|
===Methods===
"The Work" is innot essencean intellectual pursuit and neither is it a trainingnew concept, but rather it is a practical way of living "in the developmentmoment" ofso as to allow consciousness of oneself ("self-remembering") to appear. Gurdjieff used a number of methods and materials to wake up his followers, which apart from his own living presence, includingincluded meetings, music, movements (sacred dance), writings, lectures, and innovative forms of group and individual work. PartThe of the functionpurpose of these various methods was to undermine'put anda undospanner in the ingrainedworks', habitso patternsas ofto thepermit a connection to be made between mind and bring body, which is easly talked about, momentsbut ofwhich has to be experienced to understand what it insightmeans. Since each individual hasis different requirements, Gurdjieff did not have a one-size-fits-all approach, and heemployed adapteddifferent andmeans innovatedto asimpart what he himself circumstancehad requireddiscovered.<ref>"Gurdjieff's teachings were transmitted through special conditions and through special forms leading to consciousness: Group Work, physical labor, crafts, ideas exchanges, arts, music, movement, dance, adventures in nature ... enabled the unrealized individual to transcend the mechanical, acted-upon self and ascend from mere personality to self-actualizing essence."[http://www.seekerbooks.com/book/9780835608404.htm Seekerbooks.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080620031630/http://www.seekerbooks.com/book/9780835608404.htm |date=2008-06-20 }}, Book review of Gary Lachman. ''In Search of the Miraculous: Genius in the Shadow of Gurdjieff.''</ref> In Russia he was described as keeping his teaching confined to a small circle,<ref>[[P. D. Ouspensky]] (1949). ''[[In Search of the Miraculous]]m'' Chapter 1,</ref> whereas in Paris and North America he gave numerous public demonstrations.<ref>[[G.I. Gurdjieff]] (1963) ''[[Meetings with Remarkable Men]]'', Chapter 11</ref>
Gurdjieff felt that the traditional methods ofto acquire self-knowledge—thoseknowledge —those of the [[fakir]], [[monk]], and [[yogi]] (acquired, respectively, through pain, devotion, and study)—were inadequate on their own and often led to variousachieve forms of stagnation and one-sidedness. His methods were designed to augment the traditional paths with the purpose of hastening theany developmentalreal processunderstanding. He sometimesinstead called these methodsadvocated ''The Way of the Sly Man''<ref>See ''In Search of the Miraculous''</ref> because they constitutedas a sort of short-cut throughto aencouraging process ofinner development that might otherwise carry on fortake years without substantive results. The teacher, more adept, sees the individual requirements of the discipleeffort and setswithout tasksany that he knows will result in a transformation of consciousness in thatreal individualoutcome. Instructive historical parallels can be found in the annals of [[Zen]] Buddhism, where teachers employed a variety of methods (sometimes highly unorthodox) to bring about the arising of [[Satori|insight]] in the student.
====Music====
|