What is needed to live more fully, open to the wonders of Life?
The Gurdjieff teaching offers a way to explore Life’s fundamental questions through active participation in a community of serious seekers. This is a tradition that is steeped in ancient wisdom and oriented to the conditions of the modern world. The Gurdjieff Foundation of New York is open to people at all levels of understanding, providing a place to explore the essential questions of one’s existence in an atmosphere of openness, respect and authentic study.
Gurdjieff’s teaching is based on the practice of self-study, from the ancient principle “Know Thyself”. The methods and forms he introduced are an invitation to study the experiences of our everyday life, both the joys and the challenges, providing the material for an inner search. This is very much a living teaching that can help us open to the essential human questions “Who am I?” and “What am I here for?”
The teaching includes a rich body of published and unpublished writings, music composed by Gurdjieff in collaboration with Thomas de Hartmann, Movements, and practical exercises.
Our practice is guided by the traditions and methods introduced by Gurdjieff, working with attention to deepen self-observation. Recognizing that each individual’s path is unique, the Gurdjieff Foundation of New York offers weekly group meetings led by senior students where members share their direct experiences, classes in Movements (sacred dances and exercises) and regular meditation practice. In addition, retreats offer periods of concentrated efforts that underscore the value of a work with others.
Early influences led to Gurdjieff’s lifelong striving to understand the significance of life and the meaning of our human existence in relation to the whole of creation. During twenty years of search in remote parts of Asia and the Middle East, he acquired an understanding of ancient knowledge that was long forgotten in the West.
Gurdjieff returned to Russia in 1912. For the remainder of his life, he tirelessly explored ways of passing his teaching on to others as his own understanding continued to evolve. Neither a philosophy nor a religion, the teaching’s underlying principle remains unchanged: “Know Thyself.”
