104-592: The Fourth Way is an approach to self-development developed by George Gurdjieff over years of travel in the East (c. 1890 – 1912). Students often refer to the Fourth Way as "The Work", "Work on oneself", or "The System". The exact origins of some of Gurdjieff's teachings are unknown, but various sources have been suggested. The term "Fourth Way" was further used by his student P. D. Ouspensky in his lectures and writings. After Ouspensky's death, his students published
208-522: A book entitled The Fourth Way based on his lectures. According to this system, the three traditional schools, or ways, "are permanent forms which have survived throughout history mostly unchanged, and are based on religion. Where schools of Fakirs , Monks and Yogis exist, they are barely distinguishable from religious schools. The fourth way differs in that "it is not a permanent way. It has no specific forms or institutions and comes and goes controlled by some particular laws of its own." When this work
312-648: A carpenter and amateur ashik or bardic poet, and the priest of the town's cathedral , Dean Borsh, a family friend. The young Gurdjieff avidly read literature from many sources and influenced by these writings and witnessing a number of phenomena that he could not explain, he formed the conviction that there existed a hidden truth known to mankind in the past, which could not be ascertained from science or mainstream religion. In early adulthood, according to his own account, Gurdjieff's search for such knowledge led him to travel widely to Central Asia , Egypt, Iran, India, Tibet and other places before he returned to Russia for
416-571: A child of Gurdjieff, the following six people are quoted to be his children: Gurdjieff had a niece, Luba Gurdjieff Everitt , who for about 40 years (1950s–1990s) ran a small but rather famous restaurant, Luba's Bistro, in Knightsbridge , London. Gurdjieff taught that people cannot perceive reality as they are, because they are not conscious of themselves, but rather live in a state of hypnotic "waking sleep" of constantly turning thoughts, worries and imagination. The title of one of his books
520-635: A distinct meaning to various ancient texts such as the Bible and many religious prayers. He believed that such texts possess meanings very different from those commonly attributed to them. "Sleep not"; "Awake, for you know not the hour"; and "The Kingdom of Heaven is Within" are examples of biblical statements which point to teachings whose essence has been forgotten. Gurdjieff taught people how to strengthen and focus their attention and energy in various ways so as to minimize daydreaming and absentmindedness. According to his teaching, this inner development of oneself
624-471: A few years in 1912. He was never forthcoming about the source of his teaching, which he once labelled as esoteric Christianity , in that it ascribes a psychological rather than a literal meaning to various parables and statements found in the Bible. The only account of his wanderings appears in his book Meetings with Remarkable Men , which is not generally considered to be a reliable autobiography. One example
728-552: A follower. In 1935, Gurdjieff stopped work on All and Everything. He had completed the first two parts of the planned trilogy but then started on the Third Series. (It was later published under the title Life Is Real Only Then, When 'I Am'. ) In 1936, he settled in a flat at 6, Rue des Colonels-Renard in Paris, where he was to stay for the rest of his life. In 1937, his brother Dmitry died, and The Rope disbanded. Although
832-453: A great spasm of pain shook his body and blood gushed from an ear. Bennett thought: "He has a cerebral haemorrhage. He will kill himself if he continues to force his body to move". But then he reflected: "He has to do all this. If he allows his body to stop moving, he will die. He has power over his body". After recovering, Gurdjieff finalised plans for the official publication of Beelzebub's Tales and made two trips to New York. He also visited
936-592: A natural geographic region surrounding the Swat River . The valley was a major centre of early Buddhism of the ancient civilisation of Gandhara , mainly Gandharan Buddhism , with pockets of Buddhism persisting in the valley until the 16th century conquest of Swat by the Yousafzais , after which the area became largely Muslim, along with the Pashtunization of Swat and its neighbouring regions. In
1040-492: A part of North-West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) in 1969. The region was seized by the Tehrik-i-Taliban in late-2007 until Pakistani control was re-established in mid-2009 . The average elevation of Swat is 980 m (3,220 ft), resulting in a considerably cooler and wetter climate compared to the rest of Pakistan. With lush forests, verdant alpine meadows , and snow-capped mountains, Swat
1144-404: A population of 2,687,384. The district has a sex ratio of 104.83 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 48.13%: 61.83% for males and 33.95% for females. 808,888 (30.11% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age. 794,368 (29.56%) live in urban areas. Languages of Swat district (2023) Swat is mostly inhabited by Pashtuns who make up 92.18% of the population. The dominant tribe
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#17327811471931248-642: A reputation as a writer on mystical subjects and had conducted his own, ultimately disappointing, search for wisdom in the East. The Fourth Way "system" taught during this period was complex and metaphysical, partly expressed in scientific terminology. During the revolutionary upheaval in Russia, Gurdjieff left Petrograd in 1917 to return to his family home in Alexandropol (present-day Gyumri in Armenia). During
1352-688: A result, these ways fail to produce a properly balanced human being. Furthermore, anyone wishing to undertake any of the traditional paths to spiritual knowledge (which Gurdjieff reduced to three—namely the way of the Fakir , the way of the Monk , and the way of the Yogi ) were required to renounce life in the world. But Gurdjieff also described a "Fourth Way" which would be amenable to the requirements of contemporary people living in Europe and America. Instead of training
