Door Karen Hamaker-Zondag

255 Pagina’s | Softcover | Uitgeverij Symbolon | ISBN 9789076277042

De grote verdienste van dit boek is, dat door de toevoeging van psychologische achtergronden aan de reeds gangbare astrologische begrippen, de tot nu toe gebruikte astrologische inhouden logischer en begrijpelijker worden en een veel wijder perspectief krijgen. In dit opzicht is dit boek op de nederlandse astrologische markt enig in zijn soort en als zodanig onmisbaar voor iedere beginner en gevorderde in de astrologie.

Door Hille J. Huigens

221 Pagina’s | 2020 | Softcover | Uitgeverij Van Warven | ISBN 9789493175105

Bij onze geboorte zijn we keurig afgeleverd. Maar de leverancier is vergeten er een handleiding bij te doen. Misschien lijkt alles vanzelfsprekend, intuïtief. Maar dat is het niet. De realiteit is, dat we het elkaar en onszelf vaak knap lastig maken. Omdat we niet weten hoe met onszelf om te gaan. We kennen onszelf niet.

Dit boek biedt je de ontbrekende handleiding. De korte versie. Met kennis, praktische oefeningen, meditaties en reflecties. De handleiding is gebaseerd op oude tradities en moderne neurowetenschap. En leert ons dat de mens bedoeld is om zich spiritueel te ontwikkelen. Op weg te gaan, met een doel.

Hille Huigens weet het eenvoudig uit te leggen, met tal van praktische voorbeelden uit het dagelijks leven. Hoe het werkt: lichaam, geest, bewustzijn, aandacht, taal, ruimte en tijd, de krachten die op ons inwerken, wat we ontvangen en wat we uitzenden.

Als we dat beginnen waar te nemen, kunnen we aan het werk gaan. Daarvoor kunnen we het beste ons gewone werk gebruiken. Onze dagelijkse handelingen. We transformeren onszelf door ons werk te doen als spirituele weg. Zo wordt gewoon werk tot Werk, met een hoofdletter. En we kiezen een weg, die past bij onze eigen aard.

Hille zelf volgt het pad van de ervaringswetenschap. Dat leidt tot het zien van structuur en samenhang. Dat is ook de essentie van dit boek. Structuur is bedoeld om samenhang, het verband der dingen te kunnen ervaren. Het resultaat is dat je gaat zien hoe het werkt, en dat kan zeer bevrijdend zijn.

Door: Joan Slagers

328 Pagina’s | 2019 | Softcover | Cyclus, Antwerpen-Apeldoorn | ISBN: 9789085750796

Waarom gaan we voortdurend relaties aan? Waar komt toch dat instuitbare verlangen vandaan om ons steeds weer met de ander te willen verbinden. Dit boek laat zijn licht schijnen op de bron van dit verlangen, en op de invloed van de ziel op onze relaties. We ontvangen in onze alledaagse situaties voortdurend aanwijzingen van de ziel om naar de grote Eenheid toe te groeien. Het mannelijke en vrouwelijke vormen samen deze Eenheid, maar we voelen deze Eenheid in onze relaties vaak niet. We worstelen heel wat af, omdat ons ego de overhand heeft op ons innerlijk verlangen. Daardoor slaan we de plank nogal eens mis. Wanneer we hiernaar kijken door de ogen van de ziel groeien onze inzichten en groeit ook onze liefde voor de ander.

Joan Slagers is psychosociaal therapeute, evolutiecoach en mindfulnesstrainster. Ze heeft een praktijk voor relatieconsulten en coachingsgesprekken, en geeft al vele jaren lezingen, workshops en cursussen over bewustwording en zingeving, de mechanismen van de ziel, relaties en het mannelijke en vrouwelijke.

Door Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov (1900 – 1986), vertaald uit het Frans.

175 Pagina’s | 2017 | Paperback | Drukkerij Wilco, Amersfoort | ISBN: 9789076916446.

Oorspronkelijke titel: Le travail alchimique ou la quete de la perfection

‘Vecht niet tegen je zwakheden en ondeugden, want zij zullen jou verslaan, maar leer ze te gebruiken door ze aan het werk te zetten. Of het nu gaat om jaloersheid, boosheid, hebzucht, ijdelheid enzovoort, je moet weten hoe je ze kunt mobiliseren zodat zij voor jou werken in de door jou gekozen richting. Neem de natuurkrachten, zoals elektriciteit, wind, wolkbreuken, bliksem… Nu de mens weet hoe ze te beheersen en te gebruiken, verrijkt hij zich. En toch zijn dit oorspronkelijk vijandige krachten. Je vindt het normaal om natuurlijke energieën te gebruiken, waarom ben je dan verbaasd als gesproken wordt over het gebruiken van de primitieve energieën die zich in jou bevinden?… Wanneer je de regels van de spirituele alchemie eenmaal kent, zul je in staat zijn alle negatieve krachten die je in overvloed bezit, te transformeren en te gebruiken. ‘
— Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

Door Joseph Campbell, vertaling door Marco Noordenbos.

208 Pagina’s | 2009 | Paperback | Uitgeverij Ten Have, Utrecht | ISBN: 9789025909420.

Oospronkelijke titel: Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation
Eerder verschenen onder de titel: Volg de stem van je hart; Mythologie als bron voor persoonlijke groei

Duizenden jaren vertelt de mens zichzelf al verhalen over goden helden. Tegenwoordig doen we ze vaak af als onzin, omdat we niet geloven dat ze echt gebeurd zijn. Volgens wetenschapper Joseph Campbell verliezen we daardoor iets heel belangrijks: mythen houden ons een ideaal voor waardoor we onszelf verheffen.

Paden naar geluk is een verzameling van de belangrijkste essays van Campbell, waarin hij een brug slaat tussen de mythologische oerthema’s en ons streven naar persoonlijke groei. Wat blijkt? Onze zoektocht is van alle tijden. Met veel humor past hij de grote voorbeelden uit de mythische-religieuze wereldliteratuur toe op onze persoonlijke uitdagingen van alledag. Campbell helpt ons op deze manier om het contact met een vergeten laag in onzxe cultuur en psyche te herstellen met als belangrijkste doel dat je je ware bestemming vindt.

Door C.G. Jung, vertaling door Pety de Vries-Ek.

303 Pagina’s | 1995, derde druk | Paperback | Lemniscaat, Rotterdam | ISBN 9060699769

Verlossing in de alchemie, tweede deel van Psychologie und Alchemie

Alchemisten worden meestal gezien als een primitief soort chemici; zonderlinge, bijgelovige lieden die trachtten goud te maken uit de wonderlijkste grondstoffen. Het is Jungs verdientse geweest dat hij opnieuw betekenis heeft gegeven aan de raadselachtige alchemistische symboliek. Hij laat zien dat het alchemistische proces een weerspiegeling is van psychische ontwikkelingen. De alchemist is op zoek naar het ‘filosofische goud’, de ‘steen der wijzen’; hij moet de geest in de materie vinden, Christus zien in de steen der wijzen. Voor de alchemist is de mens zowel degene die verlost moet worden, als de verlosser zelf. Uitvoerig gaat Jung in dit boek (het tweede deel van zijn belangrijke werk Psychologie und Alchemie) in op de aard van het alchemistische opus, en met name op de religieuze aspecten ervan. Talloze illustraties verhelderen

Door C.G. Jung, vertaling door Pety de Vries-Ek.

123 Pagina’s | 2001, zesde druk | Paperback | Lemniscaat Bv., Rotterdam | ISBN| 9060695291

Dromen

Vijf verhandelingen die de ontwikkeling van Jungs denken over de droomproblematiek volgen, vanaf de tijd dat hij met Freud samenwerkte. De beide eerste hoofdstukken, ‘De Droomanalyse’ en ‘Dromen en getallensymboliek’ (resp. uit 1909 en 1910) sluiten dan ook geheel aan op de ideeën van Freud. In de drie andere (1928-1945) komen Jungs eigen inzichten duidelijker naar voren. In ‘Algemene gezichtspunten over de psychologie van de droom’ staat het doel van de droom centraal. In ‘Over het wezen van dromen’ het belang van de droomcontext, de herkomst van de droom uit het persoonlijke onbewuste, de oergrond van onze ziel. ‘De praktische bruikbaarheid van de droomanalyse’ tenslotte geeft sprekende voorbeelden uit de praktijk van de psychotherapie, met name de functie van dromen bij de behandeling van neurosen.

Door C.G. Jung, vertalingen door Dr. E. Camerling en Pety de Vries-Ek.

