THE GURDJIEFF JOURNALLLC

William Patrick Patterson is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Gurdjieff Journal.

The Gurdjieff Journal, established in 1992, is the first and now only journal, international-domestic, devoted exclusively to G. I. Gurdjieff’s teaching of The Fourth Way. Published triannually and free of advertising, the intention of The Gurdjieff Journal is to observe and report upon the contemporary world “mercilessly, without any compromise whatsoever.” Through original research, timely feature articles, essays, interviews and book and film reviews, the principles, perspectives and practices of the teaching are explored and applied to everyday living.

Current Issue – 96 Volume 24 No. 4

Probe: I Need to Go Faster Sayings of Substance Dreams: What Are They Good For? Part II Exploring the Labyrinth Is Attention Given, or Taken?—Book Review: Stolen Focus and The Loop Group Meetings & Lectures with A. R. Orage, New York, 1928, Part X —Notes by Carl Zigrosser Selected Talks of Paul Anderson, 1972–1975, Part V

Back Issues of The Gurdjieff Journal

Publications

Issue 95 Volume 24 No. 3 Probe: The Meaning of Life Dreams: What Are They Good For? Part I Kundabuffer and the Personal Self by Don Hoyt Cannabis: The Question of Epigenetic Inheritance Group Meetings & Lectures with A. R. Orage, New York, 1928, Part IX —Notes by Carl Zigrosser Selected Talks of Paul Anderson, 1972–1975, Part IV Sayings of Substance

Issue 94 Volume 24 No. 2 Message from Mr. Patterson Come, Let Us Gather in Presence Sayings of Substance Eating The "I" Struggle of the Magicians Working with Instability Images of God or Machines? The Challenges of Our Technological World-Time The Making of The Gurdjieff Trilogy Probe: Appropriate The Moment Spiritual Pilgrimage—Visiting Gurdjieff's Father's Grave The Fourth Way Is The First Way

Issue 93 Volume 24 No. 1 Franz Anton Mesmer: Zoostat & Magnetism Probe: Hurt & Faith Four Essays from Lena Markova: Selected Articles & Stories Group Meetings & Lectures with A. R. Orage, New York—1927–28 Part VIII—Notes by Carl Zigrosser Selected Talks of Paul Anderson, 1972–1975 Part III

Issue 92 Volume 23 No. 4 Electricity Seminar Exploration: Silence Is Not Silent... Probe: Consciously Taking the Good End of the Stick Horns of Being Book Review: Double Stream: Poems by Ellen Dooling Reynard; Paintings and Drawings by Paul Reynard Group Meetings & Lectures with A. R. Orage, New York, 1927, Part VII—Notes by Carl Zigrosser Selected Talks of Paul Anderson, 1972–1975

Issue 91 Volume 23 No. 3 Conscience: The Emblem of the Society Akhaldan The Society Akhaldan & Toro Religion in Prehistoric Egypt Present at the Creation Selected Talks of Paul Anderson, 1972–1975 Group Meetings & Lectures with A. R. Orage, New York, 1927, Part VI—Notes by Carl Zigrosser In Memoriam: Jacob Needleman

Issue 90 Volume 23 No. 2 Death and Dying of Cults Sharon Gans' Manhattan Cult—Spencer Schneider's Experience Robert Burton and the Fellowship of Friends—What the Jennings Brown Podcast Reveals Book Review: How to Be Animal: A New History of What it Means to Be Human by Melanie Challenger Group Meetings & Lectures with A. R. Orage, New York, 1927, Part V—Notes by Carl Zigrosser

Kindle Edition Articles

#51 Vol. 13 Issue 3

When was Gurdjieff Born—1866, 1872, 1877? by William Patrick Patterson One of the many unanswered questions surrounding Gurdjieff is when was he born? As he burned all his private papers and documents before going to America in February 1930, there can be no factual authentication. Many have taken 1877 as the Date, since that is what appears on his passport. One biographer, James Moore, argues for 1866. He bases this largely on Meetings with Remarkable Men (pp. 40–41) where Gurdjieff remarks that "A year or two after he had moved from Armenia, all this wealth that my father had inherited was lost, as a result of a calamity independent of man . . . A cattle plague came from Asia and spread all over Transcaucasia." Gurdjieff then says that "I was then about seven years old . . . " Moore has evidence that in 1872–73 a rinderpest cattle plague developed in the area where Gurdjieff lived, and thus holds that Gurdjieff was born in 1866. Purchase on Amazon

#48 Vol. 12 Issue 4

Working in the World: Machines or Son of God? by William Patrick Patterson Mr. Gurdjieff says we are “images of God.” He also says we are “machines.” How could we be both images of God and machines? How to understand this? The gulf between the two is so immeasurable the contradiction seems unresolvable, but it isn’t. Purchase on Amazon

#8 Vol. 2 Issue 4

Is 'Prince Ozay' Really Gurdjieff: Part I by William Patrick Patterson Paul Dukes, a young Englishman enrolled in the St. Petersburg Conservatoire, was befriended by Lev Lvovitch, a powerful hypnotist known as the "Lion." Lvovitch had served in the army in Central Asia, nearly died, and had been brought back to life by a shaman. Presumably, he learned the art of hypnotism from the shaman. In the winter of 1913, Lvovitch introduced Dukes to a "Prince Ozay," whom Lvovitch said was one "of whom there are but few in the world." Purchase on Amazon

