Heart, Self, & Soul: The Sufi Approach to Growth, Balance, and Harmony

"I have heard of a seeker who went to ask a sage for guidance on the Sufi way. The old man said to him: 'If you have never trodden the path of love, go away and fall in love; then come back and see us.'" --- Anonymous, from Essential Sufism, by Robert Frager and James Fadiman The rich spiritual tradition of Sufism has helped to open the world's heart. Its treasures include the works of Rumi, the thirteenth-century mystic whose ecstatic love poems to the Divine are the best-selling poetry in English translation today.

352 pages

About the author: Robert Frager, Ph.D. received his doctorate in Social Psychology from Harvard University in 1967. At Harvard he worked as a co-researcher with Professors Stanley Milgram and Robert Rosenthal and served as teaching assistant to Erik Erikson. Professor Frager has taught Psychology at Harvard, University of California, Berkeley, and University of California, Santa Cruz. In 1975, he founded the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, where he is currently Professor of Psychology and Director of the Spiritual Guidance Masters Program. Professor Frager is a graduate of the three year Spiritual Direction Program at the Mercy Center in Burlingame, California. He has also been an Aikido instructor for over 45 years and has received a 7th degree black belt in Aikido, one of a handful of Westerners to have been awarded this rank. Dr. Frager is a Sufi teacher in the Halveti-Jerrahi Sufi Order, an international Sufi Order based in Istanbul, Turkey. He is president of the Jerrahi Order of California located in Redwood City, CA. He has been a Sufi spiritual guide for over 25 years. Professor Frager has written three books on Sufism: Essential Sufism (Harper San Francisco, 1997; also available in Bosnian and Indonesian editions), Love is the Wine: Teachings of a Sufi Master in America (Hohm Press, 1999; also available in Spanish, Bosnian, British, and Turkish editions), and Heart, Self, and Soul: The Sufi Psychology of Growth, Balance, and Harmony (Quest Books, 1999; also available in Spanish, Indonesian and Turkish editions). He is the editor of Sharing Sacred Stories: Current Approaches to Spiritual Direction and Guidance (Crossroad, 2007; also available in Turkish).