What we’re about
Rochester Gurdjieff Center groups are once again in person.
The Rochester Gurdjieff Center is a satellite of the Gurdjieff Foundation of North America. We comprise the Rochester, Fairport and Ithaca area groups listed on the official Foundation website.
The Gurdjieff Work is a method for human beings to develop a capacity for maintaining a heightened state of consciousness in life. The Work provides tools for seeing one's habitual nature and one's world more impartially. The Work provides conditions for the development of being. It is for waking up to one's true purpose, and the realization of who I am. The Work can be most helpful to people who have already tried other spiritual systems and religions, and have been disappointed, disillusioned, or realized that they can't do it alone.
This is a practical method for practical people, and groups are designed to give members practical tools to put into immediate use. It is not a system based on belief (religion) or theory (philosophy), but rather a teaching that builds upon direct experience received through the body, emotions and mind. All members are expected to test the ideas and methods for themselves week to week.
Some core ideas include:
- As we are, we are locked in a state of mechanical "sleep" where habits and self-focus dominate even the best of intentions.
- Higher capacities, beyond the sphere of common thought, emotion and sensation, exist in each of us; but their influence is blocked by our ordinary state of mechanical sleep.
- Conscious evolution is possible for individuals, but it cannot "just happen" mechanically, or through reading. It requires intentional Work, and the application of the ideas of the Work in the proper conditions in life.
- This evolution begins with the work of observing ourselves as we find ourselves – our habits, movements, tensions, ways of relating to other people, fears, and preferences.
Just like breaking out of prison, it's impossible to do it alone. We need a group of like-minded people, and each of us in turn helps the other through the sharing of questions, observations, and our deepening understanding of the system.
This Meetup can provide entre to regular Gurdjieff groups and the larger Gurdjieff community.
TO BEGIN: simply RSVP for the session that works for you and we will message you with more information.
You can learn more about the Rochester NY Gurdjieff community here: http://rochestergurdjieffcenter.org
