The Quest Of The Overself: The Classic Work on How to Achieve Serenity of Mind

by Paul Brunton

'By far the safest and most rational exposition of Eastern metaphysics and the practice of mental discipline that I have read.' Spectator The Quest of the Overself shows Western readers how to achieve serenity of mind, control of thought and desire, and the power to use higher forces by means of simple exercises. These include breathing and visualisation as well as mental control through meditation. These ideas, which the author gained by extensive travel in India, are as relevant to us today as they were when first published in 1937. Paul Brunton was a British philosopher, mystic and traveler. He left a successful journalistic career to live among yogis and holy men and studied a wide variety of Eastern and Western esoteric spiritual traditions. As he explains in the still fresh and fascinating The Quest of the Overself , meditation and the quest for inner peace are by no means exclusively for monks and hermits but also support those living everyday, active lives in the West.

Genres: Spirituality, Nonfiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1970

About the author

Paul Brunton was a British philosopher, researcher, mystic, and adventurer. He left a journalistic career to live among yogis, mystics, and holy men, and studied a wide variety of Eastern and Western esoteric teachings. With his entire life dedicated to the spiritual quest, Brunton felt charged with the task of communicating his knowledge and experiences in layperson's terms. He was one of the first persons to write accounts of what he learned about spirituality in the East, and his works have had a major influence on the spread of Eastern philosophy and mysticism to the West. Paul Brunton continued to write after his final publication in 1952, and a significant portion of his large archive of original writings was posthumously published by Larson Publications as "The Notebooks of Paul Brunton" (in 16 volumes). The entire archive will soon be housed at a university (2017) and available to read online (2019).

Reviews

[Chris Healey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this up in a second hand bookshop, having no previous knowledge of the author but a general interest in meditation & altered states of consciousness. Turns out this is a complete, comprehensive & entertainingly eloquent presentation of the fundamentals of eastern meditational & mystical practice for the occidental reader. The first half of the book sets up the basic concepts & the second describes a basic practice. While I’d recommend this to anyone interested in establishing a meditation practice, it’s particularly suitable for practicing Christians since there are a couple of sections the show how meditation can be integrated into a Christian paradigm that I doubt you’d find in many more modern books on the subject that would assume a new age bias against Christianity. That said, it’s not the dominating theme, is very accessible & quotable. A couple of the analogies he makes are really neat & will stick with me for a long time, no doubt.

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

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[Anil Bhat · Rating 4 out of 5]

First couple of chapters was a revelation - makes you think about who you are and the purpose of life.

[Rajat · Rating 5 out of 5]

something to ruminate about