1456-407: A scientist and wearing a red fireman's belt with brass rings Gurdjieff left Essentuki with fourteen companions (excluding Gurdjieff's family and Ouspensky). They travelled by train to Maikop, where hostilities delayed them for three weeks. In the spring of 1919, Gurdjieff met the artist Alexandre de Salzmann and his wife Jeanne and accepted them as pupils. Assisted by Jeanne de Salzmann, Gurdjieff gave
1560-493: A second car accident in 1948 but again made an unexpected recovery. "I was looking at a dying man. Even this is not enough to express it. It was a dead man, a corpse, that came out of the car; and yet it walked. I was shivering like someone who sees a ghost." With iron-like tenacity, he managed to get to his room, where he sat down and said: "Now all organs are destroyed. Must make new". Then, he turned to Bennett, smiling: "Tonight you come dinner. I must make body work". As he spoke,
1664-459: A village located near Mingora , is one of those few villages which produces 18 varieties of apples due to its agriculturally favourable temperate climate in summer. The apple produced here is consumed in Pakistan as well as exported to other countries. It is known as ‘the apple of Swat’. Swat is also famous for peach production mostly grown in the valley bottom plains and accounts for about 80% of
1768-419: Is Life is Real, Only Then, when "I am" . "Man lives his life in sleep, and in sleep he dies." As a result, a person perceives the world while in a state of dream. He asserted that people in their ordinary waking state function as unconscious automatons , but that a person can "wake up" and become what a human being ought to be. Some contemporary researchers claim that Gurdjieff's concept of self-remembering
1872-673: Is "close to the Buddhist concept of awareness or a popular definition of 'mindfulness'. ... The Buddhist term translated into English as 'mindfulness' originates in the Pali term 'sati', which is identical to Sanskrit 'smṛti'. Both terms mean 'to remember'." As Gurdjieff himself said at a meeting held in his Paris flat during the Second World War: "Our aim is to have constantly a sensation of oneself, of one's individuality: this sensation cannot be expressed intellectually, because it
1976-662: Is additional to the ways of the Fakirs ( Sufis ), Monks and Yogis , so that his student P. D. Ouspensky referred to it as the " Fourth Way ". Gurdjieff's teaching has inspired the formation of many groups around the world. After his death in 1949, the Gurdjieff Foundation in Paris was established and led by his close pupil Jeanne de Salzmann in cooperation with other direct pupils of Gurdjieff, until her death in 1990; and then by her son Michel de Salzmann , until his death in 2001. The International Association of
2080-510: Is also founder of Private Schools Management Association (PSMA) and got good reputation in imparting quality education in the region. Swat is subdivided into 9 administrative divisions Tehsils : Each tehsil comprises certain numbers of union councils . Swat has 65 union councils: 56 rural and 9 urban. According to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act, 2013 , a new local governments system
2184-502: Is believed to have been the lingua franca of the locals during this time. By the time of the Muslim conquests ( c. 1000 CE ), the population in the region was predominantly Hindu , though Buddhism persisting in the valley until the 10th century, after which the area became largely Muslim . Hindu Shahi rulers built fortresses to guard and tax the commerce through this area, and ruins dating back to their rule can be seen on
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#17327811471932288-630: Is delineated by natural geographic boundaries, and is centered on the Swat River. The valley is enclosed on all sides by mountains, and is intersected by glens and ravines. Above mountains ridges to the west is the valley of the Panjkora River , to the north the Gilgit Valley, and Indus River gorges to the east. To the south, across a series of low mountains, lies the wide Peshawar valley . The northernmost area of Swat district are
2392-409: Is finished, that is to say, when the aim set before it has been accomplished, the fourth way disappears, that is, it disappears from the given place, disappears in its given form, continuing perhaps in another place in another form. Schools of the fourth way exist for the needs of the work which is being carried out in connection with the proposed undertaking. They never exist by themselves as schools for
2496-628: Is inscribed in a plate on the grave-marker in the cemetery of Avon, Seine-et-Marne , France, where his body was buried. Gurdjieff spent his childhood in Kars , which, from 1878 to 1918, was the administrative capital of the Russian-ruled Transcaucasus province of Kars Oblast , a border region recently acquired following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire . It contained extensive grassy plateau-steppe and high mountains, and
2600-457: Is mainly inhabited by the indigenous Kohistani , Torwali and Kalami peoples. Swat Proper forms the lower portion of the district and has a Pashtun majority, with a significant Gujar population. In terms of administrative divisions, Swat is surrounded by Chitral , Upper Dir and Lower Dir to the west, Gilgit-Baltistan to the north, and Kohistan , Buner and Shangla to the east and southeast, respectively. The former tehsil of Buner
2704-490: Is no use troubling oneself how to recognize a wrong way. One must think of how to find the right way." The Fourth way was influenced by Tibetan Buddhism , according to Jose Tirado, and Chatral Rinpoche alleged that Gurdjieff spent several years in a Buddhist monastery in the Swat valley . After Gurdjieff's death in 1949 a variety of groups around the world have attempted to continue The Gurdjieff Work. The Gurdjieff Foundation,