115 Pagina’s | 2001, vijfde druk | Paperback | Lemniscaat Bv, Rotterdam | ISBN: 9060695062

Oerbeelden

Drie geschriften die het begrip ‘oerbeeld’ of ‘archetype’ van verschillende zijden belichten en daardoor voelbaar maken. In het eerste deel maakt Jung duidelijk hoe groot hij de invloed ziet van archetypen op de ontwikkeling van het zieleleven van de mens, vooral wanneer die niet harmonisch verloopt. Vervolgens behandelt Jung het oerbeeld van het kind, dat belangrijk kan zijn voor de ontplooiing van ieder mens en dat men ook in oude en moderne verhalen steeds weer tegenkomt. Het laatste deel, ‘geest en archetype in het sprookje’, toont hoe de werkzaamheid van de geest in het sprookje (als weerspiegeling van het menselijk leven) verel vormen aanneemt, die herkenbaar worden wanneer men zich daarvoor openstelt.

By Robert Robertson, Ph.D., Foreword by Allan Combs.

182 Pages | First Quest Edition 2009 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 9780835608626.

‘ Somewhere in the celestial palace of the dancing god Indra, there hangs a fabulous net, that spreads out boundlessly over the cosmos in every direction. The divine craftsman has so cleverly fashioned this net that at every knot there hangs a dazzling jewel, each one so brilliantly polished, that it reflects all the others. As Above, so Below . . . ‘

This image of Indra’s net from a Buddhist Sutra symbolizes the Mystery, that, through our own transformation, each of us is united with everyone and everything else. Author Robin Robertson finds parallel models in ancient Alchemy, which tried to change base metal into gold, and modern chaos theory, which posits that tiny initial changes can have huge and unexpected outcomes – as a butterfly in Brazil might cause a tornado in Texas. Robinson lucidly shows how these two systems reveal the pattern of inner development in any spiritual tradition. No matter what one’s particular calling, these surprising insights can enrich and accelerate the transformative stages of any spiritual seeker.

From Chapter 6  – ‘The Philosopher’s Stone’:

 ” Central to this book is the understanding that the Opus is within us as much as it is without. As I mentioned in the Introduction, Buddhist philosophy captures this relationship between the world and the psyche through the image of Indra’s net: a vast necklace of shining jewels, all interconnected. It is told thus in the Avatamsaka Sutra:

Far away in the heavenly abode of the great God Indra, there is a wonderful net, which has been hung by some cunning artificer in such a manner that it stretches out infinitely in all directions. In accordance with the extravagant tastes of deities, the artificer has hung a single glittering jewel in each ‘eye’ of the net, and since the net itself is infinite in dimension, the jewels are infinite in number. There hang the Jewels, glittering like stars in the first magnitude, a wonderful sight to behold. If we now arbitrarily select one of these jewels for inspection and look closely at it, we will discover that in its polished surface there are reflected all the other jewels in the net, infinite in number. Not only that, but each of the jewels reflected in this one jewel is also reflecting all the other jewels, so that there is an infinite reflecting process ocurring. “

By Peggy Rubin.

287 Pages | First Quest Edition 2010 | Softcover | The Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar | ISBN:  9780835608534.

‘ The play of life is a daring adventure. Live it for all it’s worth and say yes! No matter what . . . ‘

So says author and popular Sacred Theatre workshop leader Peggy Rubin. Drawing on decades of experience, she helps us take the leading role in our own life by tapping into the nine powers of the theatre, including Story, Expression, Point of View, Conflict and Celebration. With imaginative exercises throughout, her long-awaited book is fun, profound, and exuberantly transformative!

From the ‘Prologue’ (p. 2):

” This book uses the traditional theatre as a metaphor for framing and living life. I think of it as a dialogue between us. We will be talking about how actors work as they prepare and play their roles and how their training can provide ways for us all to live more buoyantly. First, may I share some thoughts about how I believe the theatre began as a sacred act, how your life is a sacred art form, and why I call what we are doing together Sacred Theatre.

Let us return to the ancient firelight and our ancestor’s celebration over the roasting meat. We can imagine the excitement as the first actor rises to enact the story of the hunt; we can almost hear the accompanying sounds and feel his listener’s enormous gratitude for the animal that gave its life to provide protein and also gave them this reason to celebrate – and, incidentally, to invent the theatre. “

By Edward Tick, Ph.D.

329 Pages | First Quest Edition 2005 | Softcover | Quest Books U.S.A. | ISBN: 9780835608312.

Post-traumatic stress disorder increasingly afflicts veterans of modern warfare. The New England Journal of Medicine (July 2005) reports, that it affects almost 20% of soldiers returning from Iraq. Tragically, PTSD impacts all aspects of life. Some vets can’t hold jobs or sustain relationships. Others have recurrent nightmares or won’t leave home, fearing they may attack ’the enemy’ seen in the faces of those they meet.

To begin healing, says Edward Tick, we must see PTSD as a disorder of identity itself. War’s violence can cause the very Soul to flee and be lost for life. Drawing on history, mythology, and thirty years of experience, Dr. Tick reveals the universal dimensions of veteran’s Soul wounding. He uses methods from ancient Greek, Native American, Vietnamese, and other traditions to restore the Soul so that the veteran can, at last, truly return home. His work is invaluable for veterans of any war as well as for their families and all, who would help them.

From the Conclusion (p. 286):

” Our goal is not just to awaken the Soul; that is what childhood, religious and secular education is meant to do. Rather, our goal is to ‘grow’ the Soul large enough, to help it become wise and strong enough, so that it can surround the dominating wound we call trauma. When we do this, PTSD can evaporate and we can have people like Mr. Tiger, devoted to the peaceful cultivation of the earth and to international friendship and reconciliation. The formula for the war-wounded Soul is simple: surround trauma with Soul. Its application may be the most difficult and important work we ever undertake. ” 

By Thom F. Cavalli, Ph.D.

275 Pages | First Question edition 2010 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 9780835608800.

A ground-breaking integration of Jungian Psychology, Alchemy and Egyptian Mythology.

The myth of Osiris, dying and resurrecting Egyptian God of vegetation, marks a change that describes the earliest beginnings of the modern psyche. In excavating the myth. Jungian psychologist Thom Cavalli uses alchemy to transmute hidden secrets into sacred knowledge. Here for the first time is an alchemical interpretation of this timeless myth as a guide to spiritual transformation. Osiris’s rebirth symbolizes what alchemists have always seen as the creative power we all have for self-renewal. Cavalli shows us how to access this archetypical God in the quest to integrate body and Soul. To ‘become’ Osiris is to become whole.

From Chapter 2 – ‘Alchemy, Magic and Osiris’ (p. 67):

” Whether I live or die, I am Osiris

I enter in and reappear through you,

I decay in you. I grow in you.

I fall down in you. I fall upon my side.

The Gods are living for me for I live and grow in the corn

That sustains the Honored Ones.

I cover the earth,

Whether I live or die I am Barley,

I am not destroyed. “

– Mojsov, Osiris (8) (see intro., nr. 4). The quote is from The Coffin Texts.

By Howard Raphael Cushnir.

204 Pages | First Question Edition 2000 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 0835607925.

Take a moment to breathe in with yourself. Are you . . . stressed . . . angry . . . lonely . . . anxious . . . sad?

No matter how difficult life may be, you can still live in a state of radiant bliss – even if you’re alone, sick, failed and broke. Pie-in-the-sky? This down-to-earth book shows us how. Based on universal spiritual principles, the message is profound, but the method couldn’t be more practical. All it takes is a simple two-step process called LIVING THE QUESTIONS, demonstrated here with compelling, real-life examples. This book is not getting about what you want, it is about how you FEEL the way you want by embracing life one precious moment at a time . . . starting right now!

From page 201:

” What is happening right now?

Can I be with it?

Living those questions is saying yes to life, to all of it, and especially to its radiant mystery. That mystery is what brought us both to this moment, and will stay with us for the rest of our days. Because no matter how well we live the questions right now , we never know what happens next. “

By Pablo Sender.

HARDCOVER

201 Pages | First edition 2018 | Hardcover (cloth) | Fohat Production, Ojai, California | ISBN: 9780997553512.

Who are we? What is the purpose of life? How do we actualize our potential? These are the questions that thoughful people have asked since time immemorial. Evolution of Higher Consciousness is a comprehensive study of the teachings of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831- 1891) on these issues.

Madame Blavatsky, co-founder of the Theosophical Society, was the pioneer of the esoteric renaissance that took place at the end of the nineteenth century. Ever since, her writings have served as foundational source for modern spirituality. In his book, Pablo Sender presents Blavatsky’s profound but frequently puzzling statements systematically and in clear, concise language. He throws light on the nature of our spiritual essence, its evolutionairy unfoldment, and the work that we can do in daily life to consciously participate in this cosmic journey.

From page 178:

“Within yourself is the light . . . The light of the higher self and of the Mahatma are not different from each other.

