In the years preceding 1920, one of gurdjieff's pupils, A.R. Orage, had formed a group of practicing psychologists to study psychoanalysis from all sides. This group, which included Dr. Maurice Nicoll - one of Jung's foremost exponents, - reached the conclusion that the need in psychology was not psychoanalysis but psycho-synthesis. In 1920, P.D. Ouspensky, who had met Orage in 1914, arrived in London. Ouspensky talked with Orage about the ideas of G.I. Gurdjieff. These talks convinced Orage that a practical psycho-synthesis was now in existence through the teaching of Gurdjieff.
In 1922, Gurdjieff opened the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man, in Fontainebleau, near Paris. It was here that Orage worked with Gurdjieff, and became his representative in America. Although Gurdjieff studied and worked with many esoteric schools prior to arriving in the West, the system he brought is not a religion, nor a philosophy, but a practical method of developing consciousness. This system is thought to have originated in Pre-dynastic Egypt, fragments of which have survived in the rituals of the Red Hat LLamas, the Sufis and the Essenes. Gurdjieff's mission was to reawaken the West to the possibility of discovering what one truly is - one's essence.
Gurdjieff said that 'Man's possibilities are very great' - however we suffer from vanity, pride and self-love, which prevents us from reaching an improved state of being. Fortunately, the Fourth Way is a practical method of developing being, and one that is available to any serious seeker.
The Leeds Gurdjieff Society follows the tradition and practical methods of the Fourth Way, including: Group meetings, Readings from Gurdjieff's book 'All and Everything', Craft activities and Sacred Dance.
The teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff is described particularly well by P.D. Ouspensky, in the books - In Search of the Miraculous , and The Fourth Way . See The Fourth Way Foundation for information about these books.
For further information about meetings, sacred dance seminars or membership of the Leeds Gurdjieff Society, please email:
or call 0781 4951231 (from the UK)
G.I. Gurdjieff