing things the wrong way. Anyone is sure that they could do this much better. And people do not understand, and do not even strive to understand, that everything that is being done at all, and even more so what has already been done, cannot be done in any way, and it could not have been done in any other way. If people were not what they are, then the whole world would not be what it is. Therefore, everything always remains in its place.
human evolution
The process of human evolution can be understood as the process of development in his being of those forces and those possibilities that in no case can be developed independently, mechanistically. It is the conscious, purposeful development of a person that is an indicator that a person is growing and evolving.
Humanity itself stands still, i.e. there is no progress and evolution. What everyone thinks is forward movement is only a partial change, balanced by a similar change in a different direction.
Starting a conversation about evolution, it is necessary to initially realize that there can be no mechanical evolution. Human evolution is the evolution of consciousness, but this very consciousness can only progress consciously. Human evolution is also the development of his ability to "do", and it is precisely this "doing" that will never be the result of what simply happens to a person.
Development of human consciousness
According to Gurdjieff's "Fourth Way" system, all known ways of developing human consciousness are divided into three categories, which are:
- The way of the fakir
- Way of the Monk
- The path of the yogi
And it is here that the conversation begins about the Fourth Way, which is capable of integrating and transforming all human functions. The Fourth Way does not imply any asceticism, solitude in the wilderness, leaving everything “worldly”. But a person must be prepared for this Path, and this preparation can only be obtained in ordinary everyday life, moreover, it must be as serious as possible and include all possible aspects of human existence.
The main difference between the Fourth Way and any other is understanding, i.e. a man should refuse to do anything he does not understand. And the deeper a person's understanding of what he is doing, the more effective all his efforts will be. This is the overarching principle of the Fourth Way.
The results of the work performed by a person depend on how consciously he performs it. It is also interesting that the Fourth Way does not require the presence of any faith, since. she opposes him. Among other things, the work of a person on the Fourth Way can be individualized, in other words: anyone can do what he needs and not do what is useless.
It is precisely because of all of the above that the Fourth Path is often called the Way of the Cunning One, because the cunning one knows the secret that is unknown to the yogi, fakir or monk.
- sleep state
- Waking state
- State of self-remembering
- State of Objective Consciousness
According to Gurdjieff, the human mechanism is always in oblivion, which is the state of sleep or everyday wakefulness, which is why it is not able to achieve the state of self-remembering, because in order to achieve it, very serious and painstaking work on oneself is required. But it is in the state of self-remembering that a person discovers his inner self and comprehends the ability to “do”.
And a little about practice
The methods by which a person can achieve the third and fourth states of consciousness require practitioners to perform strenuous work in various conditions and circumstances that can cause all sorts of "frictions" both at the individual - personal level, and at the collective level.
The conditions in which Gurdjieff's students worked and are working today have always reminded and continue to remind a person that he is a machine. But it is precisely these conditions that are able to free his consciousness from everything that he has accumulated in the past.
Numerous Gurdjieff exercises are based on the efforts that a person needs to make in order to. The mentor said that if there is no internal struggle in a person’s life, if everything that happens to him is accepted by him without any resistance, if he is in the power of the “wind” that throws him here and there, then this person will never Will not change.
From this it follows that the Fourth Way is a hard Way and serious efforts. But this Path is aimed at a person's awareness of his mechanism, thanks to which he will be able to come to the disclosure of the true potential of his being and achieve the transformation of his consciousness. Always and everywhere you need to remember yourself. Always and everywhere, one must remember that the energy that is spent on conscious work is an investment in one's development, and the energy that is wasted on mechanical actions is lost by a person forever.
Conclusion
After George Ivanovich Gurdjieff died on October 29, 1949 in the French commune of Neuilly-sur-Seine in France, the practice of the "Fourth Way" was continued by his students. Active working groups have begun to form in European countries and in the USA. And today there are cultural centers of the "Fourth Way" in France, Great Britain, USA, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, Brazil, India, Australia and Russia.
And finally, here is one of the quotes from George Gurdjieff, which has a huge meaning:
“The soul is a luxury. No one has yet been born with a fully developed soul."
Petr Demyanovich Uspensky
In search of the miraculous. The Fourth Way of George Gurdjieff
© AST Publishing House LLC, 2017
Foreword
A century has come that has broken the familiar world.
The age of big machines, steam locomotives, steamboats, automobiles and airplanes… civilization made a huge leap, and people found themselves surrounded by machines and mechanisms.
Where did this mysterious man come from, this George Gurdjieff, whose name was pronounced in a whisper, whose students or listeners were practically ALL the famous figures of that time, including Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Sergei Yesenin, Mayakovsky, Blok and many others?
