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The Bradford Gurdjieff Society
The Bradford Gurdiieff Society is a group of people who meet together regularly in order to follow a Teaching known as “the Work'. This discipline, of ancient origin, was brought to the West in a form suitable for contemporary culture by George Ivanovitch Gurdiieff. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Gurdjieff and his fellow “Seekers of Truth” travelled extensively in the near and far East and into central Asia. Through his travels, Gurdiieff gathered valuable knowledge and gained an understanding of the true sense and aim of our existence as human beings. The theory of this body of knowledge is expressed in a written form known as “The System”. This represents an objective critique of man and his situation, and furthermore identifies a path for a true means of personal development through work upon oneself.
Gurdjieff taught that within us we have three primary "Centres" which correspond to thinking, feeling and instinctive functions of a human being. In contemporary Civilization these functions are said to be imbalanced, unrelated and at variance with each other. In Western culture the overwhelming influence has been upon the development of the thinking faculty at the expense of the emotional and physical aspects of our nature. Through individual efforts over a long period of time and in accordance with a definite method it is possible to develop the centres in a harmonious way. The Bradford Gurdiieff Group meets together in order to follow this teaching in a form that it is as close as possible to the direct teaching of Gurdjieff.
In each of those present here one of his inner machines is more developed than the others. There is no connection between them. Only he can be called a man without quotation marks in whom all three machines are developed A one-sided development only harmful “ - G.I Gurdjieff
Meetings
The Society’s meetings follow the pattern of the academic year, with weekend-long meetings once a fortnight, and special meetings at Christmas, Ash Wednesday, Easter, a week - long event over the Summer, and the Birthday and anniversary of the death Mr Gurdjieff. The Group undertakes a program of varied activities which are put together in such a way as to allow members of the group opportunities to study the Gurdiieff teaching and work upon themselves in a practical way.
The Programme
The Group follows a structured and intensive program during each of it's weekend meetings, the purpose of which is to provide members of the group with conditions that will assist individual attempts at self observation and. work upon oneself. The program can include physical activities, arts and crafts, study and discussion, drama, cooking, and classes where members of the group undertake the Gurdjieff Movements. These are special rhythmic exercises set to piano music. All activities take place in the context of an overall theme for the weekend and an assisting exercise aimed at giving a focus for attempts to work upon oneself
Reading Groups
For those who have some interest in the Gurdjieff teaching, the Society holds introductory reading groups which meet once a fortnight for a total of ten sessions These are geared to an initial exploration of Work ideas and pursuit of some of the practical aspects of the teaching. Should you be interested in attending a reading group you can contact the Group. |