George Ivanovich Gurdjieff

George Ivanovich Gurdjieff , 1872-1949, Armenian spiritualist and author. After spending years traveling, Gurdjieff settled in Moscow (c.1913). He fled the Russian Revolution (1917) with a band of followers, settling in Fontainebleau, France, where he established the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man (1922). He taught that ordinary people could attain a higher state of awareness and take control over their lives. Disciples in the United States organized the Gurdjieff Foundation of New York (1953) and a similar group in San Francisco (1958). His writings include Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson (1950) and Meetings with Remarkable Men (1963).

Bibliography: See studies by K. Walker (1980) and J. Webb (1980).

Gurdjieff, Georgy Ivanovich (c.1877–1949). Writer and one-time director of the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man, in Paris.

In his lectures, published posthumously as All and Everything, or Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson (1973), Gurdjieff traced the development of the universe from its beginnings to modern times.

Gurdjieff, who sought to synthesize Christianity and his own philosophical notions, has had a considerable influence on the thinking of such new religious movements as the metaphysical and new age movements, and Rajneeshism.