George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (Russian: Гео́ргий Ива́нович Гурджи́ев, Greek: Γεώργιος Γεωργιάδης, Armenian: Գեորգի Գյուրջիև; January 13, 1866 -- October 29, 1949) was an influential spiritual teacher of the early to mid-20th century who taught that most humans live their lives in a state of hypnotic "waking sleep", but that it is possible to transcend to a higher state of consciousness and achieve full human potential.
Gurdjieff developed a method for doing so, calling his discipline "The Work"[1] (connoting "work on oneself") or "the Method".
According to his principles and instructions,Gurdjieff's method for awakening one's consciousness is different from that of the fakir, monk or yogi, so his discipline is also called (originally) the "Fourth Way". At one point, he described his teaching as being "esoteric Christianity".
Music: G. Gurdjieff / Th. de Hartmann N14 (The Waltz)
Charles Tart: Self Observation (excerpt)
Jacob Needleman: Spirituality & the Intellect
Kathleen Speeth: The Gurdjieff Work (excerpt) - Thinking Allowed
