Name: E.
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Web Site: http://spiritualtextsonline.com
Bio: Erica is a spiritual healer and author. "Each day I am grateful for all the blessings, all the amazing people I come in contact with, and the kindness of stranger’s who have become a part of my Universal family."
Posts by shakti:
Otto Rank
June 7th, 2011Otto Rank, (22-Apr-1884 to 1939), was an Austrian psychologist and part of Sigmund Freud’s inner circle. In later years, Rank broke with Freud, who had been somewhat of a father figure to him, ironically fulfilling half of the Oedipus complex about which they parted ways. Rank was the first to apply the psychoanalytic method to comparative mythology. He linked the cross-cultural similarities in myths, folklore and legends By doing so, Rank began to unravel certain mysteries of the human psyche. Otto Rank’s work was foundational to the insights of C.G. Jung, Joseph Campbell and others.
In his work The Trauma of Birth, Rank bypasses the tortuous path of psychoanalysis for the road to achieving an “ecology of the psyche”. In the introduction to, The Myth of the Birth of the Hero, Rank writes of religions, myths, and fables, “…even though widely separated by space and entirely independent of each other– [these] present a baffling similarity or, in part, a literal correspondence.”
E. James Lieberman, Acts of Will: The Life and Work of Otto Rank, explains the complexity of the conflicts within Freud’s circle of followers, both personal and professional. The book also explores the strangeness of Otto Rank’s intellectual development, and the power and originality of his ideas.
What emerges in this book by E. James Lieberman is a fascinating portrait of a brilliant psychoanalyst, not without his own difficulties and idiosyncrasies, yet who was nevertheless able to contribute to a great many people as a friend, mentor, therapist and scholar.
Daisetsu Suzuki
May 18th, 2011
Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki
If anyone was responsible for exposing the philosophies of Zen (a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism) in the West, it was D.T. Suzuki.
After studying and practicing Zen, Suzuki was selected by his teacher in 1896 (at the age of 26) to go to North America to help translate the Tao Te Ching (the fundamental text of Daoism, Chinese Buddhism, and Confucianism). Suzuki was also a prolific translator of Chinese, Japanese, and ancient Sanskrit literature.
Zen Buddhism, published in 1956, sold over 200,000 copies. In it Suzuki includes a basic historical background and a thorough overview of the techniques of Zen practice. D.T. Suzuki was involved in other works too, including Zen for Americans (Sermons of a Buddhist Abbot). Here, Suzuki translates into English “The Sutra of Forty-Two Chapters” – the first Buddhist document translated into Chinese.
Suzuki died very peacefully on 12-July-1966. Many who knew him said, “he died the way he lived”. He lived his principles right up to the moment of his death, and no one really knew when he died because his doctor couldn’t tell when he stopped breathing! It was so Zen. 
Joseph Campbell
May 10th, 2011Joe, I’m sorry if you object my classifying you as a “mystic”. Even though you never formally described yourself as such, I think we were all deeply moved on a “psycho-spiritual” level by reading, but most of all by listening to your words.
Joseph Campbell (March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987), was a scholar who taught at Sarah Lawrence College from 1934 to 1972. Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces has been publicly noted as the inspiration behind the movie Star Wars by George Lucas. 
It is Campbell’s idea that the West and America in particular are woefully misinformed with regard to the world’s myths and cultures. While at the same time, Joe was able to show westerners the way through the bible (prevalent religious text of the day), by reinterpreting the symbols of the judeo-christian mythology.
Joseph Campbell died at the age of 83 on October 30, 1987 at his home in Honolulu, Hawaii, from complications of esophageal cancer. Before his death he had completed filming the series of interviews with Bill Moyers. these interviews are called The Power of Myth and exist in both print and video formats. In fact, you can find these and other videos of Joe on Netflix.