The Noble Quest

Book excerpt: Since the beginning of time people have developed knowledge to make sense of who we are and the world we live in. The ancient forms of psychology (as in the original meaning of the study of the 'psyche' or soul) included the visible and invisible aspects of reality - unlike the current split today between secular and spiritual, between the visible and the invisible which proliferates in Western culture. Most modern psychologies, by attending mainly to the visible world, have focused on that which will fade and die - the visible. The ancient psychologies began in the visible realm and included the invisible beyond external appearance. These approaches are seen by modern psychologists as religions or spiritual practices. Yet ancient psychologies were simply broader and more holistic, discovering the source of the visible world in the invisible world. They discovered the Holy and for many this Holy is God. This is the aim of this book. To tell the story of the loss of the Holy in psychology and regain this experience, as it is happening today. To make whole the visible and invisible realities currently divided. It offers a journey of exploration to discover a golden thread of the wider reality that makes us essentially human. This wider reality helps in understanding and healing the unavoidable sufferings of being human.