2808-510: Is not consciousness at all but merely a form of sleep." Gurdjieff taught "sacred dances" or "movements", now known as Gurdjieff movements , which were performed together as a group. He left a body of music, inspired by that which he had heard in remote monasteries and other places, which was written for piano in collaboration with one of his pupils, Thomas de Hartmann . Ouspensky documented Gurdjieff as saying that "two or three thousand years ago there were yet other ways which no longer exist and
2912-441: Is not so difficult as wishing to work, taking the decision." Though Gurdjieff never put major significance on the term "Fourth Way" and never used the term in his writings, his pupil P. D. Ouspensky from 1924 to 1947 made the term and its use central to his own interpretation of Gurdjieff's teaching. After Ouspensky's death, his students published a book titled The Fourth Way based on his lectures. Gurdjieff's teaching addressed
3016-466: Is of the adventure of walking across the Gobi desert on stilts, where Gurdjieff said he was able to look down on the contours of the sand dunes while the sand storm whirled around below him. Each chapter is named after a "remarkable man", some of whom were putative members of a society called "The Seekers of Truth". After Gurdjieff's death, J. G. Bennett researched his potential sources and suggested that
3120-572: Is one of the country's most popular tourist destinations. The name "Swat" is derived from the Swat River . The Swat River referred to as the Suvāstu in the Rig Veda, with a literal meaning "of fair dwellings". Some have suggested the Sanskrit name may mean "clear blue water." Another theory derives the word Swat from the Sanskrit word shveta ( lit. ' white ' ), also used to describe
3224-616: Is organic. It is something which makes you independent, when you are with other people." Gurdjieff argued that many of the existing forms of religious and spiritual tradition on Earth had lost connection with their original meaning and vitality and so could no longer serve humanity in the way that had been intended at their inception. As a result, humans were failing to realize the truths of ancient teachings and were instead becoming more and more like automatons, susceptible to control from outside and increasingly capable of otherwise unthinkable acts of mass psychosis such as World War I . At best,
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3328-556: Is quoted by his students in "Views from the Real World" as saying: "The Institute can help one to be able to be a Christian." An aphorism was displayed which stated: "Here there are neither Russians nor English, Jews nor Christians, but only those who pursue one aim – to be able to be." New pupils included C. S. Nott , René Zuber , Margaret Anderson and her ward Fritz Peters. The intellectual and middle-class types who were attracted to Gurdjieff's teaching often found
3432-615: Is the Yusufzai tribe with minor settlements of Shinwari , Tarkani , Ghoryakhel and Sulaimankhel tribes. The language spoken in the valley is Pashto (mainly the Yousafzai dialect ). Kohistani languages are spoken by 1.47% of the population and languages classified as 'Others', mainly Kalami and Torwali , are spoken by 6.10% of the population, and form the majority in the Swat Kohistan region of Upper Swat. According to
3536-491: Is the beginning of a possible further process of change, the aim of which is to transform people into what Gurdjieff believed they ought to be. Distrusting "morality", which he describes as varying from culture to culture, often contradictory and hypocritical, Gurdjieff greatly stressed the importance of " conscience ". To provide conditions in which inner attention could be exercised more intensively, Gurdjieff also taught his pupils "sacred dances" or "movements", later known as
3640-412: Is the beginning of a possible further process of change, whose aim is to transform man into "what he ought to be." Gurdjieff's followers believed he was a spiritual master, a human being who is fully awake or enlightened . He was also seen as an esotericist or occultist . He agreed that the teaching was esoteric but claimed that none of it was veiled in secrecy but that many people lack the interest or
3744-800: The Alif Ailaan Pakistan Education Rankings for 2017 , Swat with a score of 53.1, is ranked 86 out of 155 districts in terms of education. Furthermore, the Swat schools infrastructure scores 90.26 which ranks it on number 31 out of 155. A Christian-run missionary school was established in 1950s, the first ever private sector educational institution in Swat Valley. A number of other private sector schools are in run since long, Tipu Model School and College, Kabal Swat (TMS established by Safdar Ali Aziz) and Swat Public School (SPS) are oldest among such schools. Safdar Ali Aziz
3848-574: The British Indian Empire between 1926 and 1947, after which the Akhwand acceded to the newly independent state of Pakistan . Swat continued to exist as an autonomous region until it was dissolved in 1969, and incorporated into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (formerly called NWFP ). The region was seized by the Tehrik-i-Taliban in late-2007, and its highly-popular tourist industry was subsequently decimated until Pakistani control
3952-644: The Caucasus . There are conflicting views regarding Gurdjieff's birth date, ranging from 1866 to 1877. The bulk of extant records weigh heavily toward 1877, but Gurdjieff in reported conversations with students gave the year of his birth as c. 1867 , which is corroborated by the account of his niece Luba Gurdjieff Everitt and accords with photographs and videos taken of him in 1949. George Kiourtzidis, great-grandson of Gurdjieff's paternal uncle Vasilii (through Vasilii's son Alexander), recalled that his grandfather Alexander, born in 1875, said that Gurdjieff
