Gurdjieff as a Bricoleur: Understanding the "Work" as a Bricolage
Several descriptions have been given to the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff (1866?-1949), including ‘esoteric Christianity’, a herald of the ‘New Age Movement’ and a standalone system called ‘The Work’ or the ‘Fourth Way’. Scholars qualify their assessments by noting Gurdjieff’s exposure to Theosophy,...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2015
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| In: |
International journal for the study of new religions
Year: 2015, Volume: 6, Issue: 2, Pages: 117-135 |
| Further subjects: | B
Gurdjieff
B The Work B Altglas B Fourth Way B Levi-Strauss B De Certeau B Bricoleur B Bricolage |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Several descriptions have been given to the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff (1866?-1949), including ‘esoteric Christianity’, a herald of the ‘New Age Movement’ and a standalone system called ‘The Work’ or the ‘Fourth Way’. Scholars qualify their assessments by noting Gurdjieff’s exposure to Theosophy, Spiritualism and Hypnotism, or his background in indigenous oral culture. Nevertheless, a complex unity of ideas, constituting a whole, is usually taken to underpin Gurdjieff’s instructions, with the allure and mystique of this ‘System’ lying in the quest to uncover its source(s). As a result, the Gurdjieff movement is typically presented as sui generis, issuing from a self-contained dynamic. In contrast, taking my lead from the model of the bricoleur in Levi-Strauss, and drawing on an illustrative range of primary sources and secondary literature, I argue that Gurdjieff is better understood not as launching a new ‘system’ - complete, integrated and self-sufficient - but as drawing together a heterogenous repertoire of sources and resources through which to make a bricolage. As a result, the ‘fourth way’ has always been a ‘work in progress’. |
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| ISSN: | 2041-952X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: International journal for the study of new religions
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1558/ijsnr.v6i2.29056 |
