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 ninepointed
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 Gurdjieffs 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 httpwww3.mistral.co.ukgsgindex.html.
Sources
Gurdjieff Studies Group. httpwww3.mistral.co.ukgsg
index.html. May 20, 2000.
Moore, James. Gurdjieff A Biography Anatomy of a Myth.
Shaftesbury, Dorset, UK Element Books, 1991.
