Andrew Harvey (religious writer)

Andrew Harvey (born 1952) is a Shakespeare scholar and mystic who was born in India. He envisions true spirituality to be the divinization of earthly life through spiritual practice. These practices can take many forms and can be taken from any religious tradition. The process of divinization would result in the gradual elimination of ecological destruction and of all forms of prejudice, especially racism, misogyny, and homophobia. He lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Harvey sees six poets and religious figures as having universal appeal:

• The Dhammapada of Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha
• Jesus as portrayed in the Gospel of Thomas
• Rumi, 13th century Sufi poet
• Kabir, 15th century Indian poet
• Ramakrishna, 19th century Hindu sadhu
• Aurobindo, 20th century Hindu philosopher-sage

Harvey was an enthusiastic promoter of the Indian guru Mother Meera, but, having helped to arrange her acceptance in Western New Age circles, he broke with her because of her unwillingness to accept Harvey's homosexuality. He further claims that because of their break, she cursed him, and he fell into a period of severe depression. He wrote his 2002 book The Sun at Midnight about this period.

Bibliography

• Hidden Journey: A Spiritual Awakening, 1991
• The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying: A New Spiritual Classic from One of the Foremost Interpreters of Tibetan Buddhism to the West (co-editor), 1992
• The Divine Feminine: Exploring the Feminine Face of God Throughout the World, 1996 ISBN 1-57324-035-4
• The Essential Mystics: Selections from the World's Great Wisdom Traditions, 1997
• The Way of Passion: A Celebration of Rumi
• The Essential Gay Mystics, 1998 ISBN 0-06-250905-5 (cloth), ISBN 0-06-251524-1(pbk.)
• Son of Man: The Mystical Path to Christ, 1999
• The Return of the Mother, 2000
• A Journey in Ladakh: Encounters with Buddhism, 2000
• The Direct Path: Creating a Personal Journey to the Divine Through the World's Traditions, 2001 ISBN 0-7679-0299-8
• The Sun at Midnight: A Memoir of the Dark Night, 2002 ISBN 1-58542-179-0

External links

• Andrew Harvey official site
• Template:WiredForBooks