The International Gurdjieff movement after P. D. Ouspensky

Record summary

After the deaths of George Gurdjieff in 1949 and P. D. Ouspensky in 1947, Fourth Way groups developed competing forms of teaching, exercises, communal work, and textual authority. J. G. Bennett and other organizers helped transmit Gurdjieffian practices internationally, while Maurice Nicoll and later institutions preserved distinct interpretations. This lead supports comparison of charismatic succession, embodied ritual, secrecy, and claims of ancient sources. Chronology and organizational affiliation are especially difficult because “Gurdjieff movement” covers independent groups with divergent doctrines.