The Gurdjieff Foundation of Ohio

G.I. Gurdjieff - The Gurdjieff Foundation of Ohio

The Gurdjieff Foundation of Ohio is a non-profit educational corporation founded to foster the harmonious development of human beings based on the teachings of G.I. Gurdjieff.

The Foundation was founded in 1963 with the help of The Gurdjieff Foundation, New York. Located in Cleveland, The Gurdjieff Foundation of Ohio draws members from Ohio and Michigan.

The Ohio Foundation has maintained a close relationship with The Gurdjieff Foundation, New York , one of the four original foundations. The Gurdjieff Foundation of Ohio is also allied with other major centers for the Gurdjieff teaching throughout the United States, Canada, South America, and Europe.

The Foundation provides opportunities for its members to nurture their deepest spiritual yearnings in the midst of the activities of daily life. Membership is open to serious seekers without regard to race, sex or creed.

G. I. Gurdjieff

G.I. Gurdjieff at the Prieure - The Gurdjieff Foundation of Ohio

Georgi Ivanovitch Gurdjieff was born c. 1866 in Armenia of a Greek father and an Armenian mother. In his youth he studied science, medicine and the ministry but found that these disciplines could not answer his questions about the essential nature of humanity and our possibilities. He embarked on a search for ancient wisdom that took him to remote regions of the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia. He reappeared in Russia c. 1912 with a distinctive, internally consistent teaching rooted in Asian and Western traditions.

 

During the Bolshevik Revolution, Gurdjieff and a group of students found their way to Western Europe. Gurdjieff eventually settled near Paris and established the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man. He continued to teach in Paris and New York until his death in 1949.

 

Following his death, a core group of pupils, under the direction of Mme. Jeanne de Salzmann, undertook responsibility for the transmission of the teaching. This group established centers throughout the Western World.