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2) a) Those who are studying special subjects selected by themselves personally.

b) Those who are undergoing cure by the Institute Method and who are cared for by its Sanatoriums.

3) a) Those attending the general lectures only, or,

b) Those studying a special subject selected from the programme.

The first category includes only those persons who have already been through a course of lectures arranged by the Institute, either at Headquarters or in branches in other cities. It is only after their attendance at a course of lectures that their aptitude for future work in the Institute can be ascertained, and their attitude towards the Institute shown.

(It should be noted that several subjects of the Lecture and Theoretical Section and of the Practical Section are confined to students of the first category).

There are at present in the principal branch of the Institute twelve classes for special subjects. But newcomers, adults and children (from 4 years upwards) of both sexes, may attend only the following classes:

Harmonic Rhythms, healing gymnastics, Music, Painting and Sculpture.

All the above subjects are taught by special methods.

An important feature in the organisation of the Institute is the course of lectures. Once a week lectures will be given to which the general public will be admitted. These will be given partly by Mr. Gurdjieff himself (once a fortnight).

During the first half of 1924 lectures will be read on the following subjects:

1. — Selections from travels in Turkestan, the Pamir, Thibet, Chitral, Kafiristan, Afghanistan and Beludjistan.

2. — Is India really the "Land of Miracles"?

3. — The Excavations at Delhi, in the Valley of the Hindu Kush, in Armenia, Babylon and Egypt.

4. — Is the soul immortal? Is the will free?

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5. — The law of the octave.

6. — Wherein consists the chief defect of modern science?

7. — Does man of to-day act himself, or is it "something" that acts in him?

8. — What is hypnosis?

9. — Magnetism, "Emotism", "Mitkcism".

10. — The Fakir, the Monk, the Dervish, the Yogi.

11. — The science of numbers, symbols and diagrams.

12. — The ancient sacred art.

13. — The Science of poisons.

14. — Magic.

15. — Proof of the unity of the origin of all religions.

16. — Explanation (with demonstrations) of the tricks of fakirs, spiritualists, thought-readers, fortune-tellers, etc...

17. — Experimental demonstrations in mathematical chemistry, psychic phenomena and hypnotism, with special reference to apparent paradoxes in previous lectures.

18. — The Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man.

The outside public are admitted every Saturday evening to the evening studies and occupations of the students of the Institute, but it is a condition sine qua non that they should have a recommendation from some person who is known to the Institute.

Those desiring further particulars should apply for Prospectuses Nos. 2 et 3.

G. GURDJIEFF'S
INSTITUTE FOR THE HARMONIOUS
DEVELOPMENT OF MAN

The Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man by the G. I. Gurdjieff system is practically the continuation of the Society that went under the name of the "Seekers after Truth." This Society was founded in 1895 by a group of various specialists, including doctors, archaeologists, priests, painters, etc., whose aim was to study in close collaboration so-called supernatural phenomena, in which each of them was interested from a particular point of view.

During the existence of the Society, its members undertook many very difficult journeys, mostly in Persia, Afghanistan, Turkestan, Thibet, India, but also in other countries. They also undertook a good deal of work of various descriptions in connection with their object, which involved much labour and organisation.

Throughout the period of travel and work many of the Society's members lost their lives, while others from time to time abandoned the task, and only a small number returned to Russia in 1913, under the leadership of Mr. Gurdjieff.

Their first stop was at Tashkent, but Mr. Gurdjieff subsequently set up his headquarters in Moscow with the intention of arranging the material that had been collected and of putting to practical use such of it as was adapted to the purpose.

A course of lectures given by Mr. Gurdjieff resulted in a number of men of science, representing all branches, rallying round him, and the number of people interested in his ideas began rapidly to increase.

He then resolved to give effect to the plan that he had long entertained of founding a training establishment under the name

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of the "Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man" for
the study of his ideas and in order to put into practice his system
of training.

But the war and the subsequent events in Russia hindered
this plan and, being compelled by circumstances to leave Moscow,
he travelled from country to country and at last settled in Europe.

Notwithstanding the enormous difficulties arising out of the
events of recent years, Mr. Gurdjieff nevertheless contrived to
organise several scientific expeditions and to form groups in
various cities with a programme for the study of the theoretical
part of the work.