4056-988: The Galata Tower . The apartment is near the Khanqah (Sufi lodge) of the Mevlevi Order (a Sufi order following the teachings of Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi ), where Gurdjieff, Ouspensky and Thomas de Hartmann witnessed the Sama ceremony of the Whirling Dervishes . In Istanbul, Gurdjieff also met his future pupil, Capt. John G. Bennett , then head of the British Directorate of Military Intelligence in Ottoman Turkey , who described his impression of Gurdjieff as follows: It
4160-722: The Greco-Bactrians , and briefly the Scythians of the Central Asian Steppe . The region of Gandhara (based in the Peshawar valley and the adjacent hilly regions of Swat, Buner , Dir , and Bajaur ), broke away from Greco-Bactrian rule to establish their own independence as the Indo-Greek Kingdom . Following the death of the most famous Indo-Greek king, Menander I around 140 BCE, the region
4264-660: The Gurdjieff movements , which they performed together as a group. He also left a body of music, inspired by what he heard in visits to remote monasteries and other places, written for piano in collaboration with one of his pupils, Thomas de Hartmann . Gurdjieff used various exercises, such as the "Stop" exercise, to prompt self-observation in his students. Other shocks to help awaken his pupils from constant daydreaming were always possible at any moment. Swat valley Swat District ( Urdu : ضلع سوات , Pashto : سوات ولسوالۍ , pronounced [ˈswaːt̪] ), also known as
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4368-488: The Kushans , based in the Peshawar valley . Kushan rule began what is considered by many to be the golden age of Gandhara. Under the greatest Kushan king, Kanishka , Swat became an important region for the production of Buddhist art, and numerous Buddhists shrines were built in the area. As a patron of Mahayana Buddhism , new Buddhists stupas were built and old ones were enlarged. The Chinese pilgrim Fa-Hsien , who visited
4472-660: The Law of Three and the Law of Seven . How the Law of Seven and Law of Three function together is said to be illustrated on the Fourth Way Enneagram , a nine-pointed symbol which is the central glyph of Gurdjieff's system. In his explanations Gurdjieff often used different symbols such as the Enneagram and the Ray of Creation . Gurdjieff said that "the enneagram is a universal symbol. All knowledge can be included in
4576-604: The Molokans , Doukhobors , Pryguny , and Subbotniks . Gurdjieff makes particular mention of the Yazidi community . Growing up in a multi-ethnic society, Gurdjieff became fluent in Armenian , Pontic Greek , Russian , and Turkish , speaking the last in a mixture of elegant Ottoman Turkish with some dialect. He later acquired "a working facility with several European languages". Early influences on him included his father,
4680-729: The October Revolution , he set up a temporary study community in Essentuki in the Caucasus, where he worked intensively with a small group of Russian pupils. Gurdjieff's eldest sister Anna and her family later arrived there as refugees, informing him that Turks had shot his father in Alexandropol on 15 May. As the area became increasingly threatened by civil war, Gurdjieff fabricated a newspaper story announcing his forthcoming "scientific expedition" to "Mount Induc". Posing as
4784-866: The Russian Revolution with dozens of followers and family members, Gurdjieff settled in France and established his Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man at the Château Le Prieuré at Fontainebleau-Avon in October 1922. The institute was an esoteric school based on Gurdjieff's Fourth Way teaching. After nearly dying in a car crash in 1924, he recovered and closed down the institute. He began writing All and Everything . From 1930, Gurdjieff made visits to North America where he resumed his teachings. Ouspensky relates that in
4888-631: The Shaivism sect of Hinduism . In around 520 CE, the Chinese monk Song Yun visited the area, and recorded that area had been in ruin and ruled by a leader that did not practice the laws of the Buddha. The Tang -era Chinese monk Xuanzang recorded the decline of Buddhism in the region, and ascendance of Hinduism in the region. According to him, of the 1400 monasteries that had supposedly been there, most were in ruins or had been abandoned. Following
4992-578: The Swat Valley , is a district in the Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa , Pakistan . Known for its stunning natural beauty, the district is a popular tourist destination. With a population of 2,687,384 per the 2023 national census , Swat is the 15th-largest district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Swat District is centred on the Valley of Swat, usually referred to simply as Swat, which is
5096-536: The Yousafzai Pashtuns from west during the reign of Sultan Awes Jahangiri in 1519, resulting into the Pashtunization of Swat. The princely state of Swat was a kingdom established in the late 19th century by the Muslim saint Akhund Abdul Gaffur , more commonly known as Saidu Baba, that was ruled by chiefs known as Akhunds . It was then recognized as a princely state in alliance with
5200-416: The " Sarmoung Brotherhood ". Gurdjieff wrote that he supported himself during his travels by engaging in various enterprises such as running a travelling repair shop and making paper flowers; and on one occasion while thinking about what he could do, he described catching sparrows in the park and then dyeing them yellow to be sold as canaries; It is also speculated by commentators that during his travels he
5304-491: The 1870s managed large herds of cattle and sheep. The long-held view is that Gurdjieff's mother was Armenian , although some scholars have recently speculated that she too was Greek. According to Gurdjieff himself, his father came of a Greek family whose ancestors had emigrated from Byzantium after the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, with his family initially moving to central Anatolia , and from there eventually to Georgia in
