‘The Work’: The Teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff and P. D. Ouspensky in Russia and Beyond

This chapter sets out the lives and careers of the independent teachers G. I. Gurdjieff (1866?–1949) and P. D. Ouspensky (1878–1947) in the context of their early careers within the Russian empire, followed by their emigration to Paris and London after the Russian Revolution and Civil War. We argue that the system of ‘practical mysticism’ taught by both figures was strongly flavoured by elements of the ‘occult revival’ as this flourished in Silver Age Russia. It bore the impress of an imperial syncretism responsive to both Greek-Armenian folk culture (Gurdjieff) and Russian metropolitan mysticism (Ouspensky). We outline the main elements of ‘the Work’, which we present as a co-production by both teachers, despite its schismatic history since the 1920s, and we discuss the main theories on the sources of this practice. Overall we argue that fin de siècle imperial Russia was a more potent cultural crucible for the creation of ‘the Work’ than has hitherto been acknowledged. Paying greater research attention to the Gurdjieff–Ouspensky movement will improve our understanding of the depth and scope of its sources within pre-revolutionary Russia and the émigré cultures that emerged in London and Paris in the aftermath of the Russian Civil War.