In what way do you mean too traditional?

I've had years of experience in the Foundation and have even been to different groups within the Foundation, do to moving. Each group was different and very unpredictable, which actually made it challenging to move into a new group. At times, people were encouraged to draw on the strengths of their particular religious background, as the Work is not a competing religion, but is organic and constantly changing due to the ever changing environment. I've heard from friends in other groups that some can be more rigid, but to me, that only attests to the variety within the Foundation. Sometimes tradition is best for a group, sometimes fluidity. Talking to some people that had been in one group for a while, I was told that their group vacillated between structure and the void, and you basically couldn't predict what the next turn would bring.

If you're referring to the dances, from what I've seen, yeah, they're traditional. But if they work, then why reinvent the wheel?

I was also in a Fellowship of Friends group for a while. Watch out for snakes.

Forgot to add something =)

All the teachers within the G. Foundation that I've met have all had a distinctive way of teaching, and obviously a different background in studies. Listening to them talk, I can tell that through their lives they've found wisdom through many ways, and I can also remember them siting sources from Sufism and Native American practices, just to name a couple. Even in the libraries of the different schools I've been to, there's always a plethora of litertaure from non-Gurdjieff sources. I would have to disagree that there is a general puritanical conviction within the G. Foundation.

Gurdjieff said himself that each individual's work is their own. A teacher can only create an environment for an individual to do their own work in. If I come to my awareness by simple means, even means some may categorize as traditional, there is no harm done. I don't live next door to Ghandi or a Buddhist monestary. I'm a single mom caught in the daily grind, and can't ditch my responsibilities to take on the type of search Gurdjieff did. (He also admits himself that he grew up in very unusual circumstances where he came easily into contact with amazing teachers.) So I plan to make do with what I'm given. Perhaps the Foundation people you're meeting are just folks in similar situations: lucky, and very happy, if they have time just to read one paragraph from In Search. It's not that we resist valuable information, it's that we live in Corporate America.

Background on the Foundation for anyone who hasn't heard of it:
Gurdjieff instructed Madamme de Salzmann to take over the Work after his death. She established the Foundation and continued his teachings, and then after her death, Michel de Salzmann (Gurdjieff's son) continued the head the Foundation.

A student was telling the teacher, one day, that it was very difficult to make it to all the teachings, because it was so far to travel. Another student told the teacher it was no problem for them. The teacher turned to the second person and said, maybe you should move farther away.

Your exampes sound closer to intentional suffering than voluntary. It all boils down to one's intent in the "suffering". Gurdjieff tried to be very clear on the differences and hounded some of his pupils who confused voluntary with intentional suffering.

The orthodox Fourth Wayers might not like the following comparison, but who cares what they think (you know who you are). One can think of "intentional" suffering in the sense that the Bhagavad Gita speaks of engaging in activity without desire for the fruit of ones efforts. If one quits smoking cigarettes, drinking every day, shooting heroin, whatever, in order to improve one's health, there is suffering involved. Voluntary suffering. One has voluntarily suffered with the intent of gaining a benefit. If I engage in quitting smoking every three months as an exercise, starting and quitting, for it's own sake, this might be "intentional". Or it could be delusion and rationalization. Too many motives that are not conscious may be playing out.

Working on one's "weak" circuits (in the sense of the 8 circuit model), such as going to a social party if the fourth circuit needs work, is, in my opinion, a very good example of "intentional suffering". Much to be observed in oneself in those circumstances.