J.G. Bennettjgbennett.netThe work that Bennett taught at the Academy at Sherborne can be described as “TRANSFORMATION”. Echoing Gurdjieff, he taught the notion of Conditional Immortality – that human beings are born with the possibility of a soul, but that a fully formed soul is very, very unlikely, and only attainable by determined hard work. This is the essence of “Conscious Labour and Intentional Suffering” or Being Partkdolgduty as described in Gurdjieff’s “Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson”. All of the inner exercises and the Movements that Gurdjieff taught enable us to create within ourselves the substance Hanbledzoin, or Baraka as it is known in Sufism, spiritual force. Hanbledzoin was described by Gurdjieff as “the blood of the body Kesdjan”, the vessel of the Soul. By means of determined and unceasing work on the inner exercises, in conjunction with the undertaking of conscious labour and intentional suffering, the creation of the soul is made possible for us. But who can do this, and why should we undertake something so arduous?? Bennett was introduced by Gurdjieff to the notion of Solioonensius, or times of heightened energy within a part of our planet, or the whole of our planet. Bennett researched this idea, and reached the conclusion that times of such heightened energy are often seen as terrestrial catastrophes, but that in fact these have always been times of accelerated evolution for the human race. In other words, this is a time of great creativity for us people. Gurdjieff indicated to Bennett, that according to certain ancient and secret wisdom schools, the present period of Solioonensius commenced as early as 1903, and will continue for some considerable time into the future, placing great demands on all forms of life, particularly human beings. This is a challenge for mankind. The nature of our world will change and humanity must adapt, evolve or be destroyed. DuVersityThe guiding policy of the DuVersity is 'integration without rejection', a principle taken from John Bennett, a pupil of Gurdjieff. It seeks to integrate the most spiritual with the most material, the most individual with the most collective, the most ancient with the most modern. It is deeply concerned with methodology, or 'how-to', in which it sees an underlying unity that cuts across ideological, cultural and belief divides without loss of diversity. Books and CD'sBennett BooksBennett Books Publishing is also an instrument for publishing ideas on the Transformation of Man. Since 1988 we have concentrated largely on making available the writings and talks of JG Bennett -- a major developer of the ideas of Gurdjieff -- and from whom Bennett Books takes its name. The founder and current associates of Bennett Books studied with JG Bennett and Elizabeth Bennett in the 1970s.
By The Way BooksWe offer a unique selection of rare, out-of-print and select new books. Most are related to mysticism, metaphysics, philosophy, psychology or religion. Our inventory has a particular emphasis on G.I. Gurdjieff and The Fourth Way.
Triangle Editions (G-H Records)THE MUSIC OF GURDJIEFF/de HARTMANN is the result of an extraordinary collaboration between G.I.Gurdjieff and the Russian composer, Thomas de Hartmann. Gurdjieff traveled for twenty years in the Middle East and Central Asia to discover and develop the teaching which now bears his name. In the 1920's he and de Hartmann worked together on the music included in this collection. These are the only recordings available of Thomas de Hartmann himself playing the music he composed with Gurdjieff.
Eureka EditionsFourth Way Books from the Netherlands. ConferencesAll and Everything ConferenceThe ALL & EVERYTHING Conference provides an open, congenial & serious atmosphere for the sharing of researches and investigations of G. I. Gurdjieff's legacy. The Conference seeks to keep the study of the teachings of Gurdjieff relevant to global scientific, spiritual and sociological developments. The Conference includes the presentation of academic papers, individual view papers, seminars on chapters and themes in All & Everything, and relevant cultural events. ExhibitionsArt in Action"Thirty years on, this festival still nourishes the soul" Does today's art uplift and inspire? In the words of Jean de la Bruyere, "When a work lifts your spirits and inspires bold and noble thoughts in you, do not look for any other standard to judge by: the work is good, the product of a master craftsman. Fourth WayFourth Way contacts around the WorldG. I. Gurdjieff started teaching in Russia in 1912; his teaching is also known as the Fourth Way. Gurdjieff's ideas are followed in all continents in group work, seminars, the Movements classes and work in handicrafts.
