I am pleased to announce a new book that has just been published through our Sky Parlor Publications publishing affiliate, Gerald Heard: The Perennial Philosopher – Writings on Religion and Spirituality. This book is a collection of 49 previously published religious and spiritual writings—ranging from Christianity to Vedanta to various spiritual practices—by influential author/historian/philosopher Gerald Heard (1889–1971). These writings demonstrate the trailblazing inroads Heard made both in disseminating the interfaith Vedanta movement in the West and in popularizing many leading-edge spiritual approaches and practices that are now commonplace. The articles in this collection span the years 1938 to 1963.
This treasury of writings has been thoroughly edited to reflect gender-neutral and sensitive wording wherever possible, and to render these writings as clear as possible. Five articles have been abridged to improve their readability. All told, this vital collection of diverse writings underscores Gerald Heard’s enormous contributions to the spiritual praxis of the past and amply demonstrates his continuing relevance for today.
Along with serving as Editor, I wrote the Foreword, which is an expanded version of a talk I gave at the Vedanta Society of Southern Californian in 2005 and subsequently published in a UK Vedanta journal in 2008. I included an edited version of my inaugural post on this website, “Spiritual Legacy of Gerald Heard,” as my Editor’s Preface.
As I write in my Preface, “In this collection, Gerald’s main focus is on Vedanta and Christianity. Moreover, he provides brilliant analyses of the human condition, inspired insights into human nature and the inner workings of the mind, intimate details of many spiritual processes, and he knowledgeably discusses various spiritual disciplines whereby a person may apply the principles of the Philosophia Perennis in order to bring about experiential spiritual realization.”
We are very fortunate and honored to have received a new endorsement of Gerald Heard to accompany our book by Swami Sarvadevananda, Minister and Spiritual Leader of the distinguished spiritual center, the Vedanta Society of Southern California: “Gerald Heard enthusiastically lent his considerable literary and oratorical skills to disseminating the timeless, universal message of Vedanta, significantly furthering the movement started by Swami Vivekananda.”
Likewise, we are equally thrilled to have received a new endorsement for the book from the well-known and respected spiritual teacher, prolific author, and co-director of the interfaith One River Foundation, Rabbi Rami Shapiro: “Gerald Heard was a revolutionary in the only revolution that matters: the revolution of consciousness, freeing us from the delusion of dualism and its violent politics of tribalism, for the realization of nondual reality and its politics of global love of justice for all life. Gerald Heard: The Perennial Philosopher is a clarion call to join the revolution, awaken to truth, and heal the world.”
The book is currently available in a paperback edition on Barnes & Noble.
I’ll return with my regular spiritual post next time.
