Dr. Jean Houston, scholar, philosopher and researcher in Human Capacities, is one of the foremost visionary thinkers and doers of our time. She is long regarded as one of the principal founders of the Human Potential Movement.

Dr. Houston is co-founder of The Foundation for Mind Research. She is also the founder and principal teacher of the Mystery School, a program of cross-cultural, mythic and spiritual studies, dedicated to teaching history, philosophy, the New Physics, psychology, anthropology, myth and the many dimensions of human potential. The Mystery School is in its 22nd year and takes place on both the East and West Coasts.

A prolific writer and author of 19 published books including " A Passion for the Possible", "Search for the Beloved", "Life Force", "The Possible Human", "Public Like a Frog", "A Mythic Life: Learning to Live Our Greater Story", and "The Passion of Isis and Osiers Her latest book "Jump Time" explores a new Global Paradigm and speaks boldly of a regenesis of human society. The questions raised in this book and the exciting suggestion of possibilities are producing new pioneers – Social Artists – working on the frontiers of this new global society

As Advisor to UNICEF in human and cultural development, she has worked to implement some of their extensive educational and health programs, primarily in Myanmar (Burma) and Bangladesh. In 1988, Dr. Houston worked with leaders throughout New Zealand to help bring forth that nations promise. With other international agencies, she has implemented the social development of indigenous people through the integration of their unique cultural gifts into their health and educational systems. In September of 1999, she traveled to Dharamsala, India as one of the distinguished group chosen to work with the Dalai Lama in an informative and advisory capacity . Her work with the Dalai Lama has continued with meetings in Italy in 2001, and 2003.

She has worked with numerous corporations, including Xerox, Beatrice Foods, General Electric and Rodale Press. She has also worked with governmental agencies, including the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment and the Department of Energy.

A past President of the Association of Humanistic Psychology (1977), she has taught philosophy, psychology, and Religion at Columbia University, Hunter College, the New School for Social Research and Marymount College, as well as summer sessions in human development at the University of California at Santa Cruz and the University of British Columbia. She was Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the University of Oklahoma in that university’s Scholar-Leadership Enrichment Program in 1982.

In addition, Dr. Houston presented the William James Lecture at Harvard Divinity School, the Orr Lectures at Wilson, and the Alfred Stiernotte Lecture in Philosophy at Quinnipaic College. Since 1959, she has spoken at hundreds of colleges and universities all over the country and the world. She has directed two three-year courses in human capacities development and a program of cross-cultural mythic and spiritual studies, now entering its twentieth year. In 2002 she instituted the first summer Institute in Social Artistry with participants coming from all over the world. A description of this program can be found at her website, www.Jeanhouston.org.

She has chaired, among many other academic and scientific convocations, the 1975 United Nations Temple of Understanding Conference of World Religious Leaders. Under the sponsorship of the Department of Commerce, she also help to initiate and then chaired the 1979 Symposium for leading government policy makers.

Her work has been the core of a great many teaching-learning communities throughout many parts of the world. In 1984, she created a national not-for-profit organization, The Possible Society, to encourage the creation of new ways for people to work together to help solve societal problems.

In 1985, Dr. Houston was awarded the Distinguished Leadership Award from the Association of Teachers Educators. In 1993, she received the Gardner Murphy Humanitarian Award for her work in psychology and the INTA Humanitarian of the Year award. In 1994, she received the Lifetime Outstanding Creative Achievement Award from the Creative Education Foundation. The flowing year, she was given the Keeper of the Lore Award for her studies in myth and culture. In 1997 she was made a Fellow of the World Business Academy and also received the In 1999 she received that Pathfinder award from the Association of Humanistic Psychology. She was given the Millennium award in 2000.

Her PBS Special, A Passion for the Possible, has been widely shown. Her book drawn from the program was published by Harper San Francisco in August of 1997.

A powerful and dynamic speaker, she holds conferences and seminars with social leaders, educational institutions and business organizations worldwide. Jean Houston has worked intensively in 40 cultures helping to enhance and deepen their own uniqueness while they become part of the global community. She has lectured in over 70 countries and is the recipient of many awards. She works at all levels of leadership. Her ability to inspire and invigorate people enables her to readily convey her vision – the finest possible achievement of the individual potential. That same ability lets her share with her audiences and students throughout the world, the excitement of that possibility,

She holds a B.A. from Barnard College and a Ph.D. from the Union Graduate School. She has also been the recipient of honorary decorates.

books written

Mystical Dogs: Animals As Guides to Our Inner Life.
Inner Ocean Publishing (2002)
(800) 863-1449

Jump Time: Shaping Your Future in a World of Radical Change.
Tarcher Putnam (2000)
(212) 366-2000

A Passion for the Possible: A Guide to Realizing Your True Potential.
Harper San Francisco (1997)
(415) 477-4400

A Mythic Life: Learning to Live Our Greater Story.
Harper San Francisco (1996)
(415) 477-4400

Manual for the Peacemaker: An Iroquois Legend to Heal Self and Society.
With Margaret Rubin
Quest Books (1995)
(630) 665-0980

Public Like A Frog: Entering the Lives of Three Great Americans
Quest Books (1993)
(630) 665-0980

The Hero and the Goddess
Paperback: Ballantine (1998)
(800) 733-3000

Life Force: The Psycho-Historical Recovery of the Self.
Republished 1993
Quest Books
(630) 665-0980

Godseed: The Journey of Christ
Republished 1992
Quest Books
(630) 665-0980

The Search for the Beloved: Journeys in Sacred Psychology.
Jeremy Tarcher (1987)
(212) 951- 8400

The Possible Human
Jeremy Tarcher (1982)
(212) 951-8400

The Passion of Isis and Osiris
Paperback Ballantine (1998)
(800) 733-3000