Medicine is a branch of cooking.
"How can we think of Gurdjieff? As a musician? Choreographer? Writer? Physician? Psychiatrist? Master Cook?" [1]
Although, for Gurdjieff, it seems many factors are necessary for a normal ordering of daily existence, even simple physical functions play a vital role. Consider, for example, the many conversations about food in the secondary literature. René Zuber writes,
Mr Gurdjieff excelled in medicine. He also cooked like a gourmet with the knowledge of a scientist… One day I ventured a remark on this subject. ‘In fact, Monsieur, cooking could well be a branch of medicine?’ which brought the response, ‘No, medicine branch of cooking.’[2]
The aim of this section, “Gurdjieff’s Medicine,” is a greater understanding of Gurdjieff’s view of medicine and health and his ideas on how to live normally. The writing here will be primarily an examination and compilation of scattered fragments of information regarding Gurdjieff’s medical activity and philosophy, extracted from various sources, primary and secondary. Also included will be ideas and comments of some of Gurdjieff’s first generation pupils.
[1] Zuber, René - Who are you, Monsieur Gurdjieff?, (tr. Jenny Koralek, with a Foreword by P. L. Travers), Routledge & Kegan Paul (London), 1977 (1980), p.4. [Original: Qui êtes-vous Monsieur Gurdjieff?, 1977.] [Amazon Paperback (English); French edition]
[2] ibid. p.25.
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Go to Introduction to “Gurdjieff’s Medicine.”
Summary of contents: The relation of Gurdjieff’s medicine to his teaching as a whole; the problem with collecting fragments; the universe being composed of vibrations; the law of seven; the law of three; the unity of everything; the materiality of everything; improvement in health in association with self-development; the idea of normal.