The Fourth Way - The Way of Inner Alchemy
Leeds Gurdjieff Society
Gurdjieff and the Fourth Way
In the years preceding 1920, one of gurdjieff's pupils, A.R. Orage, had formed a group of practicing psychologists to study psychoanalysis from all sides. This group, which included Dr. Maurice Nicoll - one of Jung's foremost exponents, - reached the conclusion that the need in psychology was not psychoanalysis but psycho-synthesis. In 1920, P.D. Ouspensky, who had met Orage in 1914, arrived in London. Ouspensky talked with Orage about the ideas of G.I. Gurdjieff. These talks convinced Orage that a practical psycho synthesis was now in existence through the teaching of Gurdjieff.
In 1922, Gurdjieff opened the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man, in Fontainebleau, near Paris. It was here that Orage met P.D. Ouspensky, who had studied with Gurdjieff in Russia. Orage, then a notable literary critic, later became Gurdjieff's representative in America.
Gurdjieff studied and worked with many esoteric schools prior to arriving in the West; the system he brought is not a religion, nor a philosophy, but a practical method of developing consciousness. This system is thought to have originated in Pre-dynastic Egypt, fragments of which have survived in the rituals of the Red Hat LLamas, the Sufis and the Essenes. Gurdjieff's mission was to reawaken the West to the possibility of discovering what one truly is - one's essence, and that our fragmentary personality surrounds it and restricts the development of this 'inner life'.
Gurdjieff said that 'Man's possibilities are very great' - however we suffer from vanity, pride and self-love to such an extent that our possibilities are virtually non-existent, as we are - that is in terms of reaching an improved state of 'being'. In fact the gulf between knowledge and being is the crux of the problem. As in Alchemy, a purification is needed before the real work can begin - work towards a higher level of being. Fortunately, the Fourth Way is a practical method of developing being, and one that is available to any serious seeker.
The teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff is described particularly well by P.D. Ouspensky, in the books - In Search of the Miraculous , and The Fourth Way.
George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff (ca. 1870-1949)
George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff was born in Alexandropol in the Caucasus. He spent the first part of his life undertaking anthropological and archaeological research in Africa, Central Asia and the Far East. His search took him to the lamaseries of Tibetan Rimpoches, to the libraries and mosques and monasteries of Asia, and to the great religious centres of Echmiadzin, Jerusalem and Bokhara.
After visiting many countries he reached the conviction that his researches had led him to a valid conception of the meaning of human existence, and having discovered methods, some ancient, others new, for the development of the powers latent in the human psyche, he founded in 1912 in Moscow the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man. After the Russian revolution, this was moved to France.
G.I. Gurdjieff
Introductory Meetings in the UK
Introductory meetings are held in Leeds, West Yorkshire. A new series of meetings will commence in September, 2010. Please email rb(at)gurdjieff-leeds.com or telephone 07814951231 for further information.
Movements Classes
Dates for 2010:
| Day | Date | Venue | Start | Close |
| Saturday | 3rd July | Fewston (Harrogate) | 9:30am | 5:30pm |
For further details and to register, please email: jan(at)gurdjieff-leeds.com
"We realize through Movements that we are rarely awaken to our own life - inner or outer. We see that we always react in a habitual and conditioned way; we become aware that our three main centres, - head, body and feeling do not work in harmony. But as we begin to try to move intentionally and not mechanically, we can discover in ourselves unexpected possibilities to be more awake and remain so for longer periods of time.The overall sensation of oneself brings about a quietness of mind, an awareness of the body and an interest in feeling resulting in a more complete state of attentiveness in which the life force can be freed. There is a taste of how life could be lived differently."
Jesmin Howarth
Work Days and Group Meetings
If you already have experience of Gurdjieff / Fourth Way group work, and would like to make contact, please email: rb(at)gurdjieff-leeds.com
The Fourth Way Archive
The Fourth Way Archive is a collection of documents and text extracts relating to the teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff. The Archive section is primarily drawn from teaching notes of A.R. Orage during the late 1920's and early 1930's. A.R. Orage was a primary pupil of Gurdjieff and editor of two influential newspapers, The New Age and later the New English Weekly. Orage was also co-founder of the Leeds Art Club in 1900 and worked as a school teacher in Leeds for ten years.
The Archive also contains material associated with group work in the North of England from 1955, when John Bennett gave talks.
See www.fourth-way.org.uk For further information about the Fourth Way
Faith of consciousness is freedom
Faith of feeling is weakness
Faith of body is stupidity
Love of consciousness evokes the same in response
Love of feeling evokes the opposite
Love of body depends only on type and polarity
Hope of consciousness is strength
Hope of feeling is slavery
Hope of body is disease
G.I. Gurdjieff