Georg Iwanowitsch Gurdjieff, born in 1877 in Alexandropol (died in 1949 in Paris), was a teacher of wisdom, poet, miracle healer, choreographer, and mystic. During his countless travels through Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa, he visited the centers of esoteric belief and knowledge. In Mecca and Medina, the forbidden Tibet, and the land between the rivers, he acquired the knowledge from which he developed his psychological system. At the metaphysical school he founded, the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man in Tbilisi and Fontainebleau, he imparted his revolutionary teachings to students from all over the world. Aldous Huxley, Arthur Koestler, Sergei Diaghilev, Katherine Mansfield, and Peter Brook are just a few of the personalities captivated by the enigmatic yet charismatic magician and his teachings.