Gurdjieff, George

Gurdjieff, George (Ivanovitch)

 orig. George S. Georgiades

(born 1872?, Alexandropol, Armenia, Russian Empire—died Oct. 29, 1949, Neuilly, near Paris, France) Armenian mystic and philosopher. He apparently traveled in the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia as a young man. He taught in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and in 1919 he founded the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man at Tiflis (now Tbilisi), Georgia. In 1922 he reestablished the institute at Fontainebleau, France, gathering a group of followers who lived communally, engaging in philosophical dialogue, ritual exercises, and dance. His basic assertion was that ordinary living was akin to sleep and that through spiritual discipline it was possible to achieve heightened levels of vitality and awareness. The Fontainebleau centre closed in 1933, but Gurdjieff continued to teach in Paris until his death.