The Gurdjieff Studies ProgramThe Fourth Way is not a retreat from life but instead teaches students how to consciously experience and engage ordinary life to come to real life. In doing so, each seeker verifies for himself or herself the truth and applicability of the practices and ideas in their own lives. There are a number of faux Fourth Way groups led by people who have never had any contact with an authentic teacher, or very little. Because of their coercive measures, including financial and sexual exploitation, the reputation of The Fourth Way has been tarnished. The arrogation of many of its ideas by so-called New Age Teachings;—self-styled inventions which take elements from a number of teachings—has also served to cast the teaching as outdated. This is profoundly not true, as any direct contact with the teaching will show. There is also a confusion among those who would like to merge the teaching with Theosophy and Western occultism. On this point Mr. Gurdjieff was very specific. He said they "have resulted from a mixture of the fundamental [spiritual] lines. Both lines bear in themselves grains of truth, but neither possess full knowledge and therefore attempts to bring them to practical realization give only negative results." A genuine teaching of self-transformation cannot be an "invention," something put together by taking a little from this teaching, a little from that, and giving it a new name. So much of what purports to be a spiritual teaching is in reality simply spiritual theft. G.I. GurdjieffGurdjieff BibliographyThis edition of the Gurdjieff Reading Guide contains a retrospective anthology of fifty-two articles, some originally published here, and others dating as far back as 1919. These provide an independent survey of the literature by or about George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff (1866?-1949) and offer a wide range of informed opinion (admiring, critical and contradictory) about him, his activities, writings, philosophy, and influence. Gurdjieff Heritage SocietyMore than fifty years have passed since George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff left in our keeping an extraordinarily valuable teaching, comprised of clearly defined principles, fresh stimulating ideas, and precise practical suggestions for living them. But this priceless legacy is increasingly being allowed to deteriorate, become neglected or lost, and Mr. Gurdjieff's carefully considered, specific instructions are being ignored, misunderstood or misinterpreted. Distortions of "The Gurdjieff Ideas" and "The Fourth Way" proliferate in the public marketplace, and even the meticulously constructed and jealously guarded "Movements" are being deformed, forgotten, or used inappropriately. A large number of people do not just accept that "all this is inevitable!" and they share a sincere wish to preserve, practice, and pass on Gurdjieff's teaching undistorted. As a community of "like-minded" individuals, assembled to serve this cause, we are calling ourselves “THE GURDJIEFF HERITAGE SOCIETY.”
Gurdjieff Internet GuideIn his recently published book George Jeffery writes:
"While I am very aware of the necessity of maintaining the purity of the teaching, it is pointless to preserve ideas for future generations by wrapping them in cotton wool when the very existence of those generations is gravely in doubt."
This puts two questions: Is Gurdjieff’s teaching for this world? Or is it just for the few people who are in the official organisations?
International Association of the The Gurdjieff FoundationsThe Association has been initiated by the Foundations in Paris, London, New York and Caracas which were established on the direct instructions of G.I. Gurdjieff. The aim of the association is to preserve the essence, the specificity and the integrity of all aspects of Gurdjieff's teaching.
Leeds Gurdjieff SocietyAfter a lifetime spent in the teaching of a system of knowledge which he gave only to a small circle of pupils, George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff decided shortly before his death in October 1949 to publish the first of a series of his books which expresses his ideas in the form of a ‘cosmological epic based upon the legend of ‘Beelzebub’ --- whose banishment to our solar system brings him into contact with mankind whose strange customs and problems he describes with deep compassion and at times with superb humour'. This ‘all-wise Beelzebub’, with profound understanding of the weakness of humanity, points the way towards the regeneration of mankind through the development of the inner possibilities of man and presents a teaching of exceptional value for the world. All and Everything is of special significance now, when the world is helplessly struggling to control the intensification of technical achievement which threatens to destroy the essential values and purpose of life. This book rediscovers the path which man was destined to follow in the universal scheme and from which he has gone so far astray.
London Gurdjieff Society After
Mr Gurdjieff's death in Paris in 1949 his closest pupils, led by Mme
de Salzmann, continued the oral transmission of his practical teaching
through activities touching all sides of a man, and this tradition continues
today. JournalsGurdjieff International ReviewA source of informed essays and commentary on the history, writings, and teachings of George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff. Mr. Gurdjieff was an extraordinary man, a master in the truest sense. His teachings speak to our most essential questions: Who am I? Why am I here? What is the purpose of life, and of human life in particular? As a young man, Gurdjieff relentlessly pursued these questions and became convinced that practical answers lay within ancient traditions. Through many years of searching and practice he discovered answers and then set about putting what he had learned into a form understandable to the Western world. Gurdjieff maintained that, owing to the abnormal conditions of modern life, we no longer function in a harmonious way. He taught that in order to become harmonious, we must develop new faculties—or actualize latent potentialities—through “work on oneself.” He presented his teachings and ideas in three forms: writings, music, and movements which correspond to our intellect, emotions, and physical body.
