Core Literature
Core Literature
Core Literature
"No one interested in my writings should ever attempt to read them in any other than the indicated order; in other words, he should never read anything written by me before he is already well acquainted with the earlier works." G. I. Gurdjieff
Mr. Forman introduced the literature in ways appropriate to those with whom he was speaking. In talks for the general public, he would suggest reading in a sequence that he knew would aid understanding for those new to the ideas. Gurdjieff wrote the All and Everything trilogy: Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson, Meetings with Remarkable Men, and Life is Real Only Then, When 'I Am'. Meetings with Remarkable Men was made into a film directed by Peter Brook, under the care of Jeanne de Salzmann
Views from the Real World is composed of notes from early talks of Gurdjieff.
In Search of the Miraculous by P. D. Ouspensky, one of Gurdjieff's earliest pupils, was approved by him as an outline of some basic ideas.
Work in Groups
Core Literature
Core Literature
..a 'group' is the beginning of everything. One man can do nothing, can attain nothing. A group with a real leader can do more, A group of people can do what one man can never do. "You do not realize your own situation. You are in prison. All you can wish for, if you are a sensible man, is to escape. But how escape? It is necessary to tunnel under a wall. One man can do nothing. But let us suppose there are ten or twenty men—if they work in turn and if one covers another they can complete the tunnel and escape. Furthermore, no one can escape from prison without the help of those who have escaped before. Only they can say in what way escape is possible or can send tools, files, or whatever may be necessary. But one prisoner alone cannot find these people or get into touch with them. An organization is necessary. Nothing can be achieved without an organization.
G. I. Gurdjieff quoted in P. D. Ouspensky; In Search of the Miraculous. Learn More
Locations of Gurdjieff Foundations
Thomas Forman worked with groups in New York, Philadelphia, and Cleveland. The WORK WITH GROUPS page contains material from his work with those groups and situations.
The Gurdjieff Movements
Gurdjieff/deHartmann Music
Gurdjieff/deHartmann Music
The Gurdjieff Movements, or sacred dances, offer a unique approach to self-awareness and the development of integrated attention. Classes work on a large repertory of dances and exercises, choreographed by Gurdjieff, primarily on the basis of models witnessed during his years of travel in remote regions.
These Movements have a double aim. By requiring a quality of attention maintained on several parts at the same time, they help us to get out of the narrow circle of our automatism. And through a strict succession of attitudes, they lead us to a new possibility of thinking, feeling and action. If we could truly perceive their meaning and speak their language, the Movements would reveal to us another level of understanding. Jeanne de Salzmann Learn more
Gurdjieff/deHartmann Music
Gurdjieff/deHartmann Music
Gurdjieff/deHartmann Music
Between June 1925 and May 1927, Gurdjieff worked with the Russian composer and pianist, Thomas de Hartmann. to produce a body of work that has an important role in the life of the Gurdjieff groups.
De Hartmann is quoted as saying:
Georgi Ivanovich put always a great weight on music. He himself played and he also composed. If we compare it with the music of all religions, we can see that music plays a great role, a great part, in so to say, religious service. But after the work of Georgi Ivanovich, we can understand it more, we can understand it better, that music helps to concentrate oneself, to bring oneself to an inner state when we can assume the greatest possible emanations. That is why music is just the thing which helps you to see higher.
Thomas Forman was instrumental in bringing together, saving, and editing recordings that, having been made casually, needed a lot of work before wider distribution. Learn more.
Since then, contemporary musicians have recorded the music.