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#17327811471935408-768: The Gurdjieff Foundations comprises the Institut Gurdjieff in France; The Gurdjieff Foundation in the USA; The Gurdjieff Society in the UK; and the Gurdjieff Foundation in Venezuela. Gurdjieff was born in Alexandropol, Yerevan Governorate , Russian Empire (now Gyumri , Armenia ). His father Ivan Ivanovich Gurdjieff was Greek , and a renowned ashugh under the pseudonym of Adash , who in
5512-595: The Gurdjieff work. George Gurdjieff George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (c. 1867 – 29 October 1949) was a Greek–Armenian philosopher , mystic , spiritual teacher , composer , and movements teacher . Gurdjieff taught that people are not conscious of themselves and thus live their lives in a state of hypnotic "waking sleep", but that it is possible to awaken to a higher state of consciousness and serve our purpose as human beings. The practice of his teaching has become known as "The Work" (connoting work on oneself) and
5616-559: The Jehanabad Buddha's face was blown up using dynamite , but was repaired by a group of Italian restorers in a nine-year-long process. Looters subsequently destroyed many of Pakistan's Buddhist artifacts, and deliberately targeted Gandhara Buddhist relics for destruction. Gandhara artifacts remaining from the demolitions were thereafter plundered by thieves and smugglers. Approximately 38% of economy of Swat depends on tourism and 31% depends on agriculture . Gwalerai,
5720-454: The Prieuré operation ran into debt and was shut down in 1932. Gurdjieff constituted a new teaching group in Paris. Known as The Rope, it was composed of only women, many of them writers, and several lesbians. Members included Kathryn Hulme , Jane Heap , Margaret Anderson and Enrico Caruso 's widow, Dorothy. Gurdjieff became acquainted with Gertrude Stein through its members, but she was never
5824-415: The Prieuré's spartan accommodation and emphasis on hard labour on the grounds disconcerting. Gurdjieff was putting into practice his teaching that people need to develop physically, emotionally and intellectually, so lectures, music, dance, and manual work were organised. Older pupils noticed how the Prieuré teaching differed from the complex metaphysical "system" that had been taught in Russia. In addition to
5928-714: The Sham Baba mountainous range, with lush green gardens and large trees being added as "charm" to the climate in the area. More than 20 km² has been covered strategically, as was proposed during the last Wali's rule and constructed later-on by the Pakistani government. The Kanju village has seen an influx of academics in the region and is considered a hub for the Matta and Kabal Tehsils of Swat Valley. The Gandhara grave culture that emerged c. 1400 BCE and lasted until 800 BCE, and named for their distinct funerary practices,
6032-416: The Stjoernvals, the Hartmanns, and the de Salzmanns continued to assimilate his teaching. Gurdjieff concentrated on his still unstaged ballet, The Struggle of the Magicians . Thomas de Hartmann (who had made his debut years ago, before Tsar Nicholas II of Russia ), worked on the music for the ballet, and Olga Ivanovna Hinzenberg (who years later wed the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright ), practiced
6136-567: The accent that one associates with those born and bred in the narrow circle of the Imperial Court . His appearance was striking enough even in Turkey , where one saw many unusual types. His head was shaven, immense black moustache, eyes which at one moment seemed very pale and at another almost black. Below average height, he gave nevertheless an impression of great physical strength. In August 1921 and 1922, Gurdjieff travelled around western Europe, lecturing and giving demonstrations of his work in various cities, such as Berlin and London. He attracted
6240-536: The allegiance of Ouspensky's many prominent pupils (notably the editor A. R. Orage ). After an unsuccessful attempt to gain British citizenship, Gurdjieff established the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man south of Paris at the Prieuré des Basses Loges in Avon near the famous Château de Fontainebleau . The once-impressive but somewhat crumbling mansion set in extensive grounds housed an entourage of several dozen, including some of Gurdjieff's remaining relatives and some White Russian refugees. Gurdjieff
6344-427: The break in the rhythm. During this period, Gurdjieff acquired notoriety as "the man who killed Katherine Mansfield" after Katherine Mansfield died there of tuberculosis on 9 January 1923. However, James Moore and Ouspensky argue that Mansfield knew she would soon die and that Gurdjieff made her last days happy and fulfilling. Starting in 1924, Gurdjieff made visits to North America, where he eventually received
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#17327811471936448-437: The capability to understand it. Gurdjieff said, "The teaching whose theory is here being set out is completely self supporting and independent of other lines and it has been completely unknown up to the present time." The Fourth Way teaches that the soul a human individual is born with gets trapped and encapsulated by personality, and stays dormant, leaving one not really conscious, despite believing one is. A person must free
6552-401: The clear water of the Swat River. To the ancient Greeks, the river was known as the Soastus. The Chinese pilgrim Faxian referred to Swat as the Su-ho-to . Swat's total area is 5,337 square kilometres (2,061 sq mi). Swat District consists of two well-defined geographic regions, Swat Kohistan and Swat Proper. Swat Kohistan forms the larger, northern part of the district, and
6656-477: The collapse of Buddhism in Swat following the Alchon Hun invasion, Swat was ruled by the Hindu Shahi dynasty beginning in the 8th century, who made their capital at Udigram in lower Swat. The Hindu Shahis are believed to belong to the Uḍi/Oḍi tribe, namely the people of Oddiyana , present-day Swat. The Shahis built an extensive array of temples and other architectural buildings, of which ruins remain today. Under their rule, Hinduism ascended, and Sanskrit