In the presence of the Master the lower nature is spontaneously transformed. This is why in the taijasic state there is no need to fight, control or manipulate the lower. Passions and afflictions are powerful only when the pure awareness identifies with them. This practice, along with the a general ‘effort’ at leading a spiritual life, will eventually make the temporary state of ‘manas taijasa” more and more available, until it becomes permanent in the union of buddhi-manas. When we are aware of our innate divine Wisdom, conscious of our identity with everything , and aware of our transcendental and immutable nature, the human evolutionairy pilgrimage comes to an end. New field of self-expression open up to the liberated consciousness, which now becomes a beneficent force aiding human and planetary evolution.

.  .  .

Joy unto ye, O Men of Earth.

A Pilgrim hath returned back ‘from the other shore’.

A Saviour of Mankind is born. “

• From: The Voice of Silence, fragment 3.

By Pablo Sender.

201 Pages | First edition 2018 | Soft cover | Fohat Production, Ojai, California | ISBN: 9780997553505.

Who are we? What is the purpose of life? How do we actualize our potential? These are the questions that thoughful people have asked since time immemorial. Evolution of Higher Consciousness is a comprehensive study of the teachings of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831- 1891) on these issues.

Madame Blavatsky, co-founder of the Theosophical Society, was the pioneer of the esoteric renaissance that took place at the end of the nineteenth century. Ever since, her writings have served as foundational source for modern spirituality. In his book, Pablo Sender presents Blavatsky’s profound but frequently puzzling statements systematically and in clear, concise language. He throws light on the nature of our spiritual essence, its evolutionairy unfoldment, and the work that we can do in daily life to consciously participate in this cosmic journey.

From page 178:

“Within yourself is the light . . . The light of the higher self and of the Mahatma are not different from each other.

In the presence of the Master the lower nature is spontaneously transformed. This is why in the taijasic state there is no need to fight, control or manipulate the lower. Passions and afflictions are powerful only when the pure awareness identifies with them. This practice, along with the a general ‘effort’ at leading a spiritual life, will eventually make the temporary state of ‘manas taijasa” more and more available, until it becomes permanent in the union of buddhi-manas. When we are aware of our innate divine Wisdom, conscious of our identity with everything , and aware of our transcendental and immutable nature, the human evolutionairy pilgrimage comes to an end. New field of self-expression open up to the liberated consciousness, which now becomes a beneficent force aiding human and planetary evolution.

.  .  .

Joy unto ye, O Men of Earth.

A Pilgrim hath returned back ‘from the other shore’.

A Saviour of Mankind is born. “

• From: The Voice of Silence, fragment 3.

By Michael Gomes.

579 Pages | First edition, first reprint 2006 | Hardcover | The Theosophical Society, Adyar | ISBN: 8170593972.

With a title like H.P.B. Teaches, the reader may wonder: ‘teaches what‘? HPB herself gives the answer: ‘metaphysics, psychology, philosophy, ancient religions, zoology, natural sciences’. One might add occult symbolism, spiritual evolution, guidance on moral and social issues, after death states, cycles and human destiny. Aside from the major books she is famous for – Isis Unveiled (1877), The Secret Doctrine (1888), The Key to Theosophy and The Voice of Silence (1889) – it is estimated that in a brief span of seventeen years, from 1874 to 1891, Mme. Blavatsky wrote close to one thousand articles, essays, and letters to journals, which in many cases focus within the space of a few pages on the topics listed above.

For the first time in one volume a representative selection of articles by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831 – 1891), co-founder of the Theosophical Society, is available. The forty articles in this book cover every facet of HPB’s writings in English, including one of her semi-fictional stories.

From page 21:

” Many thousand years ago the wise King Solomon declared that ‘There is nothing new under the Sun’, and the words of this very wise man ought to be repeated till the farthest ends of time. There is not a science, nor a modern discovery in any secretion of it, but was known to the Cabalists thousands of years since. This will appear a bold and ridiculous assertion, I know: and one apparently unconfirmed by any authority. But I will answer that where truth stares one in the face, there can be no other authority than one’s senses. “

By Laurence J. Bendit and Phoebe D. Bendit.

192 Pages | First published in1950, Quest edition 1969 | Paperback | Quest Books, U.S.A. | No ISBN.

Is it possible to have genuine communication between the living and the dead and what are the obstacles, which stand in the way? Can we find some rational explanation for the phenomena of spiritualism and the seance room? These are some of the questions discussed in this book, written by a British psychiatrist, Dr. L.J. Bendit and his wife Phoebe D. Bendit-Payne, a natural clairvoyant. Her personal experience and his medical training uniquely qualified them to consider together these and other subjects, viewing them in the wider context of man’s nature and capacities. No pat answers are offered but rather the reader is encouraged to think for himself about the mystery of existence in this world and the next.

From the ‘Personal Forewords’ (p 21/22):

“ This book is an attempt to clear up some of that confusion. To some it may seem that it is not suffficiently scientific and takes too much for granted. To others it may appear too much so, and too destructive of comfortable beliefs. That cannot be helped. We have tried to keep an objective, scientific attitude to the subject, and to carry this attitude into realms where the scientific experimental method cannot be applied. But we have not hesitated to go beyond the point to which objectivity can take us, and have expressed something of our own beliefs. That we have done this does not weaken our position. Even scientists must be permitted to have beliefs based on inner knowledge and experience, and all that can legitimately be demanded of them in this realm is that they shall be tentative and suggestive, not dogmatic. “

By John S. Gordon.

36 Pages | Soft cover | August 2008 | The Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar | No ISBN.

‘The Blavatsky Lecture’  delivered at the Summer School of The Foundation for Theosophical Studies, Wills Hall, The University of Bristol, Sunday August 2008.

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831 – 1891), as we know, at least once remarked that ‘Theosophy is not for dumbskulls!’ By that, her writings clearly demonstrate, she meant that the operative principles behind this all-embracing form of wisdom-philosophy have to be studied carefully and followed in practice before it can even begin to be properly understood. However, those principles are not be taken on board like some religious ritual, driven by blind faith and a happy assumption that somebody else will take up the full responsibility for explaining their full significance.

What Theosophy is and how it works cannot really be understood other than through direct experience of the principles behind the operation of consciousness itself is regarded by the cutting edge of modern science as the next major frontier to be crossed, it is this subject which I propose to address today – although not perhaps in the manner which an orthodox scientist might adopt.

Door Vicente Hao Chin, Jr.

300 Pagina’s | Eerste druk december 2017 | Softcover | Uitgeverij der Theosofische Vereniging Nederland, Amsterdam | ISBN: 9789061750994.

English Original: The  Process of Self-Transformation – A Spiritual Guide for Effective Living | First edition, 2015 | Quest Books U.S.A. | ISBN: 9780835609357.

Een zelfhulpboek voor persoonlijke, spirituele groei en voor wereldburgerschap, nu in het Nederlands verkrijgbaar.

Hao Chin verstaat de kunst om een moeilijk onderwerp als zelf-transformatie in heldere bewoordingen te beschrijven, zelfs zodanig dat de lezer er direct praktisch mee aan de slag kan. De auteur heeft inmiddels gedurende talloze seminars veel mensen door het proces van zelf-transformatie geleid.

Emoties, die zich vaak lichamelijk uiten, en moeilijkheden die wij met ons denken opwerpen kunnen een effectief leven, persoonlijke groei en meditatie in de weg staan. Met de in dit boek beschreven aanpak om problemen via het lichaam bewust gewaar te zijn (self-awareness processing) en vervolgens los te laten, kunnen deze blijvend worden aangepakt.

Het boek bespreekt de gevolgen, die een dergelijke bewuste, assertieve en positieve levenshouding kan hebben voor familierelaties, voor opvoeding en onderwijs, en voor wereldburgerschap en vrede.

Vicente Hao Chin, Jr. was president van The Theosophical Society (Adyar) in de Filippijnen, is actief in de Theosophical Order of Service, en is de grondlegger van het Golden Link College in de Filippijnen, transformerend onderwijs voor minder bevoorrechte kinderen en jonge mensen. Hij schreef verschillende boeken, stelde de chronologische uitgave samen van de The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett, is een van de redacteuren van The Theosophical Encyclopedia en leidde zelf-transformatie seminars in meer dan twintig landen ter wereld.

By I. Jauli and E. Reig.

116 Pages | Uitgegeven in 2016 | Softcover | Vijay Nicole Imprints Private Limited, Chennai | ISBN: 9788182094475.

For many of the ancient traditions and some psychological approaches the great obstructer of the inner development is fear. It generates insecurity; it pressures the searcher to decline his intentions and finally, in order to sleep peacefully, he assumes that retracting and not acting was smart, however he loses the opportunity to experience life.

