Jean Houston: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 23:34, 2 August 2005

Revision as of 00:20, 3 August 2005

Line 2:

==Biography==

According to her published autobiography, ''A Mythic Life'' (1996), Jean Houston was born prematurely. Her mother Mary Todaro Houston had studied acting, and her father was a comedy writer. Her relatives included Sam Houston, Robert E. Lee, William and Mary Randolph of Virginia, and Thomas Jefferson.

Under construction.

When Jean was 13, she literally ran into an old man on thePark sidewalkAvenue in New York City on her way to school. After this mishap, they became friends, and she enjoyed listening to him on various occasions. At the time she learned to pronounce his name as "Mr. Thayer." At a much later time, she learned that she had been talking with [[Pierre Teilhard de Chardin]]. (His complete surname is "Teilhard de Chardin"; the shortened form is "Teilhard" -- pronounced "tay-yar".)

She holds a B.A. from Barnard College, a Ph.D. in psychology from the Union Graduate School, and a Ph.D. in religion from the Graduate Theological Foundation.

She was deeply influenced by the work of Joseph Campbell, most notably by his ''Hero with a Thousand Faces''. But perhaps her most significant mentor was Margaret Mead.

With her spouse Dr. Robert Masters, Dr. Houston founded the Foundation for Mind Research. She is also the founder and chief teacher of the Mystery School, a program for the cross-cultural study of spirituality and ritual processes. She has conducted the Mystery School on both the east and west coasts for more than two decades. In 1984, she started a national not-for-profit organization knownas The Possible Society to explore new ways for people to work to help solve societal problems. More recently, she has also founded the International Institute for Social Artistry. She is currently working with the United Nations Development Program in the new field of social artistry, training U.N. staff and leaders in certain developing countries. She has lectured in more than 100 countries and worked intensively in 40 cultures. She has received many awards for her work.