Gurdjieff

 His life has been a remarkable one, because of his singular quest. To awaken the "sleeping Man". Sounds grandiose? It was. One of the books that captures what he was trying to teach is supposed to be Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson. 

I first came across his name in a book by Osho, many years ago. Then, on a visit to a bookstore with a friend, I found a book on his life. It was too tempting to let go, and I bought and read it. It does not, of course, tell you how, but it does introduce you to his ideas sufficiently to see that his attempt was genuine..that's the book, on the right.

His basic theory, if you will, is that we all live our lives mechanically, even when we seem superficially immersed in what we are doing, and using 'free will' to choose our courses of action as we go through life. His premise was that we could achieve a higher level of consciousness if we 'worked' on ourselves- a kind of inner engineering, a phrase used by another guru more recently. 

He had a band of loyal followers, some of whom he tried turning away, and tested constantly. He founded a couple of centres in Russia, and then France, to teach them and others what he thought were ways to achieve that higher level of consciousness. One that might help prevent wars and other forms of inhumanity. He was not sure he had succeeded, but he tried all his life to achieve this. There were many parts to this teaching, including specific dance movements, and psychological experiments.

His life was nothing short of an adventure, and some of it reminded me of The Hundred Year Old Man Who Jumped out of the Window.. that I read recently. A good read.