George Gurdjieff was one of the most influential spiritual teachers of the 20th century. This Russian of Armenian origin, who later emigrated to the USA, shook the world in his time thanks to his teachings that integrated Eastern and Western thought.

The publication introduces the reader to Gurdjieff's life story and teachings. It presents his writings on the spiritual quest of man, as well as on the laws to which our world is subject from a spiritual point of view. Here you will find selected essays from the work Views from the Real World from 1919-1933. Also excerpts from the autobiographical work Messenger of Future Good (Vestnik grjaduščego dobra), in which he describes his life journey and the origin of his teaching. The comprehensive introduction by the Czech translator brings to light the essential elements of Gurdjieff's biography and thus succinctly introduces the reader to who Gurdjieff really was.

Perhaps the best-known fruit of Gurdjieff's teachings is the Enneagram – a model of nine personality types that became popular within a more spiritually oriented psychology.

This book also contains the opinions of a prominent thinker on a variety of topics: self-observation, attention, the meaning of suffering, how to work properly, elimination of habit, energy and sleep, how to prolong life, how to raise children, essence and personality, three forces and saving energy, experiments with breathing, man as an actor, two kinds of art, the moon, confirmation and rejection, dispassion, materiality of the world, crystallization of the four bodies, remembering oneself, free will, influences acting on a person, self-liberation, vanity...