The Hero and the Goddess: The Odyssey as Pathway to Personal Transformation - Softcover

Houston PhD Ph.D., Jean

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0835608786 ISBN 13: 9780835608787

Publisher: Quest Books, 2006

Synopsis

All great stories can change our lives, and practically none is more transformational than Homer's The Odyssey, which had a power so great that it launched Greek civilization and has influenced the West ever since. In this fresh approach to self-realization, human potentials leader Jean Houston provides empowering experiential exercises at every key stage of Homer's epic to make The Odyssey our own journey. As we set sail with Odysseus, together we endure loss and suffering, the search for the divine Beloved, and the joy of finally arriving home. "Tapping the power of these archetypes," says Houston, "helps us effect healing in areas that have kept us immobilized and anguished. By raising our own tragic dimension to a mythic level, we awaken to a larger, nobler life."

About this title

About the Author:

Dr. Jean Houston, scholar, philosopher and researcher in human capacities, is one of the foremost visionary thinkers and doers of our time. She is long regarded as one of the principal founders of the Human Potential Movement. In 1965, along with her husband Dr. Robert Masters, Dr. Houston founded The Foundation for Mind Research. She is also the founder and principal teacher of the Mystery School, a school of human development, a program of cross-cultural mythic and spiritual studies, dedicated to teaching history, philosophy, the New Physics, psychology, anthropology, myth and the many dimensions of human potential. This school is in its 24th year and takes place on both the East and West Coasts. She leads an intensive program in Social Artistry with leaders coming from all over the world to study with Dr. Houston and her distinguished associates. She is the Founder as well as the Program Director of the International Institute for Social Artistry. A past President of the Association of Humanistic Psychology, she has taught philosophy, psychology, and Religion at Columbia University, Hunter College, the New School for Social Research and Marymount College, as well as summer sessions in human development at the University of California at Santa Cruz and the University of British Columbia. She is a prolific writer and author of 25 books including A Passion for the Possible, Search for the Beloved, Life Force, The Possible Human, Public Like a Frog, A Mythic Life: Learning to Live Our Greater Story, and Manual For A Peacemaker. Her PBS Special, "A Passion for the Possible", has been widely shown and publicly acclaimed. Her book of the same name was drawn from the program and published by Harper San Francisco in August of 1997. Dr. Houston has also served for two years in an advisory capacity to President and Mrs. Clinton as well as helping Mrs. Clinton write, It Takes A Village To Raise A Child. As a high school student she worked closely with Mrs. Roosevelt on developing strategies to introduce international awareness and United Nations work to young people. She has also worked with President and Mrs. Carter and counseled leaders in similar positions in numerous countries and cultures. She holds a B.A. from Barnard College, a Ph.D. in psychology from the Union Graduate School and a Ph.D. in religion from the Graduate Theological Foundation. She has also been the recipient of honorary doctorates.

Review:

"Jean Houston, like an archaelogist of the human spirit probing the great myths and mysteries, continues to remind us why we are here on this earth." --Armand Assante, actor, star of The Odyssey


"Jean Houston brings down fire from heaven to empower and inspire individual lives." --Larry Dossey, M.D., author of Healing Words and Be Careful What You Pray For...You Might Just Get I

In Praise of Jean Houston
: "I think that Houston has broken through to a new understanding of the sense and uses of the disciplines of inward turned contemplation." --Joseph Campbell

In Praise of Jean Houston: "Jean is a great producer, a creator of significant events. . . as she orchestrates the myriad new voices expressing alternatives of consciousness" --Margaret Mead

In Praise of Jean Houston: "Jean Houston reminds us that we need a new mythology for our age. Without myths, a society becomes sterile and is bereft of meaning and soul. I recommend her highly to those who want to restore the magical and the miraculous in their lives.
" --Deepak Chopra

About this edition

• Publisher: Quest Books
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0835608786
• ISBN 13: 9780835608787
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 425