What is the secret of this man who called himself "just a dance teacher"? Did he really have some secret knowledge or was he just a charismatic charlatan?
Did he give some secret knowledge to these people?
Maybe he correctly calculated that right now all people want new knowledge about their nature, because it was at that time that thousands of discoveries, inventions, new theories were rapidly changing life. It was breathtaking from pride in humanity, from grandiosity opportunities. And fear for the future.
New features give an advantage to those who use them first. And this competition cannot end peacefully.
Convenience and comfort came at a price: machines not only made life easier, they also killed more efficiently.
The deadly machine of the First World War was already roaring, but in Russia no one could imagine that very soon everything would mix up where everything seemed to be comfortable, familiar and calm. Although calmly - hardly. It was anxious and hectic.
However, the idea that everything would collapse seemed so fantastic that the most gloomy skeptics did not hear the voice of the roaring catastrophe. It was at this time that someone actively acted, some forces did their work, some people sacrificed themselves in order for other active people to prepare a place for themselves in this new world.
The situation seemed unreal, temporary, and this illusion killed many.
It was at this time that a painful, passionate interest arose among people in the possibilities of the person himself as in reserve, as in factors of survival in this world. Theosophical and esoteric societies, attempts to expand the field of knowledge about human nature and the nature of the world, for this seems to be an essential factor in survival, have all taken on grandiose proportions.
How did this strange Gurdjieff differ from other gurus?
He was different. He compared man to a machine that must be learned to operate. He said: a man is a machine, he lives in a dream: look, this is actually so. Only by understanding the properties of this machine, you can get huge benefits, and become more than a machine.
The laws of the universe are similar to the laws of harmony in music. You can make the machine work correctly - in resonance with this harmony. And then you can learn to manage not only your life ...
He founded more than one school or group of students, in which he tried in various ways, which he said, to awaken a person. He did this not only by lecturing or giving lessons in dynamic meditation. Gurdjieff possessed, undoubtedly, abilities that can definitely be called supernormal.
His explanations of the structure of the world may seem strange, but surprisingly in tune with the most modern theories in physics and astronomy.
He studied his students and honed his method of teaching on them.
Many do not even believe that he died, according to the official version, in a car accident. Some suggest that he still teaches. What and to whom?
He was always in sight and always alone. In fact, no one knew anything about him.
Return from India. - War and "search for the miraculous." - Old thoughts. - A question about schools. - Plans for further travel. East and Europe. - An article in a Moscow newspaper. - Lectures on India. - Meeting with Gurdjieff. - "Disguised". - First conversation. - Gurdjieff's opinion on schools. - The Gurdjieff group. - "Glimpses of Truth". – Further meetings and conversations. - Organization of the Moscow group of Gurdjieff. - The question of pay and means for work. – The question of secrecy; commitments made by students. - Conversation about the East. – “Philosophy”, “theory” and “practice”. How was this system found? - Ideas of Gurdjieff. - "Man is a machine", controlled by external influences. “Everything happens.” - No one "does" anything. To "do" one must "be". A man is responsible for his actions, but a machine is not. Is psychology necessary to study a machine? - The promise of "facts". Can wars be stopped? - Conversation: the planets and the moon as living beings. - "Mind" of the Sun and the Earth. “Subjective” and “objective” art.
I returned to Russia after a rather long journey through Egypt, Ceylon and India. This happened in November 1914, that is, at the beginning of the First World War, which found me in Colombo. I returned from there via England.
Leaving St. Petersburg at the beginning of the journey, I said that I was going to "look for the miraculous." It is very difficult to establish what "wonderful" is, but for me this word had a very definite meaning. Long ago I came to the conclusion that from this labyrinth of contradictions in which we live, there is no other way out than a completely new path, unlike any of those that we knew and used.
But where this new or forgotten path began, I could not say. Then I already knew the undoubted fact that behind the thin shell of false reality there is another reality, from which, for some reason, something separates us. “Wonderful” is the penetration into this unknown reality. It seemed to me that the path to the unknown could be found in the East. Why in the East? This is difficult to answer. Perhaps there was something of romance in this idea; and perhaps there was a conviction that in Europe, at least, it is impossible to find anything.
On the way back, during those few weeks I spent in London, all my thoughts about the results of the search fell into complete disarray under the influence of the insane absurdity of the war and the emotions associated with it, which filled the atmosphere, conversations and newspapers and often took over against my will. and me.