” If we understand that fears are just thoughts, we can free ourselves from them. ” –  Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895 – 1986)

These thoughts are part of the personal shadow. They destroy the possibilities of living and reduce our potential. This book explains the personal shadow and its effects on life. The bird’s meaning of life is flying, that’s why it has wings, the snake is to slither and therefore it has a body equipped for this movement. Likewise, human beings possess divine potential and therefore they need to develop that potential. Shadows affect the inner development.

This book discusses:

1. Effect on inner development
2. Effects of management of light and shadow in the human being such as wisdom, ignorance, darkness and shadow
3. Explanation of shadow effects through fables
4. Approach of shadow in psychology
5. Methods to know our personal shadow and how to measure the effect of personal shadow in our lives?
6. An alchemy model to face the shadow
7. Transforming powers of change

This book also presents ideas and schemas, that combine science, philosophy and the ancient mystical traditions. It aims to help readers integrate their personal shadow and thus lead a fulfilling and productive life.

By John Algeo.

172 Pages | First published in 1903, 2001 edition | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 9780835607971.

Theosophist Annie Besant (1847 – 1933) drew from the Ancient Wisdom of the East to explore the deep recesses of the mind. The original edition was published in 1903 and has been in print ever since. Now leading contemporary Theosophists John Algeo and Shirley J. Nicholson have painstakingly revised the text to free its timeless truths from the time-bound language of the early 20th century and make it more accessible to today’s readers. The result is a clear discussion of subjects of increasingly high interest: concentration, memory, consciousness, telepathy, sleep and dreams, cultivation of the will, and access to your ‘Higher Self’.

From Chapter 12 – ‘The Secret of Peace of Mind’ (p. 152):

” We are the Self, and therefore the joys and the sorrow of others are ours as much as theirs. To the extent that we realise this and learn to live so that we share the life that flows through us with the whole world – to that extent we learn the secret of peace. That secret is knowledge of the Self, and the thought ‘That Self Am I’ (even if we have not yet experienced the reality) helps us gain a peace of mind that nothing can disturb. As the Bhagavad Gita [2.70] says: He attains peace, into whom all desires flow as rivers flow into the ocean, which is filled with water, but remains unmoved – not he who desires desire. “

By Russel Targ. Foreword by Stephan A. Schwartz.

306 Pages | First Quest Edition 2012 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 9780835608848.

On February 4, 1974, members of The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnapped the nineteen-year-old newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst from her apartment situated in Berkeley, California. Desperate to find her, the police called physicist Russell Targ and Pat Price; a psychic retired police commissioner. As Price turned the pages of the police mug book filled with hundreds of pictures, he suddenly pointed out to one of them and announced: ‘That’s the ringleader’! The man’s name turned out Donald DeFreeze and he was indeed subsequently so identified. Price also described the type and location of the kidnap car, which then enabled the police to trace the vehicle within minutes.

This remarkable event depicts one reason Russell Targ believes, so the speak, in the existence of ‘extra sensory phenomena’ (ESP). Another reason is that his group earned $120.000,- by forecasting changes in the silver-commodity futures market for nine weeks in a row. In his research, with all the proof Targ has assembled (and there is more besides), he suggests all life is interconnected and interdependent. There is an aspect of human consciousness that exists independent of time and space, that is susceptible to volitional control; and there is an interconnection between all life forms, that must be understood if the universal impulse humans feel toward the spiritual component of their lives is to mature properly. This assertion is not just a scientific fact: it is a worldview. If you accept it, you will make different life choices. Targ’s proof is a beginning, not an end.

From Chapter 12 – ‘Naked Awareness’ (p. 242):

” From thirty-five hundred years ago the Hindu Vedas teach us that our awareness, or Self (Ātman), is one with and unseparated from ultimate transcendent reality, the physical and  non-physical universe, or Brahman. We need experience, no separation from any aspect of the universe in consciousness. More recently, the great physicist Erwin Schrodinger, who perfected quantum mechanics, has written in his thoughtful monograph ‘What is Life’, that the teaching that Ātman equals Brahman is the greatest of all metaphysical principles. He goes on to write about non-separation: ‘Consciousness is a singular of which the plural is unknown. There is only one thing, and that which seems to be a plurality is simply a series of different aspects that one thing produced by a deception (Māyā). The same illusion is produced in a gallery of mirrors’. “

By Ken Wilber.

362 Pages | First Quest Edition 1977, second Quest Edition 1993 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 0835606953.

This book launched the transpersonal psychology revolution. In a profound, comprehensive, and unique study of consciousness, Wilber was the first to suggest a systematic way that the great psychological systems of the West could be integrated with the noble contemplative traditions of the East.

To this day, The Spectrum of Consciousness remains the unequivocal classic in the area of transpersonal psychology, and has been the prominent reference point for all subsequent attempts at integrating psychology and spirituality. Like radiation and light, consciousness, suggest Wilber, establishes a multiplicity of aspects as it ‘steps down’ into time and space. Thus, as a spectrum, it can be studied legitimately on one or more of its ‘wavelengths’. Viewing consciousness in this way, we can see that seemingly disparate disciplines each speak to a different wavelength of awareness.

‘From Chapter VII – ‘Integrating the Shadow’ (p. 206)’:

” Thus the problem is not to get rid of any symptom, but rather to deliberately and consciously try to increase that symptom, to deliberately and consciously experience it fully! If you are depressed, try to be more depressed. If you are tense, make yourself even tenser. If you feel guilty, increase your feelings of guilt – and we mean that literally! For by doing you are, for the very first time, acknowledging and even aligning yourself with your Shadow, and hence are doing consciously what you have heretofore been doing unconsciously. When you, as a personal experiment, consciously throw every bit of yourself into actively and deliberately trying to produce your present symptoms, you have in effect thrown your persona and Shadow together. You have consciously contacted and aligned yourself with your opposites, and, in short, re-discovered your Shadow. “

By Charlotte W. Woods.

182 Pages | The Blavatsky Lecture for 1919 | Photo copy (1992) from the first edition published by The Theosophical Publishing House, London in 1922 | Kessinger Publishing Company, Montana U.S.A. | ISBN: 1564592642.

CONTENTS:

1. The Problem of the Self from Descartes to Kant.
2. The Problem of the Self in Current Philosophy.
3. The Problem of the Self in Theosophic Mysticism.
4. An Examination of the Forgoing Standpoints.
5. Conclusion.

From Chapter 4: ‘An Examination of the Forgoing Standpoints’:

” We have thus arrived at a definition of the self in our philosophy; it is the ground and condition of the manifold of experience, the unity, purpose, and wholeness, which give meaning to bare multiplicity and stability to that which is mobile and changing . . . “

By Frederic Wiedemann.

194 Pages | A Quest original, first edition 1986 | Softcover | Theosophical Publishing House, London | ISBN: 0835606023.

” When clinical psychology rejects the soul, then clinical psychology loses its ability to heal “.

Being human is roughly half-way to divinity. Thus it is that we are caught between two worlds says Frederic Wiedemann. How can we bring together the material side of man with his transpersonal nature? Or is this an irresolvable paradox? The school of thought, that comes the closest to resolving the enigma is the twenty-year old transpersonal consciousness movement. This discipline provides Wiedemann with his ’take-off’ point as he focuses on the limitations of clinical psychology in its unwillingness to include spirit as a factor in therapy. To resolve this dilemma of body and spirit, the author uses the metaphor of the soul as the bridge between two worlds.

From Chapter 13 – ‘Making Decisions with Integrity’ (p. 166):

” If the soul perspective is used with the proper balance of power, wisdom, and love, then it offers a unique ethical direction, combining both the wisest teachings of religion and the deepest aspects of the human potential. But one must be willing to labor for it and to strive for it and to strive for a balance between immanence and transcendence. “

Door Frank Visser.

253 Pagina’s | Eerste druk 1995, tweede druk 1998 | Softcover, index & literatuurlijst | Uitgeverij der Theosofische Vereniging in Nederland, Amsterdam | ISBN: 9061750709.

Als er meer is dan de materiele wereld van geboorte, leven en dood, hoe ziet de werkelijkheid er dan hoogstwaarschijnlijk uit? Kunnen we op deze vraag een helder en tegelijkertijd diepgaand antwoord krijgen? In de Theosofische traditie wordt deze vraag bevestigend beantwoord. Vragen over het wezen van de mens, het leven na de dood of het proces van spirituele ontwikkeling worden in deze traditie behandeld op een manier, die de modern mens aanspreekt.

In Zeven Sferen treft de lezer een overzicht aan van het wereldbeeld van de Theosofie, waarbij veel aandacht wordt besteed aan recente ontwikkelingen in de psychologie, met name de transpersoonlijke psychologie. Deze tak van de psychologie probeert een spiritueel mensbeeld te formuleren, dat recht doet aan de diepste ervaringen, die menselijkerwijs mogelijk zijn. De Theosofie beschikt over een begrippenkader dat het moderne onderzoek tot steun kan zijn.

