ONLINE FIRST
published on March 26, 2025
Joseph Azize
https://doi.org/10.5840/asrr2025325122
Gurdjieff and Contemporary Physics and Chemistry
James Webb stated that the source of Gurdjieff¡¯s ideas could be discerned, and that the enquiry helped interpret his method. He purported to identify Blavatsky¡¯s Theosophy as an important source. I contend that the features Webb appeals to for this identification are better understood as hailing from nineteenth century chemistry and science more generally, both ante- and postdating Blavatsky¡¯s work. I suggest that Gurdjieff¡¯s system owed much to his wide reading in contemporary science, including Prout¡¯s theory of hydrogen as the fundamental element, and the discovery of the electron. The essence of Gurdjieff¡¯s system starts to appear more European than usually thought.