Head, Heart and Hara: The Soul Centres of West and EastAn ancient Daoist saying tells us "When you are sick, do not seek a cure. Find your centre and you will be healed." The centre it refers to is located deep in the sensed interiority of our belly, that abode of the soul known in Japanese as hara. 'Depression' (a word with no equivalent in Japanese) is, in essence, a lack of hara. With hara awareness we not only recontact our own innermost soul depths and soul centre. We learn to make contact with others from that centre - to experience true intimacy of soul. Hara awareness is both an alternative to medical and psychiatric 'cures' and the basis for a genuinely psychological medicine - an anatomy of the soul-body. Head, Heart and Hara contrasts the head- and heart-centred culture of the West with the hara culture of Japan. It also shows how hara awareness can unite the primordial wisdom of both East and West. Peter Wilberg brings together the dao of Lao Tse and the logos of Heraclitus in a new spiritual anatomy of the soul and its body. |
Contents
Soul Science | 29 |
SoulSpace and the SoulBody | 77 |
Spirit Soul and Soma | 107 |
Hara Awareness | 133 |
The Language of Hara | 148 |
Common terms and phrases
abdomen attunement baby belly body language body of awareness body-soul boundary breathing centre of awareness character structure chest communication consciousness coordinate point demeanour Diagram dimension dream Dürckheim embody emotional ether body experience expression eyes feeling tone felt body fifth dimension genes gestures gnosis Gnostic Greek word Haragei head and heart hear heart and hara Heraclitus human body identify incarnation individual inner bearing inner contact inner resonance inner soul inner soul-space inner space inner voice intuitions linked listening imagination look Mandaean Martin Heidegger metaphor mind monochord ourselves outer outward perceive perception periphery personality aspects physical space point of awareness psyche qualitative space qualities of awareness relation resonant inner resonant soul Rudolf Steiner sensory shape soma someone soul and spirit soul qualities soul-aspects soul-body soul-spiritual soul-tones soul-womb sound space of awareness spatial speak speech sphere of awareness spiritual soul surface tanden things thinking touch understanding values verbal Western culture womb wordless