The Search for the Beloved

Description

The Search for the Beloved, one of the most important books written on the creative and inventive mind, explains the theories that helped form the foundation of the human potential movement. In what has been called “an intellectual and spiritual feast,” Jean Houston explores the nature of spiritual yearning and teaches readers how to facilitate a personal quest by focusing on the four aspects of Sacred Psychology—the Great Wound, the Mythic Journey of Transformation, the Discovery of the Larger Story, and the Union with the Beloved of the Soul.

W. B. Yeats wrote, “There is but one history and that is the soul’s.” It is this great known and unknowable homeland of the human spirit that The Search for the Beloved tours.  In an itinerary that leads readers to the sacred sites of the soul, Dr. Houston’s classic book is a passport for those who yearn to attune their spirits with psychological depths and spiritual heights. Probing our tragic dimensions for their deeper, more mythic meanings, so that our wounds can become the sources of spiritual grace, this book will guide readers to a larger and more sacred dimension of life. Includes a new foreword by the author.The Search for the Beloved Acknowledgments
Introduction to the Second Edition
How to Read This Book
Prologue
Part One: Perspectives
1. The Ancient Asclepian
2. The Global Asclepian
3. What Is Sacred Psychology?
Part Two: Basic Practices
4. Guidelines to Basic Practices
5. Extending the Senses: The Kinesthetic Body; The Extended Sensorium
6. Training the Creative Imagination: Relearning Imagistic Thinking
7. Developing the Imaginal Body: Evoking Your Imaginal Form; Archetypal Shape-shifting
8. The Friend in Court and the Three Realms of Being: Incarnating the Friend in Court; Sacred Sound: Evoking the Three Realms of Being
Part Three: Basic Themes
Introduction to Basic Themes
9. Of Story and Myth
10. The Sacred Sound: From Pathos to Mythos: A Therapeic Dyad; Betrayal and Forgiveness
11. The Search for the Beloved: The Rites of Pothos: The Search for the Beloved; The Walk to the Beloved: The Ritual of Samothrace
Part Four: The Stories
Introduction to the Stories
12. Psyche and Eros: Scenarios for Psyche and Eros
13. The Ecstatic Journey of Jalaloddin Rumi: Scenarios for the Ecstatic Journey of Jalaloddin Rumi
Notes
Glossary
Musical Compositions
Selected Bibliography
IndexJean Houston, PhD, a pioneer in human development, internationally renowned lecturer, scholar, and philosopher, and past president of the Association for Humanistic Psychology, has conducted seminars and worked in human development in more than 35 countries. She is the director of the Foundation for Mind Research in New York and the author of more than 16 books, including an autobiography, A Mythic Life.US