PSYchology

George Gurdjieff (this is a more familiar spelling of his last name, 1872–1949) is a mystic, philosopher, traveler, spiritual teacher, founder of the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man, one of the most mysterious and eccentric figures of the first half of the XNUMXth century. He devoted his life to comprehending Eastern esoteric teachings and passing this knowledge on to his students.

George Gurdjieff (this is the more usual spelling of his last name, 1872-1949) — mystic, philosopher, traveler, spiritual teacher, founder of the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man, one of the most mysterious and eccentric figures of the first half of the XNUMXth century. He devoted his life to comprehending Eastern esoteric teachings and passing this knowledge on to his students. Groups of his followers can be found to this day in America and Europe. “Although the human body is awake, the human “I” is sleeping in it,” Gurdjieff declared, considering one of his main goals to “awaken” the sleeping, accustom them to the practices of self-knowledge, self-observation, to tireless work on themselves. This awakening in people of understanding the meaning and purpose of their existence became one of the main themes of the allegorical and fantastic novel Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson, written in exile in France, which has the subtitle «objectively impartial criticism of people.» As one of Gurdjieff’s students said, he “buried the bone in his books. We are like dogs that can smell this bone but cannot find it. If we are very hungry, we will dig the earth until we find a bone. When we find the bone, we will stop being dogs and turn into people.” A tempting prospect, isn’t it?

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