Academic literature on the topic 'Georgi Ivanovitji Gurdjieff'

This article explores George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff’s (c.1866-1949) Enneagram Movements. Gurdjieff used the symbol of the enneagram in his teaching to demonstrate the ‘perpetual motion’ of his cosmic Laws of Three and Seven, which govern his cosmological system. The symbol is composed of a circle encompassing a triangle representing the numbers 3, 6, and 9 (the Law of Three), and a six-sided figure representing the numbers 1, 4, 2, 8, 5, 7 (the Law of Seven). This article sets out to investigate the meaning of the enneagram and the significance of the Enneagram Movements, which enact the motion of the symbol. As well as examining primary and secondary sources on Gurdjieff, the author draws from first-hand experience of the Movements, particularly her work studying the Movement ‘Enneagram 5’ in a Movements class in Sydney, Australia.

The “sacred dances” or “Movements” were first revealed by George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff (c. 1866–1949) in 1919 in Tiflis (Tblisi), the site of the first foundation of his Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man. The proximate cause of this new teaching technique has been hypothesized to be Jeanne de Salzmann (1889–1990), an instructor of the Eurhythmics method of music education developed by Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865–1950). Jeanne and her husband Alexandre met at Jaques-Dalcroze’s Institute at Hellerau in 1913, and became pupils of Gurdjieff in 1919. It was to her Dalcroze class that Gurdjieff first taught Movements. Esoteric systems of dance and musical education proliferated at the time. Gurdjieff was deeply interested in music, theater, and art. When Pyotr Demianovich Ouspensky (1878–1947) met him in 1915 he spoke of dances he had seen in Eastern temples, and was working on a never-performed ballet, The Struggle of the Magicians. This article argues that body-based disciplines introduced by esoteric teachers with Theosophically-inflected systems are a significant phenomenon in the early twentieth century and that Gurdjieff’s Movements, while distinct from other dance systems, emerged in the same esoteric melting-pot and manifest common features and themes with the esoteric dance of Rudolf Steiner, Rudolf von Laban, Peter Deunov, and others.

Jag har valt att skriva om förhållandet mellan Jung och den esoteriska tradition som benämns Fjärde vägen. Anledningen till detta val är att jag i båda dessa traditioner, den jungianska och Fjärde vägen, ser ett intressant kritiskt ifrågasättande av vår moderna tids uppfattningar om människan och det mänskliga psyket. Jung framhåller individuationsprocessen som en möjlighet att växa till en fullödig människa.

Inom den Fjärde vägen betonas vikten av att ta sin situation på allvar och att genom medvetet arbete och självobservans skapa sig en riktig själ.

Båda dessa skolor träder fram i en tid av stora och omskakande förändringar under början av 1900-talet. Båda skolorna ifrågasätter den själlösa massmänniska som den nya tiden har genererat och försöker utarbeta verktyg för att råda bot på tidens tillkortakommanden.

Min avsikt är att undersöka deras syn på människan och människans själsliga framåtskridande. Jag tror att detta kan vara ett fruktbart och meningsfullt studium där nya vinklar kan leda framåt.

Mina frågeställningar är:

Vilken syn på människan har de två riktningarna och vilka konsekvenser får detta?

Vilka likheter och skillnader finns det mellan Jungs syn på människans själsliga utveckling och den som Fjärde vägen skolan står för?

 

Cette étude aborde le thème de la quête de vérité menée par l’acteur. Partant du « paradoxe de l’acteur » qui met en lumière la tension qui se joue entre Forme et Spontanéité, ainsi que sa difficulté à être simultanément artiste et œuvre d’art. Or une recherche comparative sur le théâtre Occidental/Oriental, et d’autres sources telles que les pensées de Georges Gurdjieff et de François Delsarte nous ont conduit à considérer le travail du comédien d’un point de vue trinitaire, en prenant en compte les trois éléments essentiels que sont son corps, son émotion et son esprit. La quête de vérité que mène l’acteur tout au long de sa vie doit s’enraciner dans une compréhension de sa propre nature trinitaire et d’un éventuel manque d’harmonie qui peut résulter dans des comportements automatiques et stéréotypés. Cette vision nous a servi de base pour mener une étude de la pensée de certains grands réformateurs du théâtre du XXe siècle. Ainsi, les méthodes de Jerzy Grotowski et d’Etienne Decroux sont analysées à partir des approches de l’organicité et de l'artificialité selon la perspective de Grotowski. Notre but est de trouver une possible complémentarité entre les travaux de ces deux investigateurs, dans la quête de l’équilibre du trinôme corps-émotion-esprit. Finalement, l’acteur doit cultiver simultanément ses trois centres pour unifier le créateur, l’artisan et la matière de son œuvre, et retrouver ainsi sa vraie Présence sur scène
This study begins with the actor’s quest for truth. Starting from the « actor’s paradox » which shines light on the tension that plays between Form and Spontaneity, and the difficulty of being simultaneously artist and work of art. A comparative research of Occidental/Oriental theatre, and other sources such as the thoughts of George Gurdjieff and François Delsarte led us to consider the work of the actor from the point of Trinitarian view, taking into account the three essential elements that are his body, his emotion and his mind. The quest for the truth that drives the actor has to begin with the comprehension of his own nature of this human trinity; before the understanding of its fragmentation, that is, the lack of harmony that can exist between these three principle functions and the danger of falling into automatic and stereotypic behaviors and reactions. This study allows us to observe the thought of certain great theatre reformers of the 20th century. Therefore, methods of Jerzy Grotowski and Etienne Decroux are analyzed using approaches of organicity and artificiality from the perspective of Grotowski. Our objective is to find a possible complementarity between the works of these two researchers in the quest for balance of the trinity body/emotion/intellect. Finally, the actor must simultaneously cultivate the three centers in order to unify the creator, the artisan and the matter of his work, and find his true presence on stage