Daarnaast worden in dit boek aspecten van het Theosofische wereldbeeld belicht, die meestal onbesproken blijven. Zo wordt de wereld van de religies op een nieuwe manier in kaart gebracht, worden filosofische vragen, die verband houden met de diepte-dimensie van de werkelijkheid opgeworpen, en komt tenslotte op genuanceerde wijze de waarheidsvraag aan bod.

Uit de Proloog:

” We beschikken inderdaad over oude kaarten van de innerlijke Nieuwe Wereld, die buitengewone pioniers ons hebben nagelaten. En vertrouwen stellen in deze kaarten – al was het maar om te beginnen – is niet een regressief verlangen naar de dagen van weleer . . . maar de enig zinnige handelwijze voor een nieuwe generatie van pioniers, die opnieuw de diepte willen peilen, die door de modern [wetenschap] zo volkomen is genegeerd. We zullen deze kaarten moeten verfijnen, zeker; we zullen veel grenslijnen opnieuw moeten tekenen, ongetwijfeld; maar laten we de hemel danken voor de moed en het succes van hen, die ons voorgingen, een een voetspoor achterlieten, voldoende duidelijk voor al diegenen, die ontvankelijk genoeg zijn om het te volgen. “

– Ken Wilber.

By Bruce A. Vance.

197 Pages | A Quest Original, first edition 1990 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 0835606600.

‘ . . . a daring and provocative voyage through the nocturnal landscape ‘.

In Mindscape, Vance further charts the still largely unknown fathoms of our mental depths. He shows us that thoughts are real, not just in our heads. They project outward and take on forms in the superphysical field around us. Thoughts have an energy all their own, that can affect others through telepathy. In addition to having a reality beyond our minds, Vance says our thoughts create our world. Beliefs are powerful and tend to ‘come true’. If we believe we are ineffectual or ill, we will be; if we believe we are capable or healthy, we will be.

The author cites experiments in subatomic physics to show how powerful our mindsets are. To further support his views, Vance looks to the work of clairvoyants like Charles Webster Leadbeater (1854 – 1943) and cites cases of shamanistic journeys and out-of-body experiences. By becoming aware of our self-imposed limitations and our greater potential, we can release our mental energies and use them to greater advantage. Vance explains how!

From Chapter 9 – ‘The extended Reach of Mind’ (p. 185):

” So, what are the boundaries of mind? None. What are the boundaries of selfhood? None. And what are the boundaries of consciousness? There are none. The infinity of reality is open to us through exploring our mindscape. But we are physically incarnated for a purpose. There is something important to learn here. It has to do with the powers of creation, some of which are at our disposal. “

By Bruce A. Vance.

180 Pages | A Quest Original, first edition 1989 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN 0835606481.

This voyage into alternate reality acquaints you with your dreaming self and teaches you the tools, language and dimensions of the dreamscape.

Much can be discovered in the shadow of your dreams. However, no one can interpret your dreams for you. If you wish to understand your dreams, then you must embark on a prolonged and serious exploration. This book guides you into this alternate reality. The dreamer is taught to record details and impressions, employing intuition for interpretation. In this strange realm, time and space take on new aspects. Problems are explored from a variety of angles for possible answers. The dreamer encounters dream teachers, who instruct us in the art of creating our own reality by placing pupils in scenarios and then helping them find their way out. Focused consciousness brings about lucid dreams, waking dreams, or even out-of-body experiences. Deeper into the dreamscape, one encounters even stranger dimensions where colors are tasted and shapes have sound.

From Chapter 4 – ‘On the Shores of the Dreamscape’ (p. 64):

” Frequently, within the Dreamscape, we manifest our desires, inclinations, hopes and fears in order to face and examine them. We may be wondering if we truly desire what we think we desire, and thus may be using the freedom of the Dreamscape to investigate. Therefore, though some fantasy scenarios require no deep interpretation, often on examination they will reveal clues to our personal drives and needs. Fantasy and adventure encounters within the Dreamscape are often private creations. We use the freedom we have in the dream environment to create things easily which we find hard or inadvisable to create in the physical environment. “

By Charles Upton.

246 Pages | First Quest Edition 1933 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 083560697X.

Hammering Hot Iron is a rare work, that raises important questions, draws vital distinctions, and elevates discourse within the spiritual community on the Men’s Movement, Jungian psychology, archetypical and mythological studies, and polytheistic religions. Drawing on the perennial philosophy, the universal expression of absolute truth, Upton offers a metaphysical and cultural critique of Robert Bly’s Iron John (1990). Upton adopts Bly’s shadow in the Jungian sense. His intellectual argument is masterfully intertwined with his own personal and spiritual journey, often expressed through original poetry.

From Chapter – ‘The Rejection of Transcendence (p.15):

” The Men’s Movement is a cultural phenomenon unique to our time. We’ve reached the point as a society, where the assumption that man are the dominant sex no longer protects them from a sense of radical imbalance and alienation. As almost anyone who looks can see, the storm of cultural and technological change now assaulting us had called all traditional male roles into question and replaced them with cartoonlike creatures. Caricatures, however, are not enough to live by. […] But what would it be like if men were simply – men? This is the question the Men’s Movement is trying its best to answer, on the wing in any way it can. The tradition of working consciously to redefine masculinity in the face of radical social transformation goes back at least as far as D.H. Lawrence, and includes, among others, writers like Henry Miller and perhaps Jack Kerouac. “

Edited by H. Tudor Edmunds.

254 Pages | First Quest edition 1968, second edition 1974 | Softcover | Quest Books, USA | ISBN: 0835604128.

Collected Articles from the Science Group of the Theosophical Research Centre, London.

This book is the result of research and study by a group of distinguished British scientists, who have devoted much time and applied the training in their various disciplines to an unprejudiced investigation of the many areas of psychic manifestation. Their comments and discussions on such subjects as telepathy, clairvoyance, hypnosis, and effects of mindexpanding drugs, the human aura, and related subjects, are perceptive and informative. Because the writers are also students of Theosophy and Eastern philosophy, they have been able to add valuable insights to their considerations of the various phenomena without in any way lessening their objective and scientific approach to this still mysterious field of human experience.

From Chapter: ‘The Interior Organ of Perception (p.55):

Mind is the inner organ.

” So whether approached from within by the Eastern metaphysical insight or from without by an attempt to deduce an hypothesis to explain scientific observations, it would appear, that man’s mind is an inner organ, or instrument, of perception with a focus of ‘I-ness’ associated with the brain. It has the capacity of throwing up a three-dimensional field of imagined images, thoughts and feelings, themselves not spatial in a physical sense, but related to space by some method of direct correlation. They appear in a mental field, which is not the property of any one observer, but can only be termed a generalised mental field. “

By Rodney Standen.

147 Pages | First Quest Edition 1987 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 0835606163.

‘ The concurrent evolution of our story-book heroes and our collective consciousness. ‘

People need heroes. Heroes are at the heart of our fantasies. But our heroes change with the times. Beginning with Odysseus 2,500 years ago, the author develops his theme on an age to age basis. He demonstrates, that the hero of yesterday, the doer of miracles, has metamorphosed into today’s sophistocated James Bond. The engrossing study of man’s collective unconscious, that results from it, is supported with resource material drawn from Carl Jung, James Joyce, Nikos Kasantzakis, Tolstoy, Hesse, Maugham, and others.

From Chapter 13 – ‘The Ripeness of Time’ (p. 137):

” Were it not for this story and others like it, we could have imagined two vaguely parallel lines and two spirals of dissimilar size, all having as their origin the first Odysseus. One of our parallel lines would contain the ’true-blue’ tradition of gentlemen, who always know what is and simply is not done. These heroes neither lie nor cheat nor, so far as we know, womanize. Their faces are unmarked by warts, their minds untroubled by temptation to commit even the most venial of sins. In our cynical age, this line may be somewhat undernourished. But in comic books there will always be a superhero; and in every police station or general hospital, at least one character who is, and forever will be, true blue. ” 

By Richard Smoley and Jay Kinney.

400 Pages | First edition 1999, revised edition 2006, incl. suggested reading lists per chapter | Softcover | Quest Books U.S.A. | ISBN: 9780835608442.

For decades, our modern society has looked to the East for spiritual guidance and renewal. Here is a guide much closer to home. Its subjects range comprehensibly from Jungian psychology to the Kabbalah and Gnosticism, and from Freemasonry and the Templars to Alchemy, Shamanism, the work of Gurdjieff, Neopaganism, Sufism and esoteric Christianity.