A.R. OrageThe Fourth Way ArchiveFor fourteen years Orage continued to edit 'The New Age'. His reputation as a literary critic and writer on current affairs in almost every field of human effort was at its height when an inner discontent began increasingly to manifest itself. With all his searching he had not been able to find an answer to the question which never allowed him to sleep in peace - the question of the meaning and aim of existence. The possibility of finding an answer, however, was nearer than he supposed. P. D. Ouspensky, whom he had been in touch with for some time, arrived in London in the autumn of 1921 and spoke with him about the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff. Orage, with Rowland Kenny, organized a study group for Ouspensky which first met at the studio of Lady Rothermere in Circus Road, N.W. After some months of work Gurdjieff himself visited the group in London early in February 1922 and again for a three week visit in March of that year. His talks convinced Orage that he had found the teacher he was looking for, a teacher who had, as well as a system of ideas, a practical method for inner development. This realization led him to make a complete break with his old life. In October 1922, to the bewilderment of many, he sold "The New Age", gave up his brilliant life in London - and Ouspensky's groups - and went to live at the Gurdjieff Institute at the Chateau du Prieurie in Fontainebleau. A year later, in December 1923, he went to New York as Gurdjieff's representative - the latter arriving a week later with his pupils to give a number of demonstrations of sacred dances and movements of the East. Before Gurdjieff returned to France he asked Orage to settle in New York and teach his ideas. Thus began a new life for Orage, and for seven years, apart from visits to the Prieure, he remained in America working for Gurdjieff.
P.D. OuspenskyOuspensky FoundationIt has been said that the 20th century has produced more gurus, sages and messiahs than the previous five centuries put together, mainly due to the collapse of organised religion. The three men, G.I. Gurdjieff, P.D. Ouspensky and L. MacLaren all lived within the span of a hundred years. For three years, Gurdjieff was the teacher of Ouspensky, who started a school of his own after a gap of ten years. L. MacLaren, who never met either of them, but who was a pupil of Ouspensky's successor, Dr. Roles, founded his own school based on the esoteric teaching of the other two. Although the three men operated independently from each other, their work was basically the same and consisted in rediscovering and reformulating the ancient esoteric teaching - 'eso' means 'inner' -, which like a subterranean stream disappears and reappears from time to time. Gurdjieff and Ouspensky called their teaching "The Fourth Way", for it was not the way of the fakir, the monk, or the yogi, but of the ordinary householder, meaning that a man can continue to live an ordinary life, but, by working on three levels, physical, emotional and intellectual, he can develop himself to his full potential, provided he does so under the guidance of a teacher or a school. By means of the links below, you can see how at a certain point the Eastern stream very naturally flowed together with the Western, from which we can now reap the benefits.
The Study SocietyThe Study Society was registered in 1951 by the late Dr. F.C. Roles and his friends who had been associates of the Russian philosopher and author P.D. Ouspensky (1878-1947). Ouspensky was particularly interested in the inner life of civilisations and in the convergence of science, philosophy, art and religion in the service of truth. He was also very much concerned with the inner transformation of humanity as a matter of practical experience. The Society was founded to carry on his aims and researches. He had also asked Dr Roles to look for a simple method of finding inner stillness that was suitable for people living ordinary active lives. Dr Roles fulfilled this aim in the early 1960s when he discovered a method of meditation and the knowledge associated with it, which is part of the Advaita or non-dualist school of philosophy, as taught by His Holiness, the late Shantanand Saraswati, Shankaracharya of Northern India.
The School of Economic Science"Truth has no face by which it may be recognised, nor body by which
it may be known, yet the man who has found truth in himself knows it,
and sees it in everything. While he knows it and sees it in everything,
he is free from error. "
Sacred DanceGurdjieff MovementsThe online resource for Gurdjieff and his Movements.
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