Gurdjieff – Original Documentary with Rare Movements & Music Footage (Part 1)

A documentary about George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff (1867–1949), the Armenian-born spiritual teacher and founder of the Fourth Way, featuring original and rare archival footage of his Movements (sacred dances) and music.

This film presents the basis of Gurdjieff’s teaching largely in his own words and includes historic material relating to the Gurdjieff Movements, his music composed with Thomas de Hartmann, and his work in Paris toward the end of his life.

This is Part 1 of The Seekers of Truth, made by Jean-Claude Lubtchansky, a close associate of Madame de Salzmann, with the support of the Gurdjieff Institute in France.

George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff was born in 1867 in Gyumri, Armenia (formerly Alexandropol). His father Ivan was Greek and his mother Yeva Armenian. From an early age, Gurdjieff set out in search of knowledge that he believed had once been known to humanity but had been forgotten. His travels took him to sacred places and monasteries in Central Asia, Tibet, India, and Egypt, in pursuit of ancient sources of wisdom.

What he discovered is set out most clearly in In Search of the Miraculous, written by one of his principal pupils, P. D. Ouspensky. The essential message of the teaching is that human beings are not conscious of themselves, but live in a state of sleep, caught in habitual thoughts, emotions, and mechanical reactions. Gurdjieff taught that it is nevertheless possible to wake up, to become conscious, and to experience real inner presence.

Alongside his teaching, Gurdjieff composed music and created a unique system of sacred dances and movements, now known as the Gurdjieff Movements, designed to harmonise body, mind, and feeling. He also wrote three major books:
Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson;
Meetings with Remarkable Men; and
Life Is Only Real, Then, When “I Am”.

Gurdjieff died in Paris on 29 October 1949. Since then, his teaching has continued to influence seekers around the world who wish to work on themselves in order to live more consciously and enrich the quality of their daily lives.

An aphorism hung in the hall where Gurdjieff taught his pupils stated:
“Here there are neither Russians nor English, Jews nor Christians, but only those who pursue one aim: to be able to be.”

The spiritual teacher Osho described George Gurdjieff as one of the greatest spiritual masters of his era. This film invites viewers to encounter Gurdjieff and his teaching directly and to draw their own conclusions.

A copy of In Search of the Miraculous is available as a free PDF download at https://www.gurdjieff.am
, where the film can also be viewed in French, Spanish, and Portuguese.

The film below is narrated in English with Armenian subtitles.
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Chapters:
0:00 In Search of the Miraculous
04:11 Travels to sacred places
19:50 Gurdjieff’s Teaching
39:24 Gurdjieff’s Movements
01:06:00 Gurdjieff in Paris, 1949

Gurdjieff piano music by Thomas de Hartmann and others.
Spotify: / gurdjieff-de-hartmann-1