Authors Smoley and Kinney speak with sensible, even-handed objectivity, covering the strengths and weaknesses as well as the history and ideas of each tradition. They also end each chapter with a wealth of resources for further exploration. Whether you are just beginning to seek a spiritual practice or want to know more about a particular teaching; Hidden Wisdom is an invaluable resource for finding the Path, that is right for you.

From Chapter 5 – ‘Magicians: Sculptors of the Astral Light’ (p. 105):

” Magic is the traditional science of the secrets of Nature, which has been transmitted to us from the Magi. By means of this science the Adept is invested with a species of relative omnipotence and can operate superhumanly – that is, after a manner which transcends the normal possibility of man. “

Richard Smoley is the former editor of <em>Gnosis</em> magazine and today is editor of Quest Books.

By Huston Smith. (1919- 2016).

281 Pages | First Quest Edition  1984, 2nd edition 1989, 3rd printing 1992. | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 0835606473.

NB: This is the second edition (1989): its latest and third edition (2003) can be purchased in our Webshop here. 

This study was first published in 1982 and is considered a classic in its disciplined analysis of contemporary reductionist philosophy. It explores the limits of science and points society’s way out of the dark woods where science has stranded us. Smith uses the term ‘modern’ mind to denote the so-called Enlightenment outlook of Newtonian physics and rationalism, which cut the ground from under the religious foundations of Western life. In the ‘post-modern’ age of the late nineteenth and the twentieth centuries, people lost their humanistic confidence.

Although science may have won a battle ove religion, it has in the process undermined its own empirical foundation: and having destroyed confidence in intuitive revelation, the mind is (as H.G. Wells once suggested) ‘at the end of its tether’. Despite the ravages of analytical philosophy and existentialism, Smith feels there is a fundamental view of reality, that flourishes throughout the world under various disguises. The uneasy post-modern mind, Smith says, awaits discernment of a new metaphysics.

From Chapter 3 – ‘Perennial Philosophy, Primordial Philosophy’ (p. 70):

” A life, that identifies primarily with its physical pleasures and needs (getting and spending we lay waste our days) is superficial;

one that advances its attention to the mind can be interesting if it moves on to the heart (synonym for soul), it can be good.

And if it passes on to spirit – that saving self-forgetfulness and egalitarianism in which one’s personal interests loom no larger than those of others – it would be perfect. “

By Jan Phillips.

255 Pages | First Quest Edition 1997 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 0835607593.

Fall in love with the Artist within and help your Creative Spirit soar!

Witers, photographers, painters, journal keepers, sculptors, musicians, poets, and everyone who wants to live life as a work of art will find inspiration in this wonderful work:

• Become more productive and confident through stirring affirmations of ‘The Artist’s Creed’.
• Discover a deep and satisfying form of self-expression through easy exercises, personal anecdotes, inspiring quotations and pictures.
• Learn tricks to overcome ‘Artist Blocks’ and find new ideas from the shared experiences of other artists.

Committing to our own creativity is an act of faith, a promise that we will keep at it despite our fears and failings and despite whatever obstacles we find in our paths. It is a promise to believe in ourselves, to honor the creative process and to open our lives to the gifts of the ‘Muse’.

Jan Phillips is an award-winning photographer and feature writer, whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Utne Reader, and many other national and regional publications. She developed Marry Your Muse during workshops sponsored by Women’s Writing Guild.

From Part One – ‘What matters is the Newness’ (p. 59):

” The artist Wassily Kandinsky writes in ‘Concerning the Spiritual in Art’, that ’the artist must search deeply into his own soul, develop and tend it, so that his art has something to clothe, and does not remain a glove without a hand . . .’. The artist must have something to say, for mastery over form is not his goal, but rather the adapting of form to its inner meaning. ” 

By Edward Norman Pearson (1887 – 1975).

288 Pages | First published in 1957, reprint 1964, second reprint 1994 | Softcover | Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar | ISBN: 8170592224.

It is the author’s thesis that all life’s problems arise from three illusions, which were drawn over mankind at the beginning of history when the Solar Deity, seeking to manifest, drew over himself three limitations giving rise to three primary illusions of:

1. Space or objects existing in space as dimensions.
2. Time as succession of events.
3. Self as separated existence.

The mind of a human being vainly tries to measure Boundless Space dimensionally, Eternity in terms of our terrestial Time and fails to conceive Self except in terms of separate existence. Grasp of Infinity, Eternity and Unity appear to elude its grasp.

The author has sought to bring all the Theosophical Wisdom relating to Matter and Cosmogenesis, Involution and Evolution and the Laws governing these under the three sections 1. Illusions of Space, 2. Time and 3. Self. He contends that Science, Philosophy and Religion are the means for grappling with these illusions.

From Chapter – ‘Physical and Super-Physical’ (p. 61):

” Light, according to science, is either a wave undulating in a non-material medium or a succession of particles of energy known as ‘photons’. While the first three senses, we found, operated primarily for the benefit of the body and the next one contributed to the development of the mind, the sense of sight, which we now come to consider, extends its reaches still higher to contribute to the spiritual welfare of man. Who has not reveled in the ever-changing enchantments of Nature, the exquisite beauties she exhibits day by day? Through the sense of sight we can even break through the boundaries of earth and soar unhampered to lose ourselves in the sublimities of the vast empyrean. “

By Rohit Mehta (1908 – 1995)

196 Pages | First edition 1957, second edition 2000 | Hardcover | Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar | ISBN: 817059345X.

This book consist of short essays dealing with various problems which mankind faces in daily life, within organizations, in society and politics in aspiration towards the spiritual life. The origin of those problems is identified in every case as lying not outside but within human beings themselves, in their unrealistic and self centred perception of people, things and events. Thus the solution of these problems also lies within each one of us.

From Chapter 16 – ‘The Path of Return’ (p. 112 & 113):

” The vices of the ordinary man pass through a subtle transformation and reappear with changed aspect in the heart of the disciple . . . The pure artist, who works for the love of his work is sometimes far more firmly planted on the right road than the Occultist, who fancies he has removed his interest from self, but who has in reality only enlarged the limits of experience and desire, and transferred his interest to things, which concern his larger span of life. “

By Robert Augustus Masters.

107 Pages | A Quest Original, first edition 1994 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 0835607070.

‘Body Games for the 21st Century’.

Neurospeak can radically change your body, your consciousness, the very essence of your being and all you have to do is read the book! A revolutionary technique – or body game – Neurospeak addresses the nervous system through the written word to elicit changes in muscles, body organs, and conceivably the mental, emotional and spiritual dimensions of life. It emerges at a confluence of psychological re-education and some kinds of communication speaking to deeper levels of the person than are reached by language as ordinarily used. Psychophysical re-education and such sub-cortical linguistics are natural allies and belong together as each expands and enriches the other.

From the Afterword:

” Neurospeak is one of the several main components of a larger system of neural and sensory re-education called ‘Psychophysical Method’ or ‘Masters Technique’. The Method was developed as a program of The Foundation for Mind Research during the almost thirty years I have worked as a Director of Research of that Foundation. The Method is part of a still larger inquiry aimed at defining and gaining productive access to latent or barely tapped human potentials. ‘Psychophysical Method’ mainly consists of the following:

1. Movement Work

2. Image Work

3. Neurospeak

4. Altered States of Consciousness. “

By Robert Augustus Masters and Jean Houston.

222 Pages | First Quest Original Edition 1998 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 0835607534.

‘ Classic Mind-training exercises for Imagination, Inspiration and Self-Exploration. ‘

This updated edition of Robert Masters’ and Jean Houston’s classic mind-training Manual explains how these fascinating exercises can be applied in a host of contemporary settings. Clear instructions suggest how teachers, therapists, workshop, Church and community leaders, and everyone, who wants to live and work with more focus, flow and mental flexibility can use these Games to maximize their potential for:

• Problem solving, team building and conflict resolution
• Concentration and productivity
• Creativity and visionary thinking
• Stress reduction and relaxation
• Focused listening and super communication.

By Lawrence LeShan Ph.D.

133 Pages | First Quest Edition 2009 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 9780835608770.

ESP, hauntings, death-bed apparitions – science refuses to acknowledge the existence of such phenomena, because controlled experiments can’t prove them. But, says Lawrence LeShan, the paranormal is as real as the power of electricity, another force that we once did not understand. Citing documented cases, he offers the only current view for making a serious study of important subjects like clairvoyance, mediumship, and psychic healing. And the issue is not just academic, he says. If we are able to stop killing each other and the planet, we desperately need to replace our materialistic worldview. Psi research promises a new concept of reality that holds great hope for the future.

From Chapter 7 – ‘What Dare I hope’? (p. 99):

” All the human search for understanding and meaning, wrote the philosopher Immanuel Kant, is contained in four questions: 

What can I know?

