George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (Armenian: Գեորգի Իվանովիչ Գյուրջիև, (Georgian: გიორგი გურჯიევი, Greek: Γεώργιος Γεωργιάδης, Russian: Гео́ргий Ива́нович Гюрджи́ев, January 13, 1877? – October 29, 1949) was an influential spiritual teacher of the early to middle 20th century. Gurdjieff called his discipline "The Work"(connoting "work on oneself") according to his principles and instructions, or (originally) the "Fourth Way" and at one point described his teaching as being "esoteric Christianity".
At different times in his life, Gurdjieff formed and closed various schools around the world to teach the work. He claimed that the teachings he brought to the West from his own experiences and early travels expressed the truth found in ancient religions and wisdom teachings relating to self-awareness in people's daily lives and humanity's place in the universe.The title of his third series of writings, Life Is Real Only Then, When 'I Am', expresses the essence[citation needed] of his teachings. His complete series of books is entitled All and Everything. .
