Great spiritual teachers - my favorites and yours

Top Spiritual teachers - no specific tradition 

Mostly from the East

Jiddu Krishnamurti, world teacher

Jiddu Krishnamurti was famous in his lifetime for first being raised as a 'world teacher' and then renouncing the organisation founded in his honor. Paradoxically he spent the rest of his life teaching all over the world: lecturing, talking to people...

William James - mystic, psychologist, philosopher

Influential in the young sciences of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and the philosophy of pragmatism. He was the brother of novelist Henry James and of diarist Alice James. Without ignoring Jame...

Krishnamurti : Jiddu & U.G.

This is a disambiguation lens. There are two famous Krishnamurti's in the world of Spirituality. They knew each other. They had similar teachings. Both were anti-guru's. U.G. Krishnamurti was so against being a guru that he didn't give many lectures....

David Bohm: science and spirituality

Famous for his 'Implicate and Explicite Order', quantum physicist David Bohm combines a knowledge of current day physics with a spiritual vision of the universe. His parents were immigrant European Jews, but David went to college and worked with one...

Khalil Gibran Quotes from The Prophet

Famous for 'The Prophet', Khalil Gibran was also a successful immigrant in the US (from Lebanon). This lens will show you his artwork as well as give spiritual quotations and links.

One of the best spiritual teachers today

Best Ken Wilber Books

Books by Ken Wilber who writes on psychology, philosophy, mysticism, ecology, and spiritual evolution. He has been described as New Age, although his writings are critical of much of the New Age Movement. His work formulates what he calls an "integra...

Christian teachers (and former Christians) 

Well known spiritual teachers

Anthony De Mello, Christian inspiration from India

Influenced the world through his powerful understanding of the human condition. Through the use of parables and teaching stories, de Mello pointed the way to authentic living. The influence of spiritual traditions outside mainstream Christianity is c...

John Hick - philosopher of religion

An introduction into the philosophy of John Hick a noted religious philosopher using quotes. Philosophers of religion know John Hick's pluralistic hypothesis for it's daring solution to conflict between religions. The basic idea: religion is based o...

Karen Armstrong: author, former nun and religious inspiration

Karen Armstrong is the embodiment of religious tolerance and spiritual transformation. A former Roman Catholic Nun, she got disillusioned about religion. A visit to Jerusalem rekindled her love for religion and she turned to writing books about the...

Elizabeth Clare Prophet Books

Spiritual teachers are often controversial. Elizabeth Clare Prophet is accused of the usual: not being very scientific, not being clear about her sources (which are after all 'channeled') and ultimately: quarreling in her own circles. None of that m...

Best Edgar Cayce Books

Edgar Evans Cayce (March 18, 1877 - January 3, 1945) was a clairvoyant. He channeled answers to questions on subjects such as health or Atlantis, while in a self-induced trance. For this reason he has been called the sleeping prophet. Though Cayce wa...

Buddhist teachers 

Top spiritual gurus

Pema Chodron Calendars and Planners 2010

Pema Chodron (formerly known as Deirdre Blomfield-Brown) is an ordained Buddhist nun in the Tibetan Vajrayana tradition, and a teacher in the lineage of Chogyam Trungpa. Her strength as a Buddhist teacher is the ability to apply Buddhist teachings to...

The 14th Dalai Lama: Tibetan leader in exile

Nobel Peace Prize Winner, popularizer of Buddhism and head of the Tibetan Government in Exile. The Dalai Lama's life is a unique convergence of religion, politics and an admirable stand on peace in the face of aggression. This lens focuses on his l...

Bodhisattva - living for others in Buddhism

The bodhisattva ideal is embodied in the bodhisattva vow: May I attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. This practically means that one vows not just to attain enlightenment or Nirvana (ambitious enough of itself), but to postpone...

Gautama Buddha - Inspirer of Buddhism

Buddhism is the one world religion that everyone seems to respect. Many more people would like to call themselves Buddhists than actually are Buddhists by traditional counts. Buddha found the source of sorrow, what sorrow is and the way out of sorro...

