7/77 GD made this xerographic copy from the book INDEX TO
OCCULT SCIENCES, Doubleday & Co., Inc., Garden City, N.Y.;
1977. See 254-4, Par. 4-A, in re three psychics "of a
similar nature". At that time none of us had ever heard of
Gurdjieff. [
1/20/83 GD's note: About a year or two ago, in
discussing in a group the 254-4, Par 4-A in re the three
psychics who might be associated with The Cayce Institute of
Psychic Research, Hugh Lynn stated to me very definitely, in
front of the whole group, that the second person mentioned
did NOT refer to Gurdjieff.]:
"GURDJIEFF, GEORGEI IVANOVITCH (about 1872-1949)
Russian mystic and founder of the Institute for the
Harmonious Development of Man. Gurdjieff was born of Greek
parents in Alexandropol (now Leninakan) in the Causasus. In
his youth he traveled widely, visiting Asia, Africa, and
Europe, in search of spiritual truth. During his travels he
studied the techniques of yoga and met dervishes and fakirs.
He returned to Russia and in 1917 founded the Institute for
the Harmonious Development of Man in the Caucasus, where he
taught his theories. Gurdjieff's elaborate system of
philosophy and psychological development was known to his
pupils as "The Work." His basic idea was that people are
usually asleep, little more than machines, but that with
discipline and "super-effort" they can gain control of the
enormous reserves of energy that exist in all humans, but
which are normally tapped only in moments of crisis.
Gurdjieff's admirers believed that he had psychic powers, and
that he was able to revitalize his followers by telepathic
communication of energy. During the Russian Revolution he
led expeditions through dangerous countryside in which they
had to make the "super-effort" that Gurdjieff believed gave
people great power. Political conditions in the Soviet Union
forced Gurdjieff and his followers to move to Constantinople,
where they continued their work. In 1922 Gurdjieff set up
his Institute at Prieure des Basses Loges, a chateau in
Fountainbleau near Paris. There his disciples lived spartan
lives, did ceaseless manual work, and gained physical and
mental control of themselves by practicing Gurdjieff's
"dervish dances," among other exercises. Gurdjieff's pupils
were bound to secrecy, and nothing was published about his
work until after his death. Then, two of his books, ALL AND
EVERYTHING and MEETINGS WITH REMARKABLE MEN, as well as
writings by his followers, achieved a wide circulation.



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