George Ivanovich Gurdjieff was a philosopher, mystic, spiritual teacher, composer, and dance teacher. Gurdjieff taught that people are not conscious of themselves and thus live their lives in a state of hypnotic "waking sleep", but that it is possible to awaken to a higher state of consciousness and serve our purpose as human beings. The practice of his teaching has become known as "The Work" and is additional to the ways of the Fakirs (Sufis), Monks and Yogis, so that his student P. D. Ouspensky referred to it as the "Fourth Way".
René Daumal was a French spiritual para-surrealist writer, critic and poet, best known for his posthumously published novel Mount Analogue (1952) as well as for being an early, outspoken practitioner of pataphysics.
Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson or An Objectively Impartial Criticism of the Life of Man is the first volume of the All and Everything trilogy written by the Greek-Armenian mystic G. I. Gurdjieff. The All and Everything trilogy also includes Meetings with Remarkable Men and Life Is Real Only Then, When 'I Am'.
Jeanne de Salzmann often addressed as Madame de Salzmann was a French-Swiss dance teacher and a close pupil of the spiritual teacher G. I. Gurdjieff.
Pyotr Demianovich Ouspenskii was a Russian philosopher and esotericist known for his expositions of the early work of the Greek-Armenian teacher of esoteric doctrine George Gurdjieff. He met Gurdjieff in Moscow in 1915, and was associated with the ideas and practices originating with Gurdjieff from then on. He taught ideas and methods based in the Gurdjieff system for 25 years in England and the United States, although he separated from Gurdjieff personally in 1924, for reasons that are explained in the last chapter of his book In Search of the Miraculous.
Thomas Alexandrovich de Hartmann was a Ukrainian-born composer, pianist and professor of composition.
John Godolphin Bennett was a British academic and author. He is best known for his books on psychology and spirituality, particularly on the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff. Bennett met Gurdjieff in Istanbul in October 1920 and later helped to co-ordinate the work of Gurdjieff in England after the guru had moved to Paris. He also was active in starting the British section of the Subud movement, and co-founded its British headquarters.
The Fourth Way is an approach to self-development developed by George Gurdjieff over years of travel in the East. Students often refer to the Fourth Way as "The Work", "Work on oneself", or "The System". The exact origins of some of Gurdjieff's teachings are unknown, but various sources have been suggested.
David Hykes is an American composer, singer, musician, author, and meditation teacher. He was one of the earliest modern western pioneers of overtone singing, and since 1975 has developed a comprehensive approach to contemplative music which he calls Harmonic Chant. After early research and trips studying Mongolian, Tibetan, and Middle Eastern singing forms, Hykes began a long series of collaborations with traditions and teachers of wisdom and sacred art, including the Dalai Lama and the Gyuto and Gyume monks.
John Archibald Sinclair, 3rd Viscount Thurso,, known also as John Thurso, is a Scottish businessman, Liberal Democrat politician and hereditary peer who is notable for having served in the House of Lords both before and after a period in the House of Commons.
John Sinclair, 1st Baron Pentland, was a British politician in the Scottish Liberal Party, a soldier, peer, administrator and Privy Councillor who served as the Secretary of Scotland from 1905 to 1912 and the Governor of Madras from 1912 to 1919.
James Harry Manson Moore was a Cornish author. He was a fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society and a leading authority on G. I. Gurdjieff.
Henry John Sinclair, 2nd Baron Pentland was the President of the Gurdjieff Foundation of New York from its formation in 1953 and the President of the Gurdjieff Foundation of California from its inception in 1955. He held both posts until his death. He also helped ensure the publication of English editions of Gurdjieff's and Ouspensky's books and worked to found Gurdjieff centers throughout North America.
William Patrick Patterson was a spiritual teacher of the Fourth Way, an esoteric teaching of self-development brought to the West by G. I. Gurdjieff. Patterson was also an author, filmmaker and speaker on spiritual themes, including the Fourth Way, being and becoming, Advaita Vedanta, self-awakening, self-observation, esoteric Christianity, and conscious-body-breath-impressions. He was the editor-in-chief of The Gurdjieff Journal.
Olgivanna Lloyd Wright was the third and final wife of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. They first met in November 1924 and married in 1928. In 1932, the couple established Wright's architectural apprentice program and Taliesin Fellowship. In 1940, Olgivanna and Frank, along with their son-in-law William Wesley Peters, co-founded the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Following her husband's death in 1959, Olgivanna assumed the role of President of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, a position she held until a month prior to her death in 1985.
Michel de Salzmann, son of Jeanne de Salzmann, was a psychiatrist, and the president of the Gurdjieff Foundation from 1990 until his death. His friends and pupils salute him as one of the most important spiritual figures of the 20th century. His writings in English and in French reveal him as a creative thinker. Michel de Salzmann was a faithful follower of Gurdjieff, as seen in his contribution in The Encyclopedia of Religion (1987). A witness on his own teaching was given by the poet Fran Shaw.
Ethel Merston was one of G. I. Gurdjieff’s first students at his Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man, at the Prieuré in Fontainebleau-en-Avon, France. Gurdjieff had recently come to the West to introduce an esoteric teaching called the Fourth Way. She wrote a memoir based on her diaries giving a keen insight into many of the seminal teachers of her times.
Paul Reynard was an artist, art teacher, Gurdjieff movements instructor, and co-president of the Gurdjieff Foundation of New York.
James George was a Canadian diplomat, political and environmental activist, author, and "spiritual seeker." A founder of the Threshold Foundation and president of the Sadat Peace Foundation, he led the Friends of the Earth international mission to Kuwait and the Persian Gulf to assess post-war environmental damage.
Samuel Louis Spanier (1925–2008) was an American artist from New York City, who worked in painting, theater, and film, and also helped to develop the Integral Yoga movement in the United States.