6760-410: The dances. It was here that Gurdjieff opened his first Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man . In late May 1920, when political and social conditions in Georgia deteriorated, his party travelled to Batumi on the Black Sea coast and then by ship to Constantinople (today Istanbul ). Gurdjieff rented an apartment on Kumbaracı Street in Péra and later at 13 Abdullatif Yemeneci Sokak near
6864-456: The early 19th century, Swat emerged as an independent state under Saidu Baba . State of Swat became a Princely state under British suzerainty as part of the British Raj in 1918. In 1947, following the Partition of British India and subsequent independence of Pakistan , Swat acceded to the Dominion of Pakistan continuing as a self-governing princely state until it was officially annexed and merged into West Pakistan and later became
6968-412: The early work with Gurdjieff in Moscow and Saint Petersburg , Gurdjieff forbade students from writing down or publishing anything connected with Gurdjieff and his ideas. Gurdjieff said that students of his methods would find themselves unable to transmit correctly what was said in the groups. Later, Gurdjieff relaxed this rule, accepting students who subsequently published accounts of their experiences in
7072-457: The eccentric Rachmilievitch. In the same year, he married the Polish Julia Ostrowska in Saint Petersburg. In 1914, Gurdjieff advertised his ballet, The Struggle of the Magicians, and he supervised his pupils' writing of the sketch Glimpses of Truth. In 1915, Gurdjieff accepted P. D. Ouspensky as a pupil, and in 1916, he accepted the composer Thomas de Hartmann and his wife, Olga, as students. He then had about 30 pupils. Ouspensky already had
7176-434: The enneagram and with the help of the enneagram it can be interpreted... A man may be quite alone in the desert and he can trace the enneagram in the sand and in it read the eternal laws of the universe. And every time he can learn something new, something he did not know before." The Enneagram is often studied in contexts that do not include other elements of Fourth Way teaching . Having migrated for four years after escaping
7280-443: The famous prehistoric cave paintings at Lascaux , giving his interpretation of their significance to his pupils. Gurdjieff died of cancer at the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine , France, on 29 October 1949. His funeral took place at the St. Alexandre Nevsky Russian Orthodox Cathedral at 12 Rue Daru, Paris. He is buried in the cemetery at Avon (near Fontainebleau). Although no evidence or documents have certified anyone as
7384-415: The first public demonstration of his Sacred Dances (Movements at the Tbilisi Opera House, 22 June). In March 1918, Ouspensky separated from Gurdjieff, settling in England and teaching the Fourth Way in his own right. The two men were to have a very ambivalent relationship for decades to come. In 1919, Gurdjieff and his closest pupils moved to Tbilisi , Georgia , where Gurdjieff's wife Julia Ostrowska,
7488-417: The flat at 6 Rue des Colonels-Renard was very small, he continued to teach groups of pupils there throughout the war. Visitors have described his pantry or 'inner sanctum' as being stocked with an extraordinary collection of eastern delicacies and the suppers he held with elaborate toasts with vodka and cognac to "idiots". Having cut a physically impressive figure for many years, he was now paunchy. His teaching
7592-426: The future, under the pretext of different worthy reasons, to remove from my eyesight all those who by this or that make my life too comfortable". Whilst recovering from his injuries and still too weak to write himself, he began to dictate his magnum opus, Beelzebub's Tales , the first part of All and Everything , in a mixture of Armenian and Russian. The book is generally found to be convoluted and obscure and forces
7696-602: The high valleys and alpine meadows of Swat Kohistan (Swat Mountains) , a region where numerous glaciers feed the Usho , and Gabral rivers (also known as the Utrar River), which form a confluence at Kalam, and thereafter forms the Swat river - which forms the spine of the Swat Valley and district. Swat then is characterized by thick forests along the narrow gorges of the Kalam Valley until the city of Madyan . From there,
7800-513: The hills at the southern entrance of Swat, at the Malakand Pass . Around 1001 CE, the last Hindu Shahi king, Jayapala was decisively defeated at the Battle of Peshawar (1001) by Mahmud of Ghazni , thereby ending 2 centuries of Hindu rule over Gandhara. The Sultanate of Swat was the last Dardic state that existed in the Swat valley between 12th and 16th centuries. It was conquered by
7904-432: The lower plains experience occasional snow. Both regions are subject to two monsoon seasons - one in winter and the other in summer. Swat's lower reaches have vegetation characterized by dry bush and deciduous trees, while the upper areas mostly have thick pine forests. The Saidu Sharif Airport at Kanju is a stone throw from Mingora, adding much to the tourism in the past. The runway is situated between Swat River and
8008-569: The men were symbolic of the three types of people to whom Gurdjieff referred: No. 1 centred in their physical body; No. 2 centred in their emotions and No. 3 centred in their mind. Gurdjieff describes how he encountered dervishes , fakirs and descendants of the Essenes , whose teaching he said had been conserved at a monastery in Sarmoung. The book also has an overarching quest involving a map of "pre-sand Egypt" and culminates in an encounter with
8112-430: The mind, body and emotions separately, Gurdjieff's discipline worked on all three to promote an organic connection between them and a balanced development. In parallel with other spiritual traditions, Gurdjieff taught that a person must expend considerable effort to effect the transformation that leads to awakening . Gurdjieff referred to it as "The Work" or "Work on oneself". According to Gurdjieff, "Working on oneself
