This unique book offers clear definitions of Gurdjieff's teaching terms, placing him within the political, geographic and cultural context of his time. Entries look at diverse aspects of his Work, including:
* possible sources in religious, Theosophical, occult, esoteric and literary traditions
* the integral relationships between different aspects of the teaching
* its internal contradictions and subversive aspects
* the derivation of Gurdjieff's cosmological laws and Ennegram
* the passive form of "New Work" teaching introduced by Jeanne de Salzmann.