#9 Vol. 3 Issue 1

Is 'Prince Ozay' Really Gurdjieff: Part II by William Patrick Patterson We present the second excerpt from Paul Dukes, The Unending Quest (Cassell & Co., Ltd., 1950). Paul Dukes, a young Englishman enrolled in the St. Petersburg Conservatoire, was introduced to a "Prince Ozay," of whom, Dukes was told, "there are but few in the world." Was Ozay Gurdjieff? What do you think? Purchase on Amazon

#10 Vol. 3 Issue 2

Is 'Prince Ozay' Really Gurdjieff: Part III by William Patrick Patterson We present the final excerpt from Paul Dukes, The Unending Quest (Cassell & Co., Ltd., 1950). Paul Dukes, a young Englishman enrolled in the St. Petersburg Conservatoire, was introduced to a "Prince Ozay," of whom, Dukes was told, "there are but few in the world." Was Ozay Gurdjieff? What do you think? Purchase on Amazon

#58 Vol. 15 Issue 2

The Life & Teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh: Part 1 by Jean Lauderdale and William Patrick Patterson One of the most influential—and unconventional—Indian spiritual teachers in modern times, integral to the movement toward a blending of Eastern and Western spirituality, was Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, later known as Osho. Teaching along the fringes of the ancient Indian tradition of world-renunciation, Sannyasa, he poetically merged it with parallels of western psychological and philosophical thought to form a radical doctrine with an abundant and exuberant international following. Purchase on Amazon

#59 Vol. 15 Issue 3

The Life & Teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh: Part 2 by Jean Lauderdale and William Patrick Patterson One of the most influential—and unconventional—Indian spiritual teachers in modern times, integral to the movement toward a blending of Eastern and Western spirituality, was Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, later known as Osho. Teaching along the fringes of the ancient Indian tradition of world-renunciation, Sannyasa, he poetically merged it with parallels of western psychological and philosophical thought to form a radical doctrine with an abundant and exuberant international following. Purchase on Amazon

#60 Vol. 15 Issue 4

The Life & Teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh: Part 3 by Jean Lauderdale and William Patrick Patterson One of the most influential—and unconventional—Indian spiritual teachers in modern times, integral to the movement toward a blending of Eastern and Western spirituality, was Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, later known as Osho. Teaching along the fringes of the ancient Indian tradition of world-renunciation, Sannyasa, he poetically merged it with parallels of western psychological and philosophical thought to form a radical doctrine with an abundant and exuberant international following. Purchase on Amazon

#61 Vol. 16 Issue 1

The Worlds of Oscar Ichazo by Dick Myers and William Patrick Patterson When the Chilean Oscar Ichazo first surfaced in the U.S., he and his Arica Institute some touted as a successor to Gurdjieff and his Fourth Way. Centered on what Ichazo called "scientific mysticism," Arica proclaimed that it explored the human psyche through an eclectic mix of techniques, including the use of the enneagram, to demonstrate man's ego fixations and ways to freedom. But time took its toll... Purchase on Amazon

#31 Vol. 8 Issue 3

Gurdjieff, Sufism & Mohammed by William Patrick Patterson Ever since Mr. Gurdjieff's death, Sufis have claimed him as one of theirs. Either that or claimed that the teaching he brought is really Sufism in disguise. Parallels between Sufism and the ancient teaching of the Fourth Way can be pointed out, of course, certain of his dances, music and perhaps some practices. No one reading the first two series of his Legominism, All & Everything, could doubt his familiarity with and respect for Mohammed, Islam and Sufism. But does that make Gurdjieff a Sufi? Purchase on Amazon

Sample Articles by Category

Traditional and Contemporary Spirituality
Working with the Seven Deadly Sins—2011 AD
A Living, Breathing Organism
“Questioning Is the Piety of Thinking”
The Question of Truth
Blood Sacrifice 

Exploration of the Fourth Way
Working With Instability
Why Uspenskii Left Gurdjieff
A Point in the Work
Boyhood with Gurdjieff 

Historical and Contemporary Context
Art Review: Max Beckmann: Artist in Search of the Self
Armenia: Theater of Perpetual War
Are You Occupied?
Cannabis Sativa: Visionary Medicine or Blissful Poison?
Certainty in a Time of Uncertainty
Columbine & the Guys
Darwin & His Theory
Ecstasy in a Pill 

Book Reviews
Aristoxenus’s Ghost
Seeing Red: A Study in Consciousness by Nicholas Humphrey
Body and World by Samuel Todes
Reflections from the Shining Brow: My Years with Frank Lloyd Wright and Olgivanna Lazovich by Kamal Amin
Sacred Sexuality in Ancient Egypt by Ruth Schumann Antelme and Stéphane Rossini
Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas by Elaine Pagels 

Film Reviews
Andrei Rublev
Ingmar Bergman’s The Magician
Why Has Bodhi Dharma Left for the East?
Il Postino
Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life & The Apostle
The Edge
The Time of Crumb

The Contributors

Don Hoyt, Joyce Colin-Smith, James Moore, Barbara Patterson, Teresa Adams, Richard Myers, Henry and Mary Ellen Korman, Ron and Claire Levitan, Lowell Thomas