The Heart of the Mind

by PH D Jane Katra, Russell Targ

We don't live the way we could, but we have the capacity to activate and enter into a more evolved way of being human. In this wide-ranging survey of spiritual insight, healer Jane Katra and physicist Russell Targ demystify consciousness transformation by showing how centuries of wisdom teachings ---from the ancient Indian Vedas and Christian Gnosticism to modern quantum physics and Centering Prayer---all point to a common experience of realizing one's connection to a higher reality that is available to everyone. Whether we call it connecting to God, satori, or unity consciousness, the authors describe it as our evolutionary mandate to become active agents of consciousness transformation by turning our attention away from our separate selves. Building on these ancient teachings, Katra and Targ explore how modern scientific exploration of psychic phenomena --- from laboratory evidence of mind-to-mind connections, hospital studies of distant healing, research showing precognition of the future, and fascinating evidence of verified past-life memories---all indicate that consciousness extends beyond the individual self. As in their previous groundbreaking exploration of nonlocal mind and spiritual healing, Miracles of Mind, Targ and Katra team up here to show how we are hard-wired for higher consciousness. At the core of The Heart of the Mind is the idea that by learning to direct steady, intentional and selfless attention onto awareness itself, the transformative experience of radiating spiritual power, also called compassion, or a palpable power of peace, may be realized by any sincere seeker -- without dogma, ritual, or religious belief. By beginning with the concrete steps of mind-quieting with forgiveness and gratitude, the authors invite us to use our minds to transform ourselves and lift the consciousness of the world.

200 pages, Paperback

First published August 2, 2011

Reviews

[Peter Forster · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 2011 version of the original edition published in 1999 under the title, "The Heart of the Mind: How to Experience God Without Belief." This matters because most of the sources are from the 1999 edition and will be very familiar to anyone who is interested in psi phenomena and spiritual development. Russell Targ and his co-author cover a lot of ground and provide many sources for each of the main points they make. It is an easy and accessible read, which perhaps errs on the side of breadth rather than depth.

On a more positive note, the authors often say things in interesting and thought-provoking ways. For me, an example of this appears early in the book where they say, "The path to God we describe in our book comes through being still, going nowhere, and doing nothing. It is the way of direct experience, without trying any particular method or believing any special scripture."

I also enjoyed the saying by St John of the Cross, which was amusingly extended by Fr Thomas Keating, “God’s first language is silence, and everything else is a bad translation.”

Overall, a worthwhile, if familiar, read.