Gurdjieff Studies Group

The London-based Gurdjieff Studies Group is a Fourth Way group formed in 1994 by British Gurdjieffean teacher James Moore. Georgei Gurdjieff, a mystic and spiritual teacher, believed that there had been three classic ways to awaken the self and encounter spiritual reality, that of the yogi, the monk, and the fakir. The Fourth Way, symbolized in the nine-pointed diagram called the enneagram, was the way of encounter with ordinary life. In his life Gurdjieff used a combination of specific spiritual exercises along with the placement of students in conflict-laden, tension-filled situations to facilitate the awakening of the self. He basically saw people as asleep and in the control of forces outside of themselves.

In 1956 Moore began his pilgrimage into the world of Gurdjieff by joining the group led by Dr. Kenneth Walker, but the following year he went under the tutelage of Mme. Henriette Lannes and stayed in her group until 1979. While continuing his own study and development, in 1980 he began to teach and write, and authored a number of articles on the Gurdjieff teachings. He is also credited with assisting the formation of the work in New Zealand and its revival in Ireland. In 1991 he completed his major book, Gurdjieff: A Biography: Anatomy of a Myth.

The Gurdjieff Studies Group constitutes a community of committed Gurdjieff students who are engaged in both an intellectual and practical guided study of Gurdjieff's teachings. While working closely together as a group, members do not live communally.

The Gurdjieff Studies Group may be contacted at P.O. Box LB220, London WC2N 4EB, United Kingdom. The group is open to residents in London and Southeast England, and has started a reading group in Brighton. It maintains an Internet presence at http://www3.mistral.co.uk/gsg/index.html.

Sources:

Gurdjieff Studies Group. http://www3.mistral.co.uk/gsg/index.html. May 20, 2000.

Moore, James. Gurdjieff: A Biography: Anatomy of a Myth. Shaftesbury, Dorset, UK: Element Books, 1991.