8216-459: The peach production of the country - thus oft marketed in the national markets with a branded as "Swat Peaches". The supply starts in April and continues till September because of a diverse range of varieties grown. Salampur village, located near Saidu Sharif , is a principle region in Pakistan for the manufacture of sheets and shawls. As of the 2023 census , Swat district has 381,212 households and
8320-609: The physical hardships, his personal behaviour towards pupils could be ferocious: Gurdjieff was standing by his bed in a state of what seemed to me to be completely uncontrolled fury. He was raging at Orage, who stood impassively and very pale, framed in one of the windows ... Suddenly, in the space of an instant, Gurdjieff's voice stopped, his whole personality changed and he gave me a broad smile—and looking incredibly peaceful and inwardly quiet, motioned me to leave. He then resumed his tirade with undiminished force. This happened so quickly that I do not believe that Mr. Orage even noticed
8424-415: The pupils taught previously by A. R. Orage. In 1924, while driving alone from Paris to Fontainebleau, he had a near-fatal car accident. Nursed by his wife and mother, he made a slow and painful recovery against all medical expectations. Still convalescent, he formally "disbanded" his institute on 26 August (in fact he dispersed only his "less dedicated" pupils) which he expressed was a personal undertaking: "in
8528-569: The purpose of education and instruction. The Fourth Way addresses the question of humanity's place in the Universe and the possibilities of inner development. It emphasizes that people ordinarily live in a state referred to as a semi-hypnotic "waking sleep," while higher levels of consciousness, virtue, and unity of will are possible. The Fourth Way teaches how to increase and focus attention and energy in various ways, and to minimize day-dreaming and absent-mindedness. This inner development in oneself
8632-476: The question of humanity's place in the universe and the importance of developing its latent potentialities—regarded as our natural endowment as human beings, but which was rarely brought to fruition. He taught that higher levels of consciousness, higher bodies, inner growth and development are real possibilities that nonetheless require conscious work to achieve. The aim was not to acquire anything new but to recover what we had lost. In his teaching, Gurdjieff gave
8736-541: The reader to "work" to find its meaning. He continued to develop the book over some years, writing in noisy cafes which he found conducive for setting down his thoughts. Gurdjieff's mother died in 1925 and his wife developed cancer and died in June 1926. Ouspensky attended her funeral. According to Fritz Peters , Gurdjieff was in New York from November 1925 to the spring of 1926, when he succeeded in raising over $ 100,000. He
8840-582: The river courses gently for 160 km through the wider Yousufzai Plains of the lower Swat Valley until Chakdara . Climate in Swat is a function of altitude, with mountains in the Kohistan region snow-clad year round. The upper areas of the region are relatively colder and often get snowfall in the winter. Drier, warmer temperatures in the lower portions in the Yousafzai Plains where summer temperatures can reach 105 °F (41 °C), although
8944-401: The soul by following a teaching which can lead to this aim or "go nowhere" upon death of his body. Should a person be able to receive the teaching and find a school, upon the death of the physical body they will "go elsewhere." Humans are born asleep , live in sleep , and die in sleep , only imagining that they are awake with few exceptions. The ordinary waking "consciousness" of human beings
9048-502: The valley around 403 CE, mentions 500 monasteries. Swat and the wider region of Gandhara were overrun by the Alchon Huns around about 465 CE. Under the rule of Mihirakula , Buddhism was suppressed as he himself became virulently anti-Buddhist after a perceived slight against him by a Buddhist monk. Under his rule, Buddhist monks were reportedly killed, and Buddhist shrines attacked. He himself appears to have been inclined towards
9152-414: The various surviving sects and schools could provide only a one-sided development, which did not result in a fully integrated human being. According to Gurdjieff, only one of the three dimensions of a person—namely, either the emotions, or the physical body or the mind—tends to develop in such schools and sects, and generally at the expense of the other faculties or centres , as Gurdjieff called them. As
9256-488: The war, and it also brought him to the attention of the authorities, leading to a night in the cells. After the war, Gurdjieff tried to reconnect with his former pupils. Ouspensky was hesitant, but after his death (October 1947), his widow advised his remaining pupils to see Gurdjieff in Paris. J. G. Bennett also visited from England, their first meeting in 25 years. Ouspensky's pupils in England had all thought that Gurdjieff
9360-417: The ways then in existence were not so divided, they stood much closer to one another. The fourth way differs from the old and the new ways by the fact that it is never a permanent way. It has no definite forms and there are no institutions connected with it." Ouspensky quotes Gurdjieff that there are fake schools and that "It is impossible to recognize a wrong way without knowing the right way. This means that it
9464-540: Was about three years older than him, which would point to a birth date c. 1872 . Although official documents consistently record the day of his birth as 28 December, Gurdjieff himself celebrated his birthday either on the Old Orthodox Julian calendar date of 1 January, or according to the Gregorian calendar date for New Year of 13 January (up to 1899; 14 January after 1900). The year of 1872
