By Vincente Hao Chin, Jr.
Quezon City, Philippines: Theosophical Publishing House, 2003, Paperback, ,260 pages.
Theosophist and author Vincente Hao Chin has dedicated his knowledge and insights to the field of education, bringing the attention of parents, educators, and now the general public, to the quality of our actions and relationships to rid them of personal dislikes, fear, guilt, and the stress of coping with the outer world. He feels that our current education system prepares children to make a living, but does not teach them how to live to their full potential. Peace, Hao Chin maintains, begins in the minds of children at the nursery-school age, but that natural born-harmony is disrupted as we grow older by the act of balancing self-satisfying personal needs and external constraints.
In The Process of Self-Transformation, which is based on seminars that he has led around the world, Han Chin states that we as individuals and as a collective humanity have a responsibility to lift the consciousness of the world in some small measure. We need to begin by taking full responsibility for our thoughts, emotions, and actions; to honor our families and teachers; and to care for the animal world and the environment. In order to live consciously, we need to live the sacred life in our everyday living.
This plea is nothing new. Various teachers from Patanjali to Krishnamurti have said the same thing, but what makes this book unique is the author's case studies and step-by-step instructions, which allow readers to examine their own self-conditioning, enabling them to expand their own awareness, which in turn leads to a new direction in their physical, emotional, and psychological health and well-being. Hao Chin shows that self-transformation can happen through repetitive practice.
This book combines the scientific study of modern psychology with the ageless wisdom we know as theosophy and is essential for anyone willing to tread that steep and thorny road.
-LEATRICE KREEGER-BONNELL
May/June 