Gurdjieff, the Fourth Way & the Enneagram

G.I. Gurdjieff was an Armenian Greek from the Russian Caucuses who travelled widely through Asia and the Middle East at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. Along with a group of Seekers After Truth (as they called themselves) he learned many of the teachings and techniques of wisdom and knowledge found among dervishes, monks and sages throughout the area.

After studying this body of knowledge, he began to teach Western students what he had learned in a form that was appropriate to the time and age in which they were living, and in the context of their current levels of understanding and his own strengths and weaknesses. His teaching is sometimes referred to as The Work or The Fourth Way.

Gurdjieff taught primarily through lectures, music, dances and communal work situations. He also wrote books, in which his stated intention was

"To destroy, mercilessly, without any compromises whatsoever, in the mentation and feelings of the reader, the beliefs and views, by centuries rooted in him, about everything existing in the world...

"To acquaint the reader with the material required for a new creation and to prove the soundness and good quality of it...

"To assist the arising, in the mentation and in the feelings of the reader, of a veritable, non-fantastic representation not of that illusory world which he now perceives, but of the world existing in reality."

Gurdjieff and his students and associates, like P.D. Ouspensky and J.G. Bennett, set down much of the foundation for later Western researchers into the area of traditional psychology and ancient wisdom and their applicability to contemporary life. For example, the Enneagram symbol Gurdjieff introduced has, in recent times, through the work of people like Oscar Ichazo and Claudio Naranjo, become an important factor in the dissemination of esoteric knowledge to the general public.

There are some movies, documentaries and lectures which can give one a partial sense of what the Gurdjieff Work was all about, and how the legacy influenced other people who followed its lead.

Recommended Reading:

Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson - G.I. Gurdjieff

Meetings with Remarkable Men - G.I. Gurdjieff

Life is Real Only Then, When I Am - G.I. Gurdjieff


Views from the Real World: Gurdjieff's Talks to his Pupils - G.I. Gurdjieff

Herald of the Coming Good - G.I. Gurdjieff

In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching - P.D. Ouspensky

The Psychology of Man's Possible Evolution - P.D. Ouspensky

The Fourth Way - P.D. Ouspensky

Gurdjieff: Making a New World - J.G. Bennett

Enneagram Studies- J.G. Bennett

Interviews with Oscar Ichazo - Bliebtrau, ed.

Character and Neurosis - Claudio Naranjo

The Enneagram - Helen Palmer

The Spirit of the East

In the last one hundred years, there has been a significant increase in the exchange of ideas between different cultures throughout the world. As those areas traditionally thought of as "the West" began to interact more with the cultures of "the East", certain conceptions on the nature and potential of humankind and its place in the universe became better known to everyone.

While the usefulness of some of these ideas may be limited to the times, places and societies in which they've traditionally circulated, others may be of more general use in the modern world. Additionally, in spite of the widespread diffusion of many of these concepts, some ideas continue to be misunderstood or under-represented. The Spirit of the East playlist explores some Eastern spiritual ideas in the context of their traditional cultures.

Recommended reading:

Shamanism - Mircea Eliade

The Collected Taoist Classics - Thomas Cleary, trans.

Classics of Buddhism and Zen - Thomas Cleary, trans.

Introduction to Zen Buddhism - D.T. Suzuki

The Fighting Spirit of Japan - E.J. Harrison

Magic and Mystery in Tibet - Alexandra David-Neel

The Tibetan Book of the Dead: First Complete Translation - Gyume Dorje, trans.

The Way to Shambhala - Edwin Bernbaum

Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists - Ananda Coomaraswamy

Kalila and Dimna: Classic Fables from India - Ramsey Wood

The Upanishads - Ekniah Easwaran, trans.

The Bhagavad-Gita - Barbara Stoler Miller, trans.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali - Chip Hartranft, trans.

Occult Science in India and among the Ancients - Louis Jacolliot

The Spirit of the East - Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah

The Book of Oriental Literature - Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah

Lights of Asia - Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah

Oriental Caravan - Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah

Oriental Magic - Idries Shah

The Egyptian Book of the Dead - E.A. Wallis Budge