But when I returned to Russia and relived the thoughts with which I left it, I felt that my searches and everything connected with them are more important than any things that happen and can happen in the world of "obvious absurdities." I told myself that the war should be looked upon as one of those catastrophic conditions of life in which one has to live, work and seek answers to one's questions and doubts. This war, the great European war, in the possibility of which I did not want to believe and the reality of which I did not want to admit for a long time, became a fact. We are immersed in war and I saw that it must be considered a great memento mori, showing that one must hurry, that one cannot believe in "life" leading to nothing.
By the way, about the expression "obvious absurdities". It refers to a book that I had as a child. The book was called “Obvious absurdities” and belonged to the Stupino “library” and consisted of, for example, pictures such as images of a man with a house on his back, carriages with square wheels, and the like. At that time, the book made a very strong impression on me - there were many pictures in it, about which I could not understand what was ridiculous in them.
They looked exactly like ordinary things. And later I began to think that the book actually gave pictures of real life, because as I grew older I became more and more convinced that all life consists of “obvious absurdities”, and my subsequent experiences only strengthened this conviction.
The war could not affect me personally, at least until the final catastrophe, which, it seemed to me, would inevitably break out in Russia, and perhaps in all of Europe; but the near future did not promise her yet. Although, of course, at that time this approaching catastrophe looked only temporary, and no one could imagine all the internal and external decay and destruction that we would have to endure.
Summing up all my impressions of the East and especially of India, I had to admit that on my return my problem turned out to be even more difficult and complicated than at the time of departure. India and the East not only did not lose their charm for me as a country of "wonderful", but, on the contrary, this charm acquired new shades that were not noticeable before.
I clearly saw that something could be found there that had long disappeared in Europe, and I believed that the direction I had taken was the right one. But at the same time, I became convinced that the secret was better hidden than I could have imagined until then.
As I set out on my journey, I knew what to look for. school or schools. For a long time I came to the conclusion about the need for a school. I realized that personal, individual efforts are not enough, that it is necessary to get in touch with real and living thought, which must exist somewhere, but with which we have lost touch.
George Gurdjieff was one of the most enigmatic figures of the first half of the 20th century. Some saw in him a bearer of ancient knowledge and a prophet, others saw him as an "enslaver of men" and "seducer of women." His life is one of the most curious pages of the turbulent era of wars and revolutions.
George Ivanovich Gurdjieff appeared in Russia between 1911 and 1913. By this time he was about forty years old. Behind him was a difficult life, which many biographers tried to figure out. He himself did everything possible to cover up all traces, mix facts with legends, and sometimes just with absurdity and anecdotes.
For the famous Russian writer, traveler and explorer, the “wonderful” Pyotr Demyanovich Uspensky, who met Gurdjieff in 1914, and his numerous Russian, Western European and American followers, he was a source of higher knowledge. For others, he was a "seducer of women", "enslaver of men", a false prophet and the devil himself.
Gurdjieff did a lot of work himself to create this double image. He signed his messages to his students as "Black Greek", "Tiger of Turkestan" and "Nephew of Prince Mukhransky". But what do we really know about him?
The beginning of time
He was born in the 1870s. in the city of Alexandropol (now Gyumri), his father was Greek, and his mother was Armenian. The father was an ashok, a collector and performer of the ancient epic, as well as a wise man, humbly and with dignity enduring his failures.
Gurdjieff's interest in mystical Orthodoxy was formed under the influence of the Russian and Armenian Churches. Subsequently, Gurdjieff would call his teaching "esoteric Christianity", thereby separating it from "official" Christianity, towards which Gurdjieff's attitude was quite typical of most intellectuals of that time.
He traveled a lot, and if you believe his stories about the reasons for these travels, then their main motive, of course, was the desire to find the truth in the form of ancient knowledge, possibly preserved and come down to our time.
In 1915, Gurdjieff spoke in Moscow with Ouspensky about "Tibetan monasteries, Chitral, Mount Athos, Sufi schools in Persia, Bukhara, Eastern Turkestan, and also about dervishes of various orders, but all this was spoken of very vaguely." In conversations with other students who asked him about the places where he got his teaching, Gurdjieff most often mentioned Tibet, eastern Persia and Outer Mongolia. His teaching undoubtedly contains elements of Tibetan Buddhism, but also elements of Sufism, yoga and other traditions unknown to anyone.
Gurdjieff told Ouspensky that his journey to the East was undertaken with a group of friends who called themselves "seekers of truth." Among them were people who specialized in various fields of knowledge and explored various aspects of the tradition. “Later,” writes Gurdjieff, “when we got together, we put together everything we found.”
