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Gurdjieff's System and the Importance of the Body

Writer's picture: John WilsonJohn Wilson

It is January 13th, the birthday of G.I. Gurdjieff. Once again I will follow in my annual custom of writing something about some aspect of his system of development that has been so influential on the ideas of modern psychology and spirituality over the last century, though most people have never even heard of him. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Gurdjieff was an Armenian mystic and an instructor of dance who began assembling groups in Tsarist Russia just before the Bolshevik revolution, to to begin working with the conscious alignment of mind-body-emotion unification through the strengthening of attention, work with sensation, self observation, and sacred temple dances and exercises known simply as- The Movements. With the uprising of the Bolsheviks in Russia, Gurdjieff and his students fled to Europe, partially by foot, and eventually settled in France to open The Center for the Harmonious Development of Man. There he began to fully iterate his ideas, about consciousness, awareness, and the bringing together of Thought-Emotion-and Movement. People began to flock there from all over the world.


Central to the development of consciousness and attention Gurdjieff's system is work with the body. Many other spiritual traditions tend to hold the body in contempt, but Gurdjieff saw it as being a vital element of personal conscious evolution to understand the language of the body, to give it what it needs, but at the same time, not letting its predispositions and cravings control our actions or our minds. It almost seems foolish to have to stress that the body is important for the evolution of consciousness, where would our consciousness develop without a body, but so many traditions have downplayed its importance for some ethereal view of a self that exists without a body that the question should be re-addressed. What does Gurdjieff's system, or Gurdjieff's Work say about the importance of the body in psycho-spiritual development.


G.I. Gurdjieff
G.I. Gurdjieff



The Body is the Anchor of the Attention

When first exploring Gurdjieff groups, the subject of working with the sensation of the body continued to come up. I was often more interested in questions of the mind. When it was brought to my attention that there was an opportunity to attend an open meeting with the Gurdjieff Foundation in Austin, where I was living at the time, and a very old senior student of Gurdjieff would be there, I jumped at the opportunity. It was being held in a room at the University of Texas, and there was probably about 80 people there, most of which were not people working with the group, like myself, they also jumped at the opportunity to attend a meeting with one of the few living people who worked directly with Gurdjieff.


The meeting went on, and the subject of bringing the attention to the sensation of the body came up over and over again, being led by the group members. It was beginning to look like that was all it was about. The student of Gurdjieff, who I later came to know as Peggy, was quiet until the end, when a friend of mine was brave enough to ask her to say something, and she did. What she did say made an impression on me, but it did not answer my question. Is the body the only thing that matters in this view? I waited to the meeting was over and I went straight up and asked her. She said a number of things, all of which seemed to clarify and resonate with quite a few of my questions. One of the things she said about working with the sensation of the body is that that the mind needs and anchor and working with sensation can allow the body to be an anchor for the mind, to bring it into the present and allow for the development of attention. This finally made more sense to me and I went on to work with the group in the future.


Gurdjieff and Friends
Gurdjieff and Friends



Physical Postures Reflect Mental Postures

Gurdjieff talked about the idea that we have a limited number of physical postures that we switch back and forth to throughout the day. These postures evoke mental and emotional states that are like "mental postures" and attitudes. Various postures have various mental/emotional states attached to them and it is possible to evoke a specific mental state by assuming a specific physical posture. Likewise, our various mental/emotional states will evoke corresponding postures. This loop of automated mental-physical reactions keeps us in an a mechanical state throughout the day and does not allow for real conscious awareness to take place, we are simply reacting like machines. One way to explore new mental and emotional states is to explore new or uncommon postures. This is most obvious in the temple dances and exercises known as The Movements, mentioned above, but can be as simple as a different placement of the arm when seated, or something that one does not usually do. This can actually make one feel somewhat uncomfortable, like putting your wallet in the opposite pocket, or a ring on a different finger, but in this discomfort a different less mechanical attention can be cultivated, one that is more alive.


The Movements
The Movements



Relaxation is Key

Over and over again we are reminded about the importance of relaxing the body in Gurdjieff's system. We are told to be vigilant, to make efforts, even super efforts, at being present, Remembering Yourself, and to practice Self Observation while Remembering Yourself. All of this to bring a heightened, greater or even a higher attention of oneself in the moment, both while sitting quietly and while engaging with everything you do in life, and at the same time the necessity of having a relaxed body while doing so. While sitting quietly, when opening the door, even while digging a ditch, it only takes a certain amount of muscle tension to do any one thing, and we typically use an excess amount of muscle tension and force to do nearly everything. We are tense when we are walking, tense when we are sitting, and often even tense when we are sleeping. This wastes a lot of energy, and for Gurdjieff's work we need this energy for mind-body development. In addition to physical tension, we waste a lot of energy with unnecessary mental and emotional functions, anger, depression, and anxiety. The body is busy day and night converting food and air into energy and we waist a large amount of it on the wrong functioning of both the mind and the body.


The Body is a Crucible

This brings us to the most esoteric aspect of Gurdjieff's teaching, why do we need so much energy? The question of the soul often came up with Gurdjieff's students, as this is not just mind-body development, it is a system of spiritual development, ultimately. Gurdjieff, who explored and studied in many different religious traditions, was Christian, Eastern Orthodox, and never claimed to be anything but. Nevertheless, when questioned about weather or not we have souls he would state that only people who live a vital life, those who can crystallize a substance within themselves that can survive death, will live on past the end of their corporal body. In order to do so they need to cultivate a permanent center of gravity that the consciousness can be rooted in, and the energies produced by the body can be transformed and crystallized into a second body within our own body. If crystallized to the point of becoming more permanent, this body can survive death.


There is even a third and a fourth body possible, but that is something the reader can explore in the writings left behind by Gurdjieff and his students. The important thing is the idea that the body is a container, a crucible for chemical-energy reactions that take place, and if the container can hold and keep enough energy within it, a transformation of these energies will occur, over time leading to a new life form within. This view is about the alchemy of energies, and a proper relationship with the body and attention to the sensation and functioning of the body that will allow for the forces of which we are subject to, the forces of life, to transform us.


Anyone interested in the ideas of Gurdjieff might want to read some of the literature, of which there is much. In Search of the Miraculous- by P.D. Ouspensky is an invaluable source of Gurdjieff's ideas, with many passages written in Gurdjieff's own voice. If you are really interested, Gurdjieff's All and Everything Series, beginning with Beelzebub's Tales to his Grandson, is a vital exposition of his ideas, not an easy read but certainly and adventure!


Anyone wanting to make contact with current Gurdjieff groups, of which there are many lineages, would do best to approach The Gurdjieff Foundation in America and Europe, as the Foundation was formed from the majority of students and group leaders left behind after Gurdjieff's death.


Also feel free to contact me, especially if I know you!




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