Nyland Gurdjieff Podcast

Doug speaks with long-time group member Philip Perkis, a famed American photographer and educator, to explore his insights around G.I. Gurdjieff’s first series of writings, Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson – particularly how the book’s content maps vividly to our inner and outer life.

Jacques Hemsi met Mr. Nyland in 1969 and has been active in the Chardavogne Barn Gurdjieff group ever since. As a lifelong master jeweler, he has encouraged many people in the group to explore and experience the profound relationship between craftmaking and Work on oneself in practical terms. Beyond that he has helped to maintain … Continue reading Jacques Hemsi: A life in Work and Craftmaking

Why Gurdjieff Now highlights a conversation with Michael Near, Cynthia Kosut, and Robert Kosut, conducted in May 2019 during a group Intensive Work period in Northern California. All three were students of Mr. Nyland during the incredibly active latter period of his life dedicated to helping the group take root in upstate New York and California. Their … Continue reading “By Centuries Rooted In Me”

Why Gurdjieff Now welcomes Philip Perkis, a long time member of our New York group and one of America’s most respected photographers and educators. A Professor Emeritus at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, his prints have been showcased in collections at the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and venues around the world. Philip joined us in a wide-ranging conversation revealing that his lifelong devotion to the art form, and his dedication to Gurdjieff’s teachings, are very much intertwined.

The concept of mechanicality, that all people are machines reacting to external forces, is a central idea in the Gurdjieff teaching. It is vividly described in the early chapters of In Search of the Miraculous, P.D. Ouspensky’s lucid account of his talks and experiences with Gurdjieff from 1915 to 1923. Two members of our New York group, Vin and Jack, picked up the thread in a lively conversation recorded at a Chardavogne Barn Work day late last year. Image: “The Waiting Room,” a painting by the Philadelphia-based artist Robert Zurer.

Nicole, a group member and college professor in California, talks with Doug about how acceptance is necessary for seeing ourselves — even in light of a natural desire for change and “self-improvement.” Her reflections are sprinkled with humorous ordinary life anecdotes that many listeners will relate to.

An accomplished playwright, poet, and educator, Donna Spector is also a long-time member of Mr. Nyland’s groups and teacher of the Gurdjieff Movements. In May 2019, she sat down with host Doug Sprei for a conversation recorded during a Work intensive period held in Northern California. Here she warmly recounts her early impressions of coming into the group and meeting Mr. Nyland, and shares how Gurdjieff’s Work finds expression in her life and work today.