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William Patrick Patterson is the founder/director of The Gurdjieff
Studies Program, the director/narrator of the new video documentary
trilogy The Life & Significance of George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff,
Part 1—Gurdjieff in Egypt, and author of five books on The Fourth
Way: Voices in the Dark, Struggle of the Magicians, Eating The "I,"
Taking With the Left Hand, and Ladies of the Rope. He is also the
founder/editor of The Gurdjieff Journal, the first journal (1992),
domestic or international, to devote itself to exploring the
Gurdjieff'S teaching of The Fourth Way. Mr. Patterson gives four
public seminars a year; two are usually on the West Coast and two on
the East Coast. For dates and locations,
see Seminars/Talks.
"A most fascinating and thought-provoking video. A marvelous encapsulation of the teaching. It covers new ground and opens up a new perception of Gurdjieff's teaching. I am sure Patterson is correct when he says that Gurdjieff was electrified by seeing the map of pre-sand Egypt because the Sphinx was on it."
--Colin Wilson, author From Atlantis to the Sphinx
Exploration, daring, discovery, struggle, and adversity, all occurring amidst continual geo-political upheaval—this was the outer life of George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff, a seminal spiritual figure whose many contributions are still being understood. In 1895, while searching for the origin of esoteric knowledge, Gurdjieff discovered the ancient teaching of The Fourth Way—"Only not [in] the Egypt we know," he said, but in "one which we do not know."
He tracked down and reassembled the elements of the teaching—for over time many had been dispersed northward—and reformulated it for the contemporary world. Breaking vows of secrecy, because, "Unless the 'wisdom' of the East and the 'energy' of the West could be harnessed and used harmoniously, the world would be destroyed," Gurdjieff took a personal oath to introduce and establish the teaching in the West.
Ever since Gurdjieff's arrival in Russia in 1912, there has been speculation about the origin of the teaching, many believing it came from Central Asia. However, through pondering the clues left by Gurdjieff, along with new evidence recently discovered, William Patrick Patterson shows otherwise. We follow him as he retraces Gurdjieff's journey, from the search for the Sarmoung Brotherhood in Iraq, to his finding of a map of pre-sand Egypt, thence to the Sphinx and Great Pyramid, into Upper Egypt and Thebes, Temple of Man, Temples of Karnak, Valley of the Kings, Temple of Edfu, and finally to the headwaters of the Nile. Gurdjieff is seen to discover that, as he said, that "This prehistoric Egypt was Christian many thousands of years before the birth of Christ, that is to say, that its religion was composed of the same principles and ideas that constitute true Christianity." |
