Shvilim
Israeli Gurdjieff foundation
The study groups of practical teaching as handed by Mr. Gurdjieff's direct disciples
Who am I?
Why am I here?
What is the meaning of my life?
Is there something beyond my ordinary existence?
It is possible to truly comprehend the meaning of our existence…
The possibility to truly comprehend the meaning of our existence is present, although hidden. It is hidden under all of our mundane “objectives”, to which we often devote great efforts, hidden under all the ways suggested to us by various teachers and philosophies.
Who am I? Why am I here? What is the meaning of my life?
Is there something beyond my ordinary existence? Do I possess unknown capacities?
How can I choose my path correctly?
When these questions arise, they may carry a hidden direction and present unknown possibilities.
About Mr. Gurdjieff
"Mr. Gurdjieff was a danger. A real threat. A threat for one's self-calming, a threat for the little regard one had of oneself, a threat to the comfortable repertoire where we generally live. But at the moment when this threat appeared, like a ditch to cross, a threshold to step over, one was helped to cross it by his presence itself."
- Dr. Michel de Salzmann -
George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff
George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff was born in 1877 in Alexandropol and trained in Kars as both a priest and a physician. For some twenty years, Gurdjieff traveled in the remotest regions of Central Asia and the Middle East. These years were crucial in the moulding of his thought. On his return, he began to gather pupils in Moscow before the First World War and continued his work with a small party of followers. During the years of the Russian revolution, he moved to Essentuki in the Caucasus and then through Tiflis, Constantinople, Berlin and London, to the Château du Prieuré near Paris, where he reopened his Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man in 1922 on a larger scale. He died in 1949.
The story of his unremitting search for a real and universal knowledge, and the expositions of his ideas, are unfolded in his major works: Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson, Meetings with Remarkable Men, Life is Real Only Then, When ‘I am’ and Views from the Real World.
Mr. Gurdjieff was an extraordinary man, a master in the truest sense. His teaching speaks to our most essential questions: Who am I? Why am I here? What is the purpose of life, and of human life in particular?
Through many years of searching and practice he discovered a Teaching and then set about putting what he had learned into a form understandable to the Western world. He presented his teaching and ideas in several forms that included work in groups, writing, music, and movements, which together offered a new possibility of "a work on oneself".
"Shvilim" Israel - Israeli Gourdjieff foundation'
The Groups
Mr. Gurdjieff established and personally guided groups throughout the world for the purpose of inner work.
The main centers of work were in Paris, London and New York. After his death in 1949, the responsibility for the Work was passed on to Madame de Salzmann, who worked mainly with the groups in Paris and New York. Madame de Salzmann served as the leader of the Work, which included the study of Gurdjieff’s ideas, movements and music, and the responsibility of publishing his writings. Madame de Salzmann formed many outstanding pupils, all of whom had worked with Mr. Gurdjieff while he was still alive.
Some pupils directly appointed by her were Pauline de Dampierre, Dr. Michel de Salzmann, Dr. Michel Conge and Henry Tracol in Paris; Lord John Pentland, William Segal and Mrs. Margaret (Peggy) Flinsch in North America. They shared the responsibility with her for the inner work, and continued to be responsible after her passing away in 1990.
The first Israeli people interested in the work in the sixties turned to New York and Paris. In 1965 when Dr. Michel Conge arrived to Israel he started the first Israeli group, which carries today the responsibility for the Work and is in close contact with the centers in Paris, London and New York.
Publications
G. I. Gurdjieff
All and Everything
Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson
An Objectively Impartial Criticism of the Life of Man
The original translation of 1238 pages, first published in 1950 by Harcourt, Brace & Company (New York); Routledge & Kegan Paul (London). Copyright 1950 by G. Gurdjieff. This translation was made under the personal direction of the author, by a group of translators chosen by him and specially trained according to their defined individualities. Later published in 1964 by E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., Library of Congress No. 50-5848. Again published in 1973 by E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc. in paperback (3 volumes), SBN 0-525-47348-3, 0-525-47349-1, 0-525-47350-5. Then published in 1993 by Two Rivers Press. Again published in 1999 by Penguin Arkana, a paperback that contains correction of errata and insertion of two paragraphs omitted from page 568 of Chapter 32 "Hypnotism" in earlier editions.
A revised translation of 1135 pages, first published in 1992 by Arkana, an imprint of Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc. Copyright Triangle Editions, Inc. 1992, ISBN 0-670-84125-0. This revision was begun on the initiative of Jeanne de Salzmann. The translation team included members of the Gurdjieff Foundation of New York, aided by members of the Gurdjieff Society (London) and the Institut Gurdjieff (Paris), as well as Triangle Editions.
G. I. Gurdjieff
All and Everything
Meetings with Remarkable Men
First published in the USA 1963 by E. P. Dutton & Co. Inc., 201 Park Ave. South, New York, NY. Copyright 1963 by Editions Janus. Written in Russian, the manuscript of this book was begun in 1927 and revised by the author over a period of many years. The first English translation by A. R. Orage has been revised and reworked from the Russian for this publication.
G. I. Gurdjieff
All and Everything
Life Is Real Only Then, When "I Am"
Copyright 1975, 1978 by Triangle Editions, Inc. Published in the United States 1981 by Elsevier-Dutton Publishing Company, Inc. 2 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 81-65602, ISBN: 0-525-14547-8. Published simultaneously in Canada by Clarke, Irwin & Company Limited, Toronto and Vancouver.
Views from the Real World
Early Talks of Gurdjieff
Early talks in Moscow, Essentuki, Tiflis, Berlin, London, Paris, New York, and Chicago as recollected by his pupils. Copyright 1973 by Triangle Editions, Inc. Published in the United States in 1973 by E. P. Dutton & Co. Inc., New York. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 73-10482, ISBN: 0-525-22870-5. Published simultaneously in Canada by Clarke, Irwin & Company Limited, Toronto and Vancouver.
Ouspensky, Peter D.
In Search of the Miraculous
Fragments of an Unknown Teaching
New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1949, 399p.; London: Routledge, 1949, 399p. Paperback edition, New York: Harcourt, Brace, no date [196?].