Hugh Ripman began as a pupil of Ouspensky, then went on to study directly with Gurdjieff in 1948. After meeting Mr. Gurdjieff, Hugh Ripman began to gather a group of people in Washington, DC.

Hugh Brockwill Ripman — by Barbara Prehn

Hugh Ripman began as a pupil of Ouspensky, then went on to study directly with Gurdjieff in 1948. “After meeting Mr. Gurdjieff, Hugh Ripman began to gather a group of people in Washington, DC to study the ideas together… What he desired to accomplish, externally, was to build something that would have a life of its own and would last after he was gone.” This essay by one of Mr. Ripman’s pupils demonstrates that he was successful in that aim.

To Give Is to Receive

In this essay, Hugh Ripman explores the responsibility of leading others to understand the teachings of Gurdjieff. “I realised that I owed a debt to those who had taught me and helped me towards self-knowledge. I could never repay that debt to them directly, but I could make some attempt to do so by trying to pass on what I had received to others, as my teachers had done to me.”

Public Lecture at Grace Church

This public lecture presented in 1976 at Georgetown’s Grace Church in Washington, DC provides for a lucid introduction and integration of the psychological ideas of Gurdjieff.

Coming Up Against Life

“I think it is quite a natural thing, but mistaken, to have this idea that the Work is opposed to one’s efforts in life. If you begin to think about it, you will see that, whatever you do, you will do it better when you are awake than when you are asleep.”

The Symbolic Mountain

“The followers of different religions are like bands of mountain climbers who all wish to get to the top of the same mountain. The summit of this mountain is hidden in the clouds. None of them can see it clearly, but the mystery of the highest peak calls alike to them all.”