G. I. Gurdjieff (1866-1949)
From my point of view, he can be called a remarkable man who stands out from those around him by the resourcefulness of his mind, and who knows how to be restrained in the manifestations which proceed from his nature, at the same time conducting himself justly and tolerantly towards the weaknesses of others.
(G. I. Gurdjieff, Meetings with Remarkable Men, published 1963)
Gurdjieff in 1924
Georges Ivanovich Gurdjieff (1866-1949) was a mystic from the Caucasian Region of the Russian Empire. Gurdjieff taught a psychological practice ("Gurdjieff Work") that seemed to embody oral traditions that were many thousands of years old! P. D. Ouspensky originally entitled the book describing his experiences with Gurdjieff as Fragments of a Lost Teaching. Also, the American philosopher, Henry Leroy Finch (1919-1997), has written the following words describing Gurdjieff:
He is a messenger from the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, prior to the Greco-Roman and biblical worlds in which we still live--that is, from the age of the divine sun, traces of which in the form of standing stones or dolmens and geometrical and astronomical chambers and constructions (pyramids, ziggurats, stone circles, sanctifying sun and moon measures) are found from Ireland to the Caucasus, and from Scandinavia to Egypt and later Mesoamerica.
(Quote is taken from Finch's article entitled: The Sacred Cosmos; Teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff that was published (1996) in the book: Gurdjieff: Essays and Reflections on the Man and his Teachings, page 8.)
Similar to Ouspensky and Finch, my view is that the "Gurdjieff Work" primarily consists of fragments from a lost alchemical teaching that originated among the great civilizations of the Bronze Age.
The entire body of Gurdjieff teachings are far too extensive to reproduce here. However, I recommend the excellent introductory article by the San Francisco State University philosopher, Jacob Needleman, entitled: G. I. Gurdjieff and His School. The remainder of this essay will be devoted to an examination of his teachings which are clearly of an alchemical nature.
Gurdjieff's Alchemical Teachings
