George Ivanovich Gurdjieff was born in Alexandropol in Russia in approximately 1877. From youth onward, Gurdjieff struggled to find answers to many of the questions which still attract searchers today: the meaning and purpose of this existence, how to become free from the inner prison of our habits and mechanical sufferings, the search for hidden knowledge which would make such transformation possible. Although no one knows the exact source of his knowledge, it appears from his writings that he studied the major religious traditions of East and West as well as scientific, psychological, and artistic principles, forming them into an inspired and effective teaching uniquely suited to the mind of the Western industrialized world. Leaving Russia during the Revolution with a small group of students, Gurdjieff eventually established The Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man in France.  From there, his teachings attracted students among artists, intelligentsia, and business people across Europe and North and South America. Gurdjieff died in 1949, leaving groups in many of the principal cities of the West which continue to carry on his tradition.