The site he had long been looking for was at last found in
France, at Fontainebleau, near Paris, where Mr. Gurdjieff in
1922 acquired by purchase the old chateau called Le Prieuré,
and where he founded a permanent centre of the Institute accord-
ing to his original plan.

Although the period of organisation is not yet complete, the
main branch of the Institute is already capable of accommodating
two hundred attending and one hundred resident students and
in a short time these numbers will increase.

The circle of those interested in the ideas of the Institute is
continually widening, while the members of the Institute in all
countries is now not far short of 5,000, of all nationalities and
religions.

The Institute divides its adherents into two categories:

1) Those who are interested in the ideas of the Institute, on
the information already acquired, and

2) Those who wish to be trained according to the Institute's
own ideas.

The Gurdjieff Institute's system of harmonious training is
based upon conclusions arising out of the theses set out below.

Owing to the conditions of modern life, man has departed from
his original type, that is to say from the type he should have
become by virtue of his surroundings: place, society and culture
in which he was born and nurtured.

By their very nature, these conditions marked out for man

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the paths of development and the final normal type to which he
should have attained. The civilisation of our time, with its
unlimited means for extending its influence, has wrenched man from
the normal conditions in which he should be living. It is true
that civilisation has opened up for man new paths in the domains
of knowledge, science and economic life, and thereby enlarged his
world perception. But, instead of raising him to a higher all-
round level of development, civilisation has developed only
certain sides of his nature to the detriment of other faculties,
some of which it has destroyed altogether. Civilisation has
robbed man of the natural advantages of his type, without at
the same time providing him with what was needed for the
harmonious development of a new type. And from an individually
finished man, normally adapted to the nature and the environ-
ment in which he was placed and which created him, civilisation
has produced a being, torn from his element, unfitted for life,
and a complete stranger to all the conditions of his present mode
of existence.

That is the stand taken, with the aid of psycho-analysis, by
the psychological system of Mr. Gurdjieff, which proves experi-
mentally that modern man's world perception and his own mode
of living are not the conscious expression of his being taken as a
complete whole. Quite on the contrary, they are only the un-
conscious manifestation of one or another part of him.

From this point of view our psychic life, both as regards our
world perception and our expression of it, fail to present an
unique and indivisible whole, that is to say a whole acting both
as a common repository of all our perceptions and as the source
of all our expressions. On the contrary, it is divided into three
separate entities, which have nothing to do with one another,
but are distinct both as regards their functions and their constit-
uent substances.

These three entirely separate sources of the intellectual,
emotional and instinctive or moving life of man, each taken in
the sense of the whole set of functions proper to them, are called
by the system under notice the thinking, the emotional and the
moving centres.

Every really conscious perception and expression of man
must be the result of the simultaneous and co-ordinated working
of all three centres, each of which must fulfil its share of the whole
task, i.e. furnish its quota of associations. A complete apper-

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ception in any given case is possible only if all three centres work together. But, owing to many disturbing influences affecting modern man, the working of the psychic centres is almost disconnected. Consequently his intellectual, emotional and instinctive or moving functions fail to complete and correct one another, but, on the contrary, they travel along different roads which very rarely meet, and thus allow of very few moments of consciousness.

The failure of the three centres to co-ordinate is due to the fact that there are, as it were, three different men in a single individual, the first of whom does nothing but think, the second only feels and the third only lives by his instincts and motor functions: a logical man, an emotional man and an automatic man.

These three men in one never understand one another; consciously and unconsciously they frustrate the plans, the intentions and the work of one another; and yet each of them at the moment when he is in action occupies a prepotent position and calls himself "I."

Observation of the disunited and contradictory action of the centres shews that man cannot be master of himself, since it is not he who governs his centres, and he himself does not know which of his centres will begin to function next. People do not notice this, because they are under the illusion of the unity of their "I's" and of their general psychic constitution.

If a correct observation of the psychic activities of man is made, it will be clearly seen that modern man never acts of his own accord, and for reasons within himself, but by his action merely expresses the changes that are induced in his mechanism by external causes. It is not man who thinks, but something thinks in him; he does not act, but something acts through him; he does not create, but something creates in him; he does not accomplish, but something accomplishes through him.

