“Remember you come here having already understood the necessity of struggling with yourself – only with yourself. Therefore thank everyone who gives you the opportunity.”
Field: Guru, Writer, Choreographer, Psychiatrist, Musician, Doctor, Master Cook.
Born: circa 1866, Alexandropol.
Background: Gregor Ivanovitch Gurdjieff burst upon the unsuspecting world fully-formed around 1912, when he began attracting attention as the master and teacher of unique philosophy that united the physical, intellectual, and emotional aspects of self into a complex and multi-centered structure. In October 1922 Gurdjieff took a 200-acre chateau in Prieuré at Fontainebleau-Avon, and turned it into a unique institute for self-study, which was unprecedented in Europe. His music, dance, and eupsychian “therapies” were as much a part of his teachings as his words, and he quickly developed a following among influential intellectuals. His teachings have been carried down in various forms by such students as J. G. Bennett and A. R. Orage, informing the underlying structure of much of Western mysticism. Gurdijeff died on the 29th of October, 1949.
Works: Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson (1950), Meetings with Remarkable Men (1963), Views from the Real World – Talks of G. I. Gurdjieff (1973).
Lesson: Everything about you is a buffer.