Thich Nhat Hanh: Peace and Zen Buddhism

Monk and Vietnamese peace activist turned Zen Meditation teacher. Thich Nhat Hanh is an Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk. He is a teacher, author, and peace activist, born in central Vietnam in 1926. He coined the term Engaged Buddhism in his book Vietna...

Theosophical teachers (or very related) 

Mme Blavatsky : Helena Petrovna Blavatsky

Blavatsky compared the science of her day, studied the world religions and came up with her own synthesis, which she called 'theosophy', or ancient wisdom.

Best Paul Brunton books and biography

Paul Brunton was an influential spiritual teacher in the first half of the 20th century. He was instrumental in making the Maharshi known in the West. His books popularized many theosophical and Eastern philosophical concepts and practices. Whatever...

Rudolf Steiner the founder of Anthroposophy

Introducing the founder of Waldorf education, alternative farming methods (bio-dynamic farming), alternative health practices and dietary advice - Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) was way ahead of his time. Rudolf Steiner was quite a learned man. He was a...

Annie Besant, teacher, lecturer, secularist and theosophist...

Minister's wife, student of medicine, raised a prophet, reformer, secularist and more. Annie Besant (1847-1933) was many things in her lifetime - and living in the 19th and early 20th century, all of those things were revolutionary for a woman to be...

Rupert Sheldrake

Biologist known for his theory of 'morpho-genetic fields'. These fields make learning something easier once it's been learned before by someone else. This would explain strange chemical behavior as well as the increased speed with which difficult cro...

W.Q. Judge - theosophy Books

William Quan Judge is a well respected early theosophical author who, unlike others, did not make a name for himself outside the movement. He worked himself up from poverty to become a lawyer, in his 'outside' life. Inside the TS he was the young par...

Geoffrey Hodson books on clairvoyance

Geoffrey Hodson (12 March 1886 in Lincolnshire, England - 23 January 1983 in Auckland, New Zealand) was a occultist, Theosophist, mystic, philosopher and esotericist, and a leading light for over 70 years in the Theosophical Society. He was educated...

Muslim spiritual teacher: Rumi 

Get inspired by sufi teachers: Islamic inspiration

Rumi sayings and quotes

Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi, also known as Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, but known to the English-speaking world simply as Rumi, was a 13th-century Persian poet, Sunni Islamic jurist, and theologian and mystic. Rumi's works are written i...

Spiritual teachers - sort of... 

Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

Great book if you want to go to India yourself - especially if you're interested in India as the home of spirituality. I read the book in one go: couldn't put it down. It's interesting as a story of personal and spiritual growth and as a catalog of...

My other lensographies 

If all this wasn't enough...

Katinka Hesselink - my other lenses

I'm a lensmaster, webdesigner an oldest child, an eternal student, a former teacher and single. Most of you know me here on Squidoo as lensmaster 'spirituality' - but I've also got a life outside my interests in spirituality (though perhaps that's n...

Katinka Hesselink Online

Going crazy trying to keep up with myself online. So this is where you can find me online and where I keep track of my many online profiles. There is a good chance you will find me elsewhere online as well. I'm not very good at keeping this list up t...

The best spiritual books EVER

Spiritual books lensography Gathering all my spiritual book reviews together :) Religion and spirituality fascinates me no end. I also love to read books - this lens combines both fascinations. I hope you enjoy some of these and broaden your horizo...

Spiritual Lenses - Katinka Hesselink Net: religion and spirituality

A lensography of my best spirituality lenses as well as a summary of my website. I feature information from various religious traditions like Buddhism, Sufism, Fourth Way and Theosophy. I also pay attention to various spiritual teachers, whether the...

2010 Spiritual Calendars and Planners

Some of the most beautiful spiritual calendars and agenda books gathered in one place. This lens has spiritual calendars and planners with Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and alternative spirituality themes. Each is inspirational in its o...