The Herald of Coming Good: First Appeal to Contemporary Humanity

George Gurdjieff was a modern magus who was born in Alexandropol, Armenia, and traveled widely as a young man, spending several years in Central Asia and Tibet. His experiences during this time led to his famous book Meetings with Remarkable Men, an account of his alleged encounters with Eastern spiritual teachers that was published posthumously in 1963. Gurdjieff's system draws on diverse sources, including Sufism, Buddhism, and the Cabala. He taught that human beings have neither soul nor true will and must strive to cure these defects by work and suffering. The ordinary person is asleep, acting merely according to habit, and needs the shock of awakening. To this end he sponsored experiences of dance, exercise, hard labor, and sometimes surprises or acute frustration.