The Search for the Beloved: Journeys in Mythology & Sacred Psychology

by Jean Houston

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.

Genres: Spirituality, Mythology, Psychology, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Metaphysics

273 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1987

About the author

Jean Houston, PhD, is a renowned teacher, philosopher, and scholar and was one of the creators of the human potential movement. With a remarkable list of colleagues and mentors that includes Aldous Huxley, Joseph Campbell, Helen Keller, and Buckmister Fuller, Houston shares her profound wisdom through engaging, firsthand accounts. With PhDs in both psychology and spirituality, Houston has worked in the field of social artistry and in over 100 countries and 40 cultures. As a consultant to the United Nations and other international agencies, she has created many programs offering training and solutions to cultural and social problems. She has written several dozen books, won numerous awards, and has been a professor at universities in the United States.

Reviews

[culley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author of this book has tapped into unusual realms consciousness and she has mapped out paths so we can follow her. I do not think I would explicitly work through all her examples, but I do think there is much to be gained in including something related to all the elements she has found to be critical. Kinesthetic awareness, imaginal thinking, compassion for the self, the importance of story, and recovery from heartbreak and betrayal is a great recipe for growth. The chapter on Rumi is excellent.

[J.L. Vasche · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love her guidance.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as a library book in 1993. Great retelling of Psyche and Eros story. Yesterday I heard 2 storytellers retell Psyche and Eros and the memories flooded back

[Michael Simsa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Perhaps I am too skeptical to benefit from these ideas, but I am certain that in-person seminars would be a far more effective medium than reading this book alone.

[William Crosby]

A series of guided exercises/imagery to supposedly bring you into touch with the universe and others and self.

[Erica Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the section "The Sacred Wound" (pp. 104 - 9) because the concept has so influenced the ecopsychology of Bill Plotkin (Soulcraft, Nature and the Human Soul). Houston seems to use a special psychological cipher, though it is not impenetrable and I made sense of this section without fully taking in her schematic of the psyche. I thoroughly appreciated her thoughts on betrayal and the role of wounding in coming to consciousness and into communion with a world much larger than one's own self.

[Marita · Rating 5 out of 5]

When my marriage was collapsing around a very nasty betrayal, a friend sent me this book. There is no better guide through the morass of heartbreak and betrayal than this book. It takes a perilous passage and guides you through it. It enables you to be ennobled by suffering, not diminished.