What ought I to do?

What dare I hope?

What is a human being?

As the study of psi becomes a mature science and its existence becomes a part of our cultural world-picture, becomes ‘common sense’, what can we legitimately expect to happen? What I dare hope for is a time when psi becomes as widely accepted as was the unconscious after Freud or global warming after enough scientific research had been done on the subject. “

By Charles Webster Leadbeater (1854 – 1934).

72 Pages | Reprint 2001 | Softcover | Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar | ISBN: 8170593689.

Leadbeater explains in definite and simple terms, on grounds of health, economy, ecology, ethics and spirituality, why the vegetarian diet is best for humans. He quotes numeral medical and other authorities of his time to show how unnecessary it is to slaughter millions of animals and birds for food and what  effects the killing and consumption of the flesh has on the physical, emotional and mental nature of the persons involved. The arguments put forth in this book in favour of vegetarianism are finding more and more support in the present day.

By Charles Webster Leadbeater (1854 – 1934),

38 Pages | First to tenth reprints 1912 – 2002 | Paperback | Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar | ISBN: 8170591902.

Leadbeater, an eminent seer and occultist, was a highly developed clairvoyant and the author of many books on the spiritual life and on the hidden side of things. In this slim volume, he provides valuable guidelines on the correct use of and control of the power of thought and emotion and of our responsibility for their effect upon others for good or evil. To change the world for the better, the first step is to change ourselves. To do this, requires us to know weaknesses, our strengths. Then we may utilize the magnificent power within for the benefit of humanity

By Stephen Larsen, Foreword by Phil Cousineau.

248 Pages | Copyright 2007 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 9780835608503.

The revered images and sacred narratives of the world’s religions render existence meaningful. However, when interpreted literally rather than symbolically, the spiritual essence of religion loses its creative potential and can become a destructive force. Fundamentalists of any faith, says author Stephen Larsen, are in a rapture of certainty, secure in their righteous belief and an exclusive convenant with God. Our world today is embroiled in a ‘clash of fundamentalisms’ as predicted by the great mythologist Joseph Campbell, and, in the words of Dr. Huston Smith, ‘all -isms end up in schisms.’

Such thinking exists not only in religion and the ‘other’ but in all of us – cultural creatives, left-wingers, scientists, and secularists alike. We all have an inner fundamentalist: It can originate right there in the amygdala, a tiny, almond-sized organ in the midbrain, that triggers the fight-or-flight response to danger. It also originates in the tendency to split thinking and feeling that exists throughout the brain. Larsen shows us how to free our minds by identifying polarized thinking in ourselves as well as others. He suggests a ‘natural spirituality’: the awareness of the God force in everything, the humility to admit mistakes, flexibility instead of rigidity, and a willingness to tolerate differences.

From Chapter Nine – ‘Natural Religion’ (p. 211 & 212):

INCANTATIONS TO THE HIDDEN GOD

” How you drove a chariot in battle
How you walked as a pilgrim,
one-eyed and with a broad flopped hat,
How one day you went naked
black and female and wore
a terrible necklace of skulls
to wake us up.
How you danced wearing
a bear mask.
How you went down into the
Underworld, to sit as a Judge of men.
How, hawk-winged,
you carried the sun to its zenith.
How as a beautiful youth you died again an again,
how many times have we wept for you,
sung holy dirges, and made sweet things
for your birth.
We were the voice from the whirlwind,
You were the golden calf,
and He who threw down the calf.
You were Mother of us all,
and how many times you wept
for all your children.
The fire from your terrible waking eye
ignited the God of Love
to holy ash.
When you dance your Rapture
the universe becomes a burning ground.
Let those who feel that day is upon us
Learn to find patience and compassion for
All that live in our fragile, beautiful world.
Let us use your terrible sword to slay our egos,
not our brothers. “

By Serge Kahili King.

180 Pages | First edition, 1985, twelfth printing | Paperback | Theosophical Publishing House, Wheaton | ISBN: 9780835605915

The world is what you think it is

The most fundamental idea in Huna philosophy is that each of us creates our own experience of reality by our beliefs, interpretations, actions and reactions, thoughts and feelings. It is not that our reality is created as a result of these personal expressions, but that we are cocreators with the Universe itself. Huna is about learning to become a conscious Cocreator.

• Learn how your Higher Self, or aumakua, is contacted in the dream dimension
• Get in touch with the Mana, the hidden energy of life
• Develop higher powers of concentration by utilizing the tikis, created images of sight, sound, and feeling in meditation
• Become aware of your subconscious, an integral part of your being, which impatiently awaits communion with the ego

Door William James (1842 – 1910) vertaald door Daniël Mok en Johan van Tricht.

404 Bladzijden | Eerste Engelse druk 1902, eerste Nederlandse druk 1907, zesde herziene en vermeerderde druk 2010 | Softcover | Uitgeverij Abraxas, Amsterdam. ISBN 9789080730021

Engels origineel: The Varieties of Religious Experience – A Study in Human Nature | Eerste druk 1902 | Harvard University.

William James is de grondlegger van de Moderne Psychologie. Vormen van Religieuze Ervaring is zijn ontelbare malen herdrukte Magnum Opus. Keer op keer wordt er naar verwezen. De scherpe observaties van James’ zijn ongeëvenaard gebleken, de glans is door de jaren heen alleen maar versterkt.

Aan de hand van autografisch materiaal van mensen met een verschillende en culturele en levensbeschouwelijke achtergrond analyseert James de menselijke aard, conditie en gevoelens. Met kennis en wijsheid bespreekt hij de werkelijkheid van het onzichtbare, de optimistische en pessimistische houding, de innerlijke tweestrijd, de zieke ziel en de neurose, hergeboorte en het begrip ‘heiligheid’. Mystiek benadert James voor het eerst als een eigensoortige menselijke ervaring, die niet herleid kan worden tot andere psychische ervaringen of verschijnselen. Kerk en dogma laat hij buiten deze zorgvuldige filosofische en psychologische studie: het gaat bij James over onze werkelijkheidsbeleving, ons gedrag en gevoelsleven, en hoe je daadwerkelijk de kwaliteit van je leven kunt verbeteren. De schrijftrant van William James is helder, principieel en objectief. In elke zin proef je James’ oprechte betrokkenheid. Een milde ironie kruidt telkens zijn betoog en je hebt al lezend steeds het gevoel te maken te hebben met een groot denker en schrijver.

Uit Hoofdstuk VI: ‘De Gespleten Persoonlijkheid en zijn Proces van Eenwording’ (blz. 128 & 129):

” Ik ben altijd een mengsel geweest van zwakheid en kracht, en ik heb zwaar moeten boeten voor de zwakheid. Als kind had ik last van verlegenheid. Als mijn veter los was, voelde ik vol schaamte dat ieders ogen op het ongelukkige koordje gericht waren. Als meisje deinsde ik terug voor vreemden en dacht dat ik ongewenst en ongeliefd was, zodat ik overvloeide van dankbaarheid tegenover iedereen, die vriendelijke tegen mij was. Als jonge huisvrouw was ik bang voor mijn dienstbodes en zag ik slordig werk liever over het hoofd dan de kwelling te verduren om de boosdoeners te berispen. Wanneer ik enthousiast een lezing gaf en gedebatteerd had op het podium, ging ik liever zonder nog iets te drinken naar mijn hotel dan de kelner te vragen om iets te halen. Strijdlustig op het podium ter verdediging van een zaak, die mij ter harte gaat, schrik ik terug voor onenigheid en afkeuring thuis. Zo ben ik in mijn hart een lafaard, maar een flinke vechter in het openbaar. Ik heb aardig wat moeilijke kwartiertjes doorgemaakt met het verzamelen van mijn moed om een ondergeschikte te vermanen, waar mijn plicht me toe dwong. Hoe vaak heb ik mijzelf niet uitgelachen als de dappere podiumstrijdster, wanneer ik niet de moed kon opbrengen een jongen of een meisje de mantel uit te vegen, omdat zij slecht werk hadden afgeleverd. Een onvriendelijke blik of opmerking waren voldoende om mij in mijn schulp te doen kruipen, terwijl als ik op het podium sta tegenstand mij juist het best doet spreken. “

• Annie Besant in An Autobiography, 1893, 2003.

By William James (1842 – 1910), edited with and Introduction by Martin E. Marty.

534 Pages | First published in the U.S.A. by Longmans, Green & Co in 1902, published in the Penguin Library in 1982, reprinted in Penguin Classics 1985 | Softcover | Penguin Books Ltd., London | ISBN:

Dutch translation: Vormen van Religieuze Ervaring – Een Onderzoek naar de Menselijke Aard  | First Dutch publication 1907, sixth revised and extended publication 2010 | Softcover | Abraxas, Amsterdam.

