Gurdjieff Foundation of Illinois

09/30/2025

“Attention is what relates the higher and lower. But it is not free — taken mostly by thoughts. It needs a ground: the body.

Sensation — always the result of the meeting of two forces. Sensation is the experience of contact between attention and body, not for itself, but as a ground so the attention can stay.”

Michel de Salzmann

At the Gurdjieff Foundation of Illinois, we try to develop that contact between attention and the body through practice — including self-study, physical work, and craft.

You’re welcome to join us on Sunday, October 26, 2025, at the Gurdjieff Foundation of Illinois. We’ll experiment with some ways to cultivate attention and share our impressions of the experience.

2:00 PM to 4:00 PM
3252 W. Bryn Mawr Avenue
Chicago, IL 60659

07/21/2025

Join us for Finding Inner Rhythm with Others

As a spiritual practice that lives in everyday life, Gurdjieff groups engage in many different daily activities and crafts as a platform for self-study. This session will focus on rhythm and moving together.

We'll meet Monday evening, July 28, 7:00 - 9:00 at the Foundation.
3252 W. Bryn Mawr Avenue in Chicago

01/19/2025

For those who wish to engage in self-development and a spiritual search, the tradition that was brought to the West by G. I. Gurdjieff offers a practical approach that can be undertaken in everyday life.

The Gurdjieff Foundation of Illinois will be hosting an open meeting
to introduce basic principles of Gurdjieff’s approach and offer a taste of the activities and methods practiced.

Sunday, January 26, 2025.
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
3252 W. Bryn Mawr, Chicago Illinois.

You are welcome to join us.

09/03/2024

Navigating Inner Terrain:
An Invitation from the Gurdjieff Foundation of Illinois

For those who wish to engage in self-development and a spiritual search, the tradition brought to the West by G. I. Gurdjieff offers a practical approach that can be undertaken in everyday life.

On September 22, 2024, the Gurdjieff Foundation of Illinois will host an open session to introduce basic principles of Gurdjieff’s approach and offer a taste of the activities and methods practiced.

The meeting takes place 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM at the Foundation’s headquarters, at 3252 W. Bryn Mawr, Chicago.

Guests should bring their experience and questions, and be prepared to engage in some simple hands-on activities.

Register by email: [email protected]

03/13/2024

You are welcome to join us at the Foundation for a series of introductory meetings beginning April 2, 2024, at 7:30 PM.

In these meetings we'll explore the ideas and practices of G. I. Gurdjieff. We will meet weekly into early June with breaks for holidays.

Please email, [email protected], for details.

02/18/2024

Please join us for a Fourth Way Introduction

The ancient parable of “The Horse, The Carriage, and the Driver” captures the situation of the human condition. The elements, a horse, a carriage, a driver, and something missing invite us to journey into self-discovery. We will explore this parable through discussion and viewing a stop animation film. Join us:

February 25. 2024
2:00 PM to 4:00 PM

3252 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.
Chicago

09/09/2023

You're invited to a screening of "In the Marketplace," directed by the noted filmmaker, Ken Burns.

In this film, Burns brings you to the streets of Paris as he follows his friend, William Segal, an artist, writer, and long-time student of G. I. Gurdjieff's teachings.

DATE: Sunday, September 24, 2023

TIME: 1:00 PM

PLACE: The Gurdjieff Foundation, 3252 W. Bryn Mawr, Chicago, IL

RSVP: [email protected]

Join us, too, for light refreshments and a discussion after the film.

08/01/2023

What Is My Place in the World?

It has been a hundred years since G. I. Gurdjieff first appeared in Moscow, bringing with him a teaching unlike anything known or heard of in the modern world. His fundamental aim was to help human beings awaken to the meaning of our existence and to the efforts we must make to realize that meaning within the life we have been given. We can now begin to understand that Gurdjieff’s life was a work of love, and at the same time that word, ’love,’ begins to take on entirely new dimensions of meaning.

An Introduction to The Gurdjieff Work,
Jacob Needleman

Date: Sunday, August 27, 2023

Time: 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Place: 3252 W. Bryn Mawr, Chicago, IL 60659

RSVP: [email protected]

03/04/2023

An Evening of Waking Up

"We do not give enough importance to the moment of awaking the moment we see ourselves as we are in our sleep. We believe that to awake is to enter into an entirely different life, which will have nothing in common with the one we lead. But, in fact, awaking means, above all, to awake to ourselves as we are, to see and feel the sleep, the identification. The moment itself when we emerge and see the identification is the only moment from which an impetus could come. Only then do I have a chance to wake up."

Jeanne de Salzmann, The Reality of Being

DATE: Tuesday, April 11, 2023
TIME: 7:30 PM
PLACE: Gurdjieff Foundation of Illinois

The Gurdjieff Foundation of Illinois invites you to experience the practices and ideas of the Fourth Way teaching of G. I. Gurdjieff by joining us for an exchange of ideas and experiences about the process of “waking up”.

The exchange will be followed by refreshments and a tour of our facility.

To Register, email us: [email protected]

COVID immunization is required for attendance at all in-person events at GFI.

08/29/2022

Interested in self-development, spirituality, and the teaching brought by G. I Gurdjieff?

Gurdjieff Foundation of Illinois will hold three open discussions in September.

You're welcome to join us 7:30 – 8:30 PM on:

• Tuesday, September 13
• Tuesday, September 20
• Tuesday, September 27

You're encouraged to bring your experience and questions. Senior members of the Foundation will welcome you and present an introduction to practical inner work as presented by G. I. Gurdjieff along with an overview of the supporting activities available through our Foundation.

A beginning study group launch later this Fall. These meetings offer the opportunity to learn more about the nature of The Fourth Way, and assess your interest in further involvement.

If you'd like to attend, please contact us via email to register for one or more of the discussions.

Email address: [email protected]

11/30/2021

The Gurdjieff Foundation of Illinois will host an online introductory event on Sunday December 5th at 1:30 PM (CST) followed by an in-person event for those in the Chicagoland area on Tuesday December 14th at 7 PM (CST).

The meetings are for anyone who wants to learn more about the ideas and practice brought by GI Gurdjieff and the Fourth Way.

RSVP to participate in one or both events.

You'll get more information and a Zoom link by email.
Website: www.gurdjieff-illinois.org
Email: [email protected]

“Man’s possibilities are very great. You cannot conceive even a shadow of what man is capable of attaining. But nothing can be attained in sleep.”“Awakening begins when a man realizes that he is going nowhere and does not know where to go.” — G. I. Gurdjieff  WelcomeThe Gurdjieff Foundati...

08/12/2021

What Is My Place in the World?
An Invitation

“As already said, there are people who hunger and thirst for truth. If we examine the problems of life and are sincere with ourselves, we become convinced that it is no longer acceptable to live as we have lived and to be as we have been until now.”
--G. I. Gurdjieff
DATE: Sunday, August 29, 2021
TIME: 2:00 PM
PLACE: Gurdjieff Foundation of Illinois
(Vaccinations and masks required for all participants)

The Gurdjieff Foundation of Illinois invites you to experience the practices and ideas of the Fourth Way teaching of G. I. Gurdjieff.
The program will be followed by refreshments and a tour of our facility.

To Register, email us: [email protected]