Vernon Howard
American Teacher and Author
Date of Birth | : | 16 Mar, 1918 |
Date of Death | : | 23 Aug, 1992 |
Place of Birth | : | Massachusetts, United States |
Profession | : | Teacher, Author |
Nationality | : | American |
Vernon Linwood Howard was an American spiritual teacher, author, and philosopher.
Career as Writer and Teacher
Howard was born near Haverhill, Massachusetts, and began his writing career in the 1940s as an author of humor and children's books. He began speaking on the principles of personal development in the late 1950s while living in southern California. In the 1960s, he began writing books that focused on spiritual and psychological growth. These writings emphasized the importance and practice of self-awareness. By the early 1970s, he had moved to Boulder City, Nevada, and had begun teaching spiritual development classes after being contacted by numerous individuals interested in his writings.
Philosophy and Teachings
Howard drew from what he perceived as being a "common thread" among several different philosophical and spiritual traditions for his insights and teachings. These included: Christian and Eastern mysticism, Gurdjieffian Fourth Way teachings, the Gospels of the New Testament, Jungian psychology, J. Krishnamurti and American Transcendentalism. He taught that there is a way out of suffering, and advocated self-honesty, persistence, the study and application of spiritual principles, and a sincere desire for inner change, according to Psycho-Pictography (page 34). He explained that a new and higher inner life is found through releasing the negative conditioned ego, which he described as the "false self". He asserted that this new life can only be found through awareness, and that the human ego is a barrier to this awareness. Thus, he taught that inner liberation is a ridding process, and that the false self is a fictitious collection of self-images or pictures about who we think we are (Psycho-Pictography, page 33).
Legacy
In 1979, Howard founded the non-profit learning center New Life Foundation, where he continued to teach until his death in 1992. The foundation, now located in Pine, Arizona, continues Howard's legacy via personal classes held by some of the students who studied with Howard, as well as the marketing of his writings and recorded talks.
After Howard's death, several non-profit Foundations were established as a result of his many years of teaching. Mark L Butler, who studied with Howard from 1972 until 1992, established the Eagle Literary Foundation in Eagle, Idaho, in 1994. Guy Finley, who studied with him from 1978 until 1992, established the Life of Learning Foundation in Merlin, Oregon, in 1993. Both Butler and Finley are authors and teachers continuing with the spiritual principles learned from Howard's work. Tom Russell also studied twelve years with Vernon Howard and founded the nonprofit SuperWisdom Foundation to bring these principles to the internet through free weekly podcasts. An "Archive of Work by Vernon Howard" has also been made available for viewing online from the estate of one of Vernon Howard’s long time students and New Life Foundation Board member until the time of Vernon’s death, Concetta (Connie) M. Butler.
Quotes
Total 25 Quotes
It is a mistake for anyone to think he has lived too long in his old, unsatisfactory ways to make the great change. If you switch on the light in a dark room, it makes no difference how long it was dark because the light will still shine. Be teachable. That is the whole secret.
The world consists of imaginary people, claiming imaginary virtues and suffering from imaginary happiness.
It is a thousand times more sensible to climb one foot up the mountainside than to chatter for years about the mountaintop.
The reason why most people are frustrated is because a lie cannot be turned into a truth.
Ignorant people remain ignorant because they have a secret agreement to call one another intelligent.