‘Standing at the crossroads of psychology and religion, this groundbreaking work applied the scientific method to humankind’s religious behavior’.

William James believed individual religious experiences, rather than the precepts of organized religions, were the backbone of the world’s spiritual life. His discussions of conversion, repentance, mysticism, and saintliness – and his observations on actual, personal religious experiences – all support this thesis.

In his Introduction, Martin E. Marty discusses how James’ pluralistic view of religion led to his remarkable tolerance of extreme forms of religious behavior, his challenging, highly original theories, and his welcome lack of pretension in all of his observations on the individual and the divine.

From Lecture VIII – ‘The Divided Self and the Process of its Unification’ (p. 168):

” I have ever been the queerest mixture of weakness and strength, and have paid heavily for the weakness. As a child, I used to suffer tortures of shyness, and if my shoe-lace was untied would feel shamefacedly that every eye was fixed on the unlucky string; as a girl I would shrink away from strangers and think myself unwanted and unliked, so that I was full of eager gratitude to any one, who noticed me kindly; as the young mistress of a house I was afraid of my servants, and would careless work pass rather than bear the pain of reproving the ill-doer; when I have been lecturing and debating with no lack of spirit on the platform, I have preferred to go without what I wanted at the hotel rather than to ring and make the waiter fetch it. Combative on the platform in defense of any cause I cared for, I shrink from quarrel or disapproval in the house, and am a coward at heart in private while a good fighter in public. How often have I passed unhappy quarters of an hour screwing up my courage to find fault with some subordinate, whom my duty compelled me to reprove, and how often have I jeered at myself for a fraud as the doughty platform combatant, when shrinking from blaming some lad or lass for doing their work badly. An unkind look or word has availed to make me shrink into myself as a snail into its shell, while, on the platform, opposition makes me speak my best. “

• Annie Besant in An Autobiography, 1893, 2003.

By Alice O. Howell.

284 Pages | A Quest Original 1993, including illustrations | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 0835606880.

Geometry is hidden in the symbolism of all religions. In this magical book, Alice O. Howell weaves a ramble on the sacred Isle of Iona with a meditation on the geometrical forms we encounter everyday. With the mediating help of Sophia, the divine feminine principle of Wisdom, she shows how we can decode the inner meaning of shapes, numbers, and other symbols through intuition, to enrich our experience of living and deepen our appreciation of the mystery of form.

A Companion to Howell’s other work; The Dove in the Stone, this book is illustrated with fifty line drawings and figures and includes an entertaining workbook – Sophia’s Mondayschool – with exercises guiding readers in exploring for themselves the mysteries of sacred geometry.

From Chapter IV – ‘Dark within Light, Light within Dark’ (p. 43):

” The Celts have a lovely image called the ‘Tir-nan-Og’ – Land of Youth, the Blessed Isles, the Happy Isles. Each of us has such an island within our Souls – a beautiful space within us to visit. I remember when I was a teacher of children, I assigned a composition exercise called ‘My Island’. Without any hesitation, the children, then about ten and eleven years old, happily began imaging their island. Each made a map and peopled it according to their wishes. Animals, birds, fish, trees, mountains, and springs appeared miraculously full-blown from the unconscious of these children. It was as if they carried a paradise within them, just the right size.

The Happy Isles are an archetypical place, and I mention this, lest anyone get discouraged at the thought that they cannot travel to Scotland and the Hebrides – to Iona, the Isle of the Dove. We have our own Iona within us. A lovely exercise to give oneself as one is falling asleep is to image what one’s Happy Isle would be like. “

By Elizabeth Boyden Howes and Sheila Moon.

221 Pages | First Quest Edition 1977, second Quest printing 1987 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 0835604926.

Each of the above participate in this stunningly sensitive exam-ination of man’s sacred responsibility to make choices. For man needs to constantly choose a course of action if he wishes to survive, declare the psychotherapist authors. Take your choice, they say, between ‘the sin of holy uselessness‘ and ‘the path of holy intercourse with all existence’.

It is vital to our well-being, they believe, crucial to the future of the entire world, that we do not abdicate this God-given privilege; that we recognise that man is by his very nature a choicemaker, and that this is the basis difference between him and ‘unthinking’ creatures. The authors support their unique thesis with documented dream evidence, fresh interpretations of Biblical stories, our human propensity for myth-making, and the basic conclusions found in Jungian depth-psychology.

From Chapter VI – Into the Mirror of the Waters (p. 79):

” The Self is perhaps the most significant archetype and/or complex in terms of man’s full development as individual. This is true, because it is both the totality of and the religious center of personality. And insofar as the individual ego is working for wholeness, for individuation, it is working in the service of the Self, which in turn relflects the larger transpersonal Purpose. Although we have already discussed the Self in previous chapters, here a new facet appears. The Self is an archetype and yet with a difference that makes it, so to speak, the most vital of the psychic ‘organs’, the heart that keeps the vital processes moving in a forward direction. It is not only the center of the total personality, but it magnetizes all the opposites into a pattern that evolves in each individual toward wholeness. “

By Alice O. Howell.

281 Pages | Copyright 1990, second edition 2006 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 9780835608350.

‘The implications are staggering! Why don’t more people know about these things!’ So wonders Alice O. Howell, one of the most profound astrologers of our time and an authority on C.G. Jung’s depth psychology. Her view of astrology as symbolic of archetypical processes provides a tool for the deep healing of the psyche. It also presents a bold synthesis of history, religions, mythology, and Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious. Supported by irrefutable archaeological evidence, Howell traces the evolution of consciousness through five of the great astronomical Ages of the past ten thousand years. She explains the logic of the signs first, so that we can then marvel at the synchronicities.

Her findings imply a resolution of the Piscean dichotomy of faith and reason, that has reigned for two millennia. (Consider the current movement to marry physics and spirituality). This leads her to speculate on humanity’s future tasks and traps. ‘As foretold, it’s not the world that’s ending‘, she laughs. ‘It’s just the Age. And here comes the next!’. Simply written as letters to a friend and analyst, The Heavens Declare offers warm advice as it inspires us to experience one flash of insight after another.

From Chapter 1 – ‘The Ring of Quiddity’ (p. 13):

” Each star
is a kiss
I would give you –
should others
wake to a starless night
you would be lying
in my arms
covered with light. “

By Muriel Daw.

37 Pages | Blavatsky Lecture 1987 | Soft cover | The Theosophical Publishing House, London | No ISBN.

” Yea Lord, I see the PATH, its foot in mire, its summits lost in glorious Nirvanic. And now I see the ever narrowing Portals on the hard and thorny way to Jñana “ – From: The Voice of Silence , ‘The Seven Portals’, p.  47.

” . . . O weaver of thy freedom, thou hast to master these Pāramitās of perfection – the virtues transcendental six and ten in number – along the weary path. ” – From: The Voice of Silence, ‘The Seven Portals’, p. 48.

” The six and ten transcendental virtues “, (the Pāramitās), are not for ful-grown yogis and priests alone, but for all those who enter the PATH. ” – Written to H.P.B. by her Master, from: Collected Writings 12, p. 598.

Most of us, as students of Theosophy, are already familiair with the second quotation from The Voice of Silence. However, although we may have meditated for years on the first of the transcendental virtues so richly described in THE SEVEN PORTALS, for some of us there remains a burning question: ‘Ten Pāramitās are mentioned, what about the other four?

It may be thought perhaps these other four are unimportant, otherwise Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831 – 1891) would have given us more information about them: but this is not true. In fact, Buddhists call them ‘The Four Great Perfections’. They are so important that they are never given to beginners, only to students well advanced along the Way. It should also be noted, that in the Buddhist Scriptures, the Path of the Ten Pāramitās is always linked with the Ten Bhūmis (Stations or Earths) experienced along the Way.

By Jessie K. Crum.

96 Pages | Copyright 1975, fourth printing 1989 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 0835603032.

TRUST YOUR INNER VOICES.

Here is a key to personal revolution, a remarkable guide to discovering and exploiting your own creative birthright. The author has written a helpful, hopeful, book about her own experience with self-awakening – how it happened, and the steps in this new and absorbing quest.

The search voor understanding, the far-reaching effects of thought and emotion, IQ and genius, the role of faith, meditation, focus, love, how to contact the higher mind: The Art of Inner Listening offers the touchstone to perception beyond the conscious mind. It is a guide for the most rewarding journey you will ever make!

From the flyleaf:

” Power is available for your use, and the connection also is ready, but it is up to you to turn on the switch. 

You can become your own best self only by remaining true to yourself. There is a clear and simple path to self-discovery, as beautiful and direct as a straight line. 

Every man is potentially creative, and the seeds of genius are asleep within him. “