Great heart specialist
In the Russian capital, he was met with distrust, primarily as a person from the provinces. Gurdjieff fell under this stereotype, which he found difficult to overcome. After all, his task was to gather under his wing sophisticated and demanding representatives of the intelligentsia and bohemia, who have authority and influence in both capitals.
In order to attract the attention of these circles, at the request of Gurdjieff, one of his first students wrote a small program opus entitled "Glimpses of Truth." For the same purpose, an article was published in one of the Moscow newspapers about the ballet "Battle of the Magicians" being prepared for staging. It was this book that Ouspensky read, and in connection with it he first drew attention to the name of Gurdjieff.
George Gurdjieff, at the very first meeting with a person, knew how to touch the very nerve of his aspirations, fears and hopes. He spoke to musicians about the "law of the octave", to artists about objective art, to doctors about oriental medicine, to businessmen about business. During their first meeting with Ouspensky, he spoke on topics that were of interest to Ouspensky at that time: about travel and drugs, and in both areas he appeared to him as a person more experienced than his interlocutor.
Another line of behavior played out by Gurdjieff led to the creation of a sharply negative impression. He never missed an opportunity to create a situation of tension, testing, testing for the interlocutor. The breaking of expectations, the shock of meeting with the unexpected and unusual, according to Gurdjieff, should have led to the awakening of conscience and consciousness in a person - the two most important elements of truly human nature.
Avoiding the conceptual crystallization of his teaching, Gurdjieff invented various ways to lead a person away from the superficial mechanical grasp of his ideas and direct him to their deep comprehension. This comprehension was associated with a change in the system of values and orientations of a person and should have led to the renewal of life, which was the main meaning and goal of Gurdjieff's efforts.
Gradually, Gurdjieff's efforts began to be rewarded with the attention of the creative intelligentsia of the Russian capitals, the right people began to gather around him. And when, finally, the conditions appeared for the implementation of his grandiose plans, the revolution of 1917 and the Civil War that followed it took place. Gurdjieff leaves for the Caucasus.
After Gurdjieff's departure, Ouspensky gathered the St. Petersburg group and invited them to emigrate abroad, but the reaction of the majority was indecisive. Many still hoped for a miracle. In May, a short telegram came from Gurdjieff: "If you want to rest, come to me."
Ouspensky was the first to respond to Gurdjieff's call. Soon other students began to come to Gurdjieff from Moscow and Petrograd. By August 1917, thirteen people had gathered around him in Essentuki. Some lived with Gurdjieff, others came to him early in the morning and stayed until late at night. Slept for four hours. The students did all the homework, the rest of the time was filled with conversations and exercises.
Wanderers of God
In 1918, Gurdjieff and his companions leave for Tiflis, where the fire of the revolution has not yet reached. Here he met Alexander and Jeanne de Salzman (Alexandre de Salzman was a talented theater designer, and his wife Jeanne was a dance teacher according to the system of the famous choreographer Jean Dalcroze) and began work on staging the ballet The Struggle of the Magicians.
In the autumn of 1919, Gurdjieff invited the de Salzmanns to formalize their joint activities as the Institute of Harmonious Man. Now central to Gurdjieff's work was ballet, which, in his opinion, was to become a "school". The participants in the ballet had to learn to control their bodies, thus advancing towards the disclosure of higher forms of consciousness.
Meanwhile, the political situation in Tiflis was becoming more and more turbulent, and although the Bolsheviks did not come to Georgia until January 1921, Gurdjieff decided to leave this city in the summer of 1920. On a passing ship, the company, consisting of Gurdjieff and his numerous companions, sailed from Batum to Constantinople.
However, in August 1921, Gurdjieff and his companions were forced to leave for Germany, which in the early 1920s was the Mecca of mysticism.
After a series of unsuccessful attempts to settle with his institute in Germany, Gurdjieff began to prepare for a trip to England to see Ouspensky. He arrived in London in February 1922 and met with his students. But to settle down in England, as well as in Germany, Gurdjieff did not succeed. Despite the efforts of English friends, the visa was not obtained. However, Gurdjieff was given a condition that he did not accept: he could get a visa alone, without companions who came with him from Tiflis and Constantinople.
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George Gurdjieff. The Fourth Way and Its Creator
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George Gurdjieff was one of the most enigmatic figures of the first half of the 20th century. Some saw in him a bearer of ancient knowledge and a prophet, others saw him as an "enslaver of men" and "seducer of women." His life is one of the most curious pages of the turbulent era of wars and revolutions. George Ivanovich Gurdjieff appeared in Russia between 1911 and 1913. By this time he...