A Work In Life: Ten Minutes With My Cat
The Gurdjieff teaching is known as a work in life — that is, a striving to find spiritual solace and meaning in the details of everyday life
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Take the understanding of the East
the knowledge of the West
— and then seek.
Who am I?
What am I here for?
What are my deep possibilities?
G.I. Gurdjieff
Gurdjieff brought to the West a fundamental teaching whose language and concerns have nourished many other teachings and schools. He offered methods, practices, perspectives—a resolutely practical work. He wished to show men and women of our time and place how it might be possible to develop a new integrated awareness and a new sensitivity to conscience.
The Teaching
Gurdjieff’s teaching is both personal and universal, both mystical and practical. It approaches the essential questions: How might I awaken to who I really am? How can humanity reverse the process leading to its seemingly inevitable self-destruction? We recognize ourselves in Gurdjieff’s fundamental teaching. Where to begin but with a transforming search – a work on self. Eternally practical, Gurdjieff’s teaching offers both ancient truth and unique, modern method.
The Work in Practice
Gurdjieff chose to express the teaching in many forms
To approach these questions Gurdjieff proposed an elegant system of ideas, and concrete methods based on self-observation, working with others both in meetings and practical activities, working alone in very quiet conditions, carrying out movements exercises and sacred dances, and music. The aim was to touch and develop all the parts of a human being, in the context of the great spiritual traditions of the past, and the amazing scientific developments of the modern era.
We need each other. To know oneself--that ancient advice--we also need to know others and be known by them. We each have possibilities, rooted in essence. We each have inner obstacles best explored and understood when people work together and hear one another. As Gurdjieff put it, "You can't become master of yourself by staying in your room."
During his travels in the Near East and Central Asia, Gurdjieff witnessed temple dances, the dances of Sufi brotherhoods, even dances in remote Christian settings. He saw that engagement of the body, mind, and feeling in dance could support and inspire work on attention, work for presence and being. Through his choreographic genius, Movements became an integral part of the Gurdjieff teaching.
In the 1920s, Gurdjieff collaborated with an exquisitely trained Russian composer, Thomas de Hartmann, initially to compose music to accompany the Movements and, in a later phase, music simply for listening. The result was an extraordinary repertoire, now available both in recorded performances and as printed music. It is music that resonates with the human spirit, its mystery, possibilities, and questions.
Upcoming Events
Tue, Oct 15Howard Street, Cambridge, MAOct 15, 2024, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PMThese in-person exchanges are for those interested in learning about the ideas of G.I. Gurdjieff, a teacher and mystic who emphasized that, as we are, we are not completed beings, that we remain blind to a potential for transformation Join us for this second open exchange in our fall schedule.
Tue, Nov 12Location is to be announced soon.Nov 12, 2024, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PMThese exchanges are for those interested in learning about the ideas of G.I. Gurdjieff, a teacher and mystic who emphasized that, as we are, we are not completed beings, that we remain blind to a potential for transformation Join us for this third open exchange in our fall schedule.
Sun, Nov 17Cambridge, MA, USANov 17, 2024, 10:00 AM – 11:00 AMDiscover a new and vital attention and a renewed sense of self through the unique dances of G. I. Gurdjieff. For your fall planning purposes, we offer classes on November 17 and and December 15.
Wed, Dec 04Swartz Hall, 45 Frances Avenue, Cambridge, MADec 04, 2024, 5:00 PM – Dec 05, 2024, 6:00 PMSponsored by the Harvard Divinity School's Center for the Study of World Religions, the conference features nationally recognized Gurdjieff scholars, teachers, and pianists.
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