When deep sleep comes we dream no more. Our Higher Self absorbs the functions of the organs through his own consciousness, and returns along 72,000 nerves from our heart to His divine abode. When set free from its earthly prison, the Higher Self enjoys his original state of Absolute Consciousness, and confabulates with seen and unseen worlds. In deep sleep Spiritual Consciousness is active and acts independently. Impressions projected to the lower self may survive as “conscience.” Spiritual Consciousness never sleeps because she is always in the “Light” of Reality.

A world-renowned expert in lucid dreaming and Tibetan dream yoga guides us into the tradition’s daytime practices, a complement to the nighttime practices taught in his previous book Dream Yoga. Most of us are absolutely certain that we’re awake here and now—it’s a given, right? Yet, according to Tibet’s dream yoga tradition, ordinary waking life is no more real than the illusions of our nightly dreams. In his previous book Dream Yoga, Andrew Holecek guided us into Tibetan Buddhism’s nocturnal path of lucid dreaming and other dimensions of sleeping consciousness. Now, with Dreams of Light, he offers us an in-depth, step-by-step guide to its daytime practices. Known as the “illusory form” practices, these teachings include insights, meditations, and actions to help us realize the dreamlike nature of our lives. Through an immersive exploration of the tradition, beginners and seasoned practitioners alike will learn everything they need to deeply transform both their sleeping and waking hours. “If you’ve struggled to awaken in your dreams,” teaches Holecek, “these techniques will often spark spontaneous lucidity during sleep. And if you’re already a successful lucid dreamer, they will open you to new depths of experience throughout your day.” For those wishing to explore Tibetan Buddhism’s profound path for awakening to the true nature of reality—day or night—Dreams of Light shows us the way.

Can there be such a thing as spiritual science today? Should faith and spirit remain as purely private concerns – or, as traditionally, preserves of the Church? When Rudolf Steiner founded anthroposophy in the early twentieth century, his intention was to create a fundamentally scientific approach to the spirit. His basic works detail methods for developing spiritual consciousness, allowing the individual to replicate the results of his research. This key aspect distinguishes anthroposophy from the wealth of spiritual teachings, sects, cults and religions within the modern cultural milieu. But did Steiner fail in his endeavour to build a scientific path to spiritual knowledge? Is anthroposophy just another ‘theory’ based on intellectual thought, to be analysed and dismissed? Up to now, academia has largely ignored Rudolf Steiner’s work. In 2013, however, the first volume of a new series – a critical edition of Rudolf Steiner’s writings, edited by a professor of the largest religious university in the USA – was published by a respected German academic press. Taking this concrete case as an illustration, Pietro Archiati argues that academia, with its in-built bias towards the atheistic assumptions of materialistic science, will almost inevitably misrepresent Steiner’s work. Anthroposophy is a spiritual science, whose metamorphosing nature requires penetration of its essence for true understanding. Presenting a broad exploration of the critical questions outlined above, Archiati’s exposition works not only as a critique of a specific new edition of Steiner’s works, but also as an introduction to key tenets of anthroposophical methodology and thought. ‘When, in the case of a flower, the coloured blossom appears, this does not come as a correction of a faulty green leaf. It is, on the contrary, a further metamorphosis of the plant, which, without the existence of the green leaf, would not have been able to arise. Rudolf Steiner was always comparing the arising of his spiritual science with the evolution of a living organism.’ – Pietro Archiati

Using formal assessment instruments in counseling and psychotherapy is an efficient and systematic way to obtain information about clients and to subsequently tailor a counseling approach most likely to serve clients optimally. The more information a counselor obtains during the initial interview and first sessions, the more likely the client will be deeply understood by the counselor, which in turn increases the likelihood that an appropriate course of counseling will be taken, and ultimately leading to a more successful outcome. The Integral Intake is an idiographic, biographical, multidimensional assessment instrument based upon the Integral Psychology pioneered by Ken Wilber. From the perspective of Integral theory, comprehensive and holistic conceptualization of clients seeking counseling and psychotherapy includes knowledge of four distinct perspectives (quadrants) of each client: the client’s experience (the individual viewed subjectively/from within), the client’s behavior (the client viewed objectively/from without), the client’s culture (the client’s system viewed subjectively/from within), and the client’s social system (the client’s system viewed objectively/from without). The intake form is designed to provide the practitioner with a range of background information that can then be used to more quickly and effectively formulate a counseling/treatment approach. The assessment form and accompanying materials will be included on a downloadable resource, formatted to be printed and reproduced for use with each new client. The book will provide an overview of the Integral Psychology model, describe the development of the assessment form and its use, and provide general guidelines for the evaluation of responses and planning for an appropriate counseling approach. A series of case examples, based on actual completed intake forms, will provide insight into the use of the Integral Intake.