This thesis becomes particularly clear when we understand the process of perception by each centre of external (and internal) influences and similarly the process by which responsive actions are brought about.

The psychic centres of a newborn child may be compared to blank phonograph rolls, upon which from the first day the impressions of both the internal and external worlds inscribe themselves. The matter thus impressed is preserved in each centre in the same order, sometimes absurd, and in the same relations in which the impressions were actually received in life.

— 5 —

The processes of imagination, memory, judgment, reasoning and thinking are made up exclusively of the matter inscribed, which combines and associates in various ways under the influence of chance shocks. These shocks set in motion with more or less intensity one or another of the rolls whose contents (the matter inscribed on it) thus become the centre of association in the given case. A further shock, or a shock of different intensity, evokes yet another association and, consequently, another train of thoughts, feelings and acts. And no centre can add anything from itself or anything new to the combinations thus formed, nor can it draw upon the material formed in the other centres.

It will be understood from this that man's world perception is always the work of only a part of his being, or, stated differently, that man has three different processes of perception. These processes have but little association with one another, or associate quite by chance and only partially. Therefore every judgment man forms about things is the work of merely a part of his psychic constitution and the expression of but a fraction of the matter at his disposal. Hence, man's judgments are invariably partial, and consequently false.

It is clear from the foregoing that the first thing necessary to the harmonious development of man is to train him to be able to introduce immediately the work of his three centres into each of his psychic functions. The work of the centres must be of equal intensity at one time, and then the three main wheels of the human machine will work smoothly without obstructing one another and with the highest efficiency, both as regards their separate functions and as regards the level of consciousness which it is possible for man to attain, but which he never reaches in ordinary circumstances.

When it is borne in mind that the degree of development possible in each centre differs with every individual and that their contents (impressions registered) are also different, we are forced to the obvious conclusion that each person's approach to the work must be strictly individual.

All the functional disorders to which the human machine is liable in the conditions of ordinary life increase as time goes on. And this machine can only be made to run smoothly after a long and determined struggle with the defects that have arisen.

But man is unable to carry on this struggle unaided and by his own efforts of will. Nor will it avail him to work upon himself

— 6 —

by the various methods of self-training and self-development now
widely current. These recommend for all and sundry general
methods and processes, such as various physical exercises, exercises
in meditation and concentration, breathing and physical exercises,
various systems of diet, fasting, etc.

Such methods, prescribed for everybody without distinction of
individual needs and abilities and without due regard to the
peculiarities and qualities of each person, are not only useless,
but may even become dangerous, for while ignorant attempts to
overhaul a defective machine may possibly bring about certain
changes, these will at the same time cause other changes, which
an inexperienced and ignorant person can neither foresee nor guard
against. It should be borne in mind that the human machine is
always in mechanical equilibrium, whether running smoothly or
irregularly. Therefore any change wrought in one direction is
bound to bring about a change in another direction, and it is
absolutely essential that this should be foreseen and allowed for.

In order to obviate unexpected and undesirable consequences,
it is necessary when working upon oneself to conform to the
discipline imposed by the special and strictly individual methods
aiming at the development of new and particular "inertias," by
means of which the old ones may be regulated and changed.
In other words it is necessary to develop new faculties, unattain-
able in ordinary life, and which man can neither develop unaided
nor by recourse to any general method.

The adoption of strictly individualized methods of education
of this kind is possible only on the condition that every particular
of man's organic and psychic condition as well as his previous
upbringing and all the conditions and circumstances of his life are
taken into account. In order to determine these particulars with
absolute accuracy, a long time is necessary. This is mainly owing
to the fact that man from his earliest days, as a result of our
modern upbringing, acquires an external mask, that is to say an
external type that has nothing in common with his real type.
During his lifetime, this mask gradually grows thicker and thicker,
until a man is unable to see himself for his mask.

But as it is necessary, in order to establish the individual
particulars relating to each person, to discover the features and
faculties of his type, his mask has to be destroyed, which is a
question of time. It is only then that we can proceed to study
and observe the man, that is to say his real type; it is only then
that a programme can be drawn up for his further work.

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A separate examination is made of the principal functions of
the organism and of the psychic constitution, i. e.:—

The attention, memory, enunciation, degree of intelligence,
temperament, the nature of the physical and psychic reflexes,
sight, hearing, smell, taste, colour perception, properties of
emanations, etc.