9568-422: Was dead. They discovered he was alive only after the death of Ouspensky, who had not told them that Gurdjieff, from whom he had learnt of the teaching, was still living. They were overjoyed and many of Ouspensky's pupils including Rina Hands, Basil Tilley and Catherine Murphy visited Gurdjieff in Paris. Hands and Murphy worked on the typing and retyping for the publication of All and Everything . Gurdjieff suffered
9672-463: Was engaged in a certain amount of political activity, as part of The Great Game . From 1913 to 1949, the chronology appears to be based on material that can be confirmed by primary documents, independent witnesses, cross-references and reasonable inference. On New Year's Day in 1912, Gurdjieff arrived in Moscow and attracted his first students, including his cousin, the sculptor Sergey Merkurov , and
9776-653: Was established in 1953 in New York City by Jeanne de Salzmann in cooperation with other direct pupils. Gurdjieff classified plants as having one center, animals two and humans three. Centers refer to apparatuses within a being that dictate specific organic functions. There are three main centers in a man: intellectual , emotional and physical , and two higher centers: higher emotional and higher intellectual . Body, Essence and Personality Gurdjieff divided people's being into Essence and Personality . Cosmic Laws Gurdjieff focused on two main cosmic laws,
9880-646: Was found along the Middle Swat River course. Swat, then known as Oddiyana , was a major centre of Gandhara civilization . In 327 BCE, Alexander the Great fought his way to Odigram and Barikot and stormed their battlements; in Greek accounts , these towns are identified as Ora and Bazira . After the Alexandrian invasion of Swat, and adjacent regions of Buner , control of the wider Gandhara region
9984-440: Was granted the status of a separate district in 1991. The Swat Valley is enclosed by mountains that forms a natural geographic boundary for it. The Swat River whose headwaters arise in the 5,500-to-5,800-metre-tall (18,000–19,000 ft) Hindu Kush mountain range runs through the length of the region. The main area consists of many sub valleys such as Kalam , Bahrain , Matiltan , Utror , and Gabral . The Valley of Swat
10088-599: Was handed to Seleucus I Nicator . In 305 BCE, the Mauryan Emperor conquered the wider region from the Greeks, and probably established control of Swat, until their control of the region ceased around 187 BCE. It was during the rule of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka that Buddhism was introduced into Swat, and some of the earliest stupas built in the region. Following collapse of Mauryan rule, Swat came under control of
10192-716: Was inhabited by a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional population that had a history of respect for travelling mystics and holy men, and for religious syncretism and conversion . Both the city of Kars and the surrounding territory were home to an extremely diverse population: although part of the Armenian Plateau , the Russian-ruled Transcaucasus province of Kars Oblast was home to Armenians , Caucasus Greeks , Pontic Greeks , Georgians , Russians , Kurds , Turks , and smaller numbers of Christian communities from eastern and central Europe such as Caucasus Germans , Estonians , and Russian Orthodox sectarian communities like
10296-568: Was introduced, in which Swat is included. This system has 67 wards , in which the total amount of village councils are around 170, while neighbourhood councils number around 44. The region elects three male members of the National Assembly of Pakistan (MNAs), one female MNA, seven male members of the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (MPAs) and two female MPAs. In the 2002 National and Provincial elections,
10400-469: Was now conveyed more directly through personal interaction with his pupils, who were encouraged to study the ideas he had expressed in Beelzebub's Tales . His personal business enterprises (he had intermittently been a dealer in oriental rugs and carpets for much of his life, among other activities) enabled him to offer charitable relief to neighbours who had been affected by the difficult circumstances of
10504-682: Was overrun by the Indo-Scythians , and then the Persian Parthian Empire around 50 CE. The arrival of the Parthians began the long tradition of Greco-Buddhist art , which was a syncretic form of art combining Buddhist imagery with heavy Hellenistic-Greek influences. This art form is credited with having the first representations of the Buddha in human form, rather than symbolically. The Parthians were ousted from Swat by
10608-476: Was re-established in mid-2009 after a month-long campaign. During their occupation, the group attacked Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai in 2012, who at the time was a young school-girl who wrote a blog for BBC Urdu detailing life under Tehreek-i-Taliban rule, and their curb on girls' education. Kushan -era Buddhist stupas and statues in the Swat Valley were demolished by the Tehreek-i-Taliban, and
10712-408: Was there that I first met Gurdjieff in the autumn of 1920, and no surroundings could have been more appropriate. In Gurdjieff, East and West do not just meet. Their difference is annihilated in a world outlook which knows no distinctions of race or creed. This was my first, and has remained one of my strongest impressions. A Greek from the Caucasus , he spoke Turkish with an accent of unexpected purity,
10816-611: Was to make six or seven trips to the US, but alienated a number of people with his brash and impudent demands for money. A Chicago-based Gurdjieff group was founded by Jean Toomer in 1927 after he had trained at the Prieuré for a year. Diana Huebert was a regular member of the Chicago group, and documented the several visits Gurdjieff made to the group in 1932 and 1934 in her memoirs on the man. Despite his fund-raising efforts in America,
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