Compassion for the Human Condition. Gurdjieff Meetings with Dr. and Mrs. Welch in New York 12+

📕 Dr. William J. Welch and Mrs. Louise M. Welch met in 1934. Mrs. Welch had been part of A. R. Orage’s Gurdjieff group in New York City since the late 1920s and Dr. Welch, in the midst of a career change from advertising to medicine, joined the Work soon after they met. They married in 1941.During Gurdjieff's last trip to New York, in the winter of 1948-49, the Welches participated extensively in Gurdjieff's daily activities. Summoned to Paris by Gurdjieff, Dr. Welch was the attending physician during Gurdjieff’s last illness in October 1949.After Gurdjieff died, the Welches were among a small group of his followers in New York who carried on the teaching and established the Gurdjieff Foundation of New York. Dr. Welch was the president of the Foundation from 1984 until his death in 1997. The Welches worked with groups in New York, Toronto, and Halifax, including the “Friday group,” which met at their brownstone in New York. It is from meetings of the Friday group that transcripts were selected for this book. The teaching of G. I. Gurdjieff places great emphasis on work in groups. In that setting, there can be both an oral transmission of the teaching as well as an opportunity to share experiences and observations in conditions characterized by efforts of conscious attention and sincerity. The result can be a more clear understanding of one’s own inner reality. One begins to feel the truth of how one actually is during day-to-day existence, but at the same time, can expe...