The Return of the Mother - Hardcover

Harvey, Andrew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1883319072 ISBN 13: 9781883319076

Publisher: Frog Books, 1995

Synopsis

Adapted from a series of lectures on the historical basis and current resurgence of the sacred feminine, given by Andrew Harvey at the California Institute of Integral Studies in spring 1994, The Return of the Mother is a profound journey into the heart of the Divine Mother.

In this comprehensive and groundbreaking work, mystical scholar Andrew Harvey unearths traces of the sacred feminine in major world religions–Hinduism, Islam (Sufism), Buddhism, Taoism, and Christianity–and in aboriginal and indigenous wisdom traditions. Harvey presents a scathing critique of the patriarchal distortions in religious history and doctrine that have obscured full knowledge of the Divine Mother, and shows how to reintegrate this vital aspect into the spiritual consciousness of humankind.

The Return of the Mother offers a radical new perspective, balancing the historical overemphasis on transcendence by honoring the immanence of the divine in passionate engagement in the world. Only by cultivating a direct, respectful relationship with the transformative power of the sacred feminine can we alter our disastrous attitude of dissociation from nature, the body, sexuality, and the details of human life, and generate the energy and compassion needed to reverse the course of destruction we have set the planet–and all of life–hurtling toward.

In lively question-and-answer sections, Harvey further illuminates these vital issues and takes a strong stand against our dependence on "gurus" and "masters," proposing instead an egalitarian model of spiritual community based on intimate groups of mutually supportive guides and friends.

The Return of the Mother is an eloquent and passionate call for all of us to rediscover and reclaim an authentic and empowering relationship to the divine, and recreate a sacred life-in-the-world.

About this title

About the Author

Andrew Harvey is a renowned writer, lecturer, and teacher. An Englishman born in India, Harvey was educated at Oxford, and at twenty-one became the youngest fellow in the history of All Soul’s College. In 1977, he returned to India and began a lifelong spiritual quest, studying and practicing Hindu mysticism at the ashram of Sri Aurobindo, with Tibetan Buddhist teacher Thuksey Rinpoche, and with the Christian mystic Bede Griffiths. Returning to teach and write in Europe and America, Harvey continued his explorations with extensive study in Eastern and Western mystical literature.

Harvey is the author of two spiritual autobiographies, A Journey in Ladakh (1983) and Hidden Journey: A Spiritual Awakening (1991). His interpretation and translations of the work of the twelfth-century Sufi mystical poet Rumi have appeared in Love’s Fire (1988), Speaking Flame (1989), and The Way of Passion: A Celebration of Rumi (Frog, LTD., 1994). He co-edited the bestselling Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche (1991), and is co-author (with Mark Matousek) of Dialogues with a Modern Mystic (1994).

Andrew Harvey lives in San Francisco with his husband, photographer and writer Eryk Hanut, and teaches at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He travels regularly in North America, Europe, and India to study, teach, and write.

From Library Journal

Harvey, who has studied under Hindu, Tibetan Buddhist, and Christian spiritual teachers and written several translations-interpretations of the Sufi mystical poet Rumi, has been a spokesperson for Mother Meera, an Indian woman whose followers believe she is an avatar (divine manifestation). But Harvey has broken with her and renounced the idea of spiritual gurus. In this book, he discusses manifestations of the Divine Mother or feminine principle in Hindu, Sufi, Buddhist, and Christian teachings. He believes the next 20 years will determine the fate of life on earth and that "a new spiritual age is potentially dawning for humankind...in which the divine could be present intimately, normally, consciously, in all things and activities...through the grace of the Mother." Recommended for those with eclectic spiritual and environmental interests.?Carolyn M. Craft, Longwood Coll., Farmville, Va.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Frog Books
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 1883319072
• ISBN 13: 9781883319076
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 493