These examinations, together with the general observations
and the particulars collected regarding the inclinations and
abilities of the individual, serve as a basis on which to draw up
the course of study and effective work that must be prescribed in
view of the self-development of each person.

The results of all examinations and observations are recorded
on a special sheet, of which a copy is annexed to the present
prospectus.

The Institute includes among its principals instructors,
specialists in the different branches of knowledge: medicine,
psychology, chemistry, the physico-mathematical sciences, etc.

Only instructors who have been specially trained and who
have studied the science of the Harmonious Development of Man
from all sides can carry into effect the programme of the Institute
in accordance with all the principles enumerated.

In the main branch of the Institute are special laboratories
for psychometrics, analytical chemistry and experimental psy-
chology, in which independent research can be made by the
individual, especially with a view to verifying theories and theses
that seem doubtful or arbitrary.

The programme of the Institute for the Harmonious Develop-
ment of Man includes a great variety of subjects, from which a
course is selected and specially adapted to the needs of each person
according to his individual qualities.

The general programme of work of the Institute for the Har-
monious Development of Man includes the study of harmonic
rhythm, arts, crafts and languages. Along with these subjects an
exhaustive study is made of man and the universe in all their
relations, in the light of European science and of the ancient
learning of the East. These studies involve the application of
new and entirely original methods of conception and perception.
They widen the horizon of human conception and, at the same
time, help to set right the processes of thought and consciousness.

-8-

The Institute also possesses a medical section which undertakes to correct any functional disorders existing in the individual, since it is absolutely essential that these should be remedied before his harmonious development can be efficiently undertaken.

Courses of study have been started at various outlying groups of the Institute with a proper programme to enable them to be put into practice.

These groups are kept in constant touch with the Headquarters of the Institute by a staff of travelling lecturers and teachers specially trained in the Institute, and also by the circulation of the Institute Magazine which is printed in the Institute's own special characters. The Magazine contains, not only all lectures and talks, but also all the events of Institute life.

-9-

PROGRAMME

1) Lecture and Study Section.

Science of the Harmonious Development of Man; Psychology of man's internal development. Study of the methods of self-knowledge and self-perfection, in the light of European science and of the schools of the East. Practical experiments and work. Application of the psychological method to the various sciences; philosophy of the cosmogonies; the mechanics of the universe. The science of relativity. The science of numbers. The science of symbols; physical astronomy, mathematics, modern and ancient chemistry (Alchemy); ancient medicine; modern oriental medicine. Comparative study of religions. Mythology. Idolatry. Ancient esoteric schools and modern Eastern schools. Psychology of art. Ancient and modern philosophy.

2) Practical Section.

1) Harmonic rhythm. 2) Special exercises for the development of the memory, will, attention, thinking, perception, etc. 3) Music, singing, plastics, oriental (sacred) dances, drawing, painting, sculpture. 4) Applied arts and crafts: agriculture, horticulture, marketgardening. 5) Languages.

The above-named subjects are taught and put into practice by special methods.

3) Medical Section.

Healing by gymnastics, combined with new therapeutic methods; water-cure, light-cure, electro-therapy, magneto-therapy, psycho-therapy, dietetics and dulotherapy, as required and after special examination of the individual.

Those in the Institute are divided into three categories:

1) Those who are working with a view to self-development, according to a programme specially drawn up for them.

— 10 —

(It should be noted that several subjects of the Lecture and Theoretical Section and of the Practical Section are confined to students of the first category.)

Harmonic Rhythms, Healing Gymnastics, Music, Painting and Sculpture.

An important feature in the organisation of the Institute is the course of lectures. Once a week lectures will be given to which the general public will be admitted. These will be given partly by Mr. Gurdjieff himself (once a fortnight),

1. — Selections from travels in Turkestan, the Pamir, Thibet, Chitral, Kafiristan, Afghanistan and Beluchistan.

— 11 —

5. — The law of the octave.

8. — What is hypnosis?

9. — Magnetism, "Emotism," "Mitkcism."

12. — The ancient sacred art.

13. — The science of poisons.

14. — Magic.

Those desiring further particulars should apply for Prospectuses Nos. 2 and 3.