A definitive characteristic of a living teaching or ‘way’ is that it cannot be found in any book. Whilst it is true that books may make us aware of the existence of a way and somehow help us find the threshold, it is rare for a book to give precise direction and guidance for an …
What is the nature of movement? Movement and dance are a neglected aspect of philosophy, but here the author explores movement from the perspective of meaning and value. 20th century teachers such as Alexander, Dalcroze, Laban and Gurdjieff have explored avenues ranging from the aesthetic and the healing arts to the spiritual, which effectively elevates …
In Search of the Elixir of Personal Transformation: The Philosophy of Movements Read More »
On one occasion at the beginning of a meeting Gurdjieff put a question to which all those present had to answer in turn. The question was; “What is the most important thing that we notice during self-observation?” Some of those present said that during attempts at self-observation, what they had felt particularly strongly was an …
Ouspensky relates his talks with Gurdjieff about ‘Knowledge and Being’. Gurdjieff said that: “People understand what ‘knowledge’ means. And they understand the possibility of different levels of knowledge. They understand that knowledge may be lesser or greater, that is to say, of one quality or of another quality. But they do not understand this in …
Each centre has its own memory, its own associations, its own thinking. As a matter of fact each centre consists of three parts: the thinking, the emotional, and the moving. But we know very little about this side of our nature. In each centre we know only one part. Self-observation, however, will very quickly show …
It is possible through self-observation to begin to see how we limit ourselves and only use the weakest part of our organism. Ouspensky outlines the situation when he discusses ‘parts of centres’: “I want to tell you a little more about centres which will help you to understand the situation. Some centres are divided …
From the moment we recognise that there is something wrong or something lacking in us and therefore that something has to be changed, a work on ourselves can be undertaken toward evolution. And the first question that arises for us, is how to undertake work which will give us the power to see ourselves as …
To Be Fully Oneself As soon we begin to question ourselves about our own identity and nature, either as a result of shocks in life or under the influence of exceptional moments, the question arises as to whether, instead of giving ourselves up more or less completely to events and thus to a course of …
George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff was born in Alexandropol in 1866 to a Greek father and Armenian mother. His father was an Ashokh, or bard, and sung epic poetry in an oral tradition that was thousands of years old, including the story of Gilgamesh. With fellow ‘Seekers of Truth’ Gurdjieff spent twenty years of his early adult …
The ‘Five Strivings’ are: 1. Health. 2. Strength (in the sense of quality of being). 3. Inquiring for the sake of understanding. 4. Paying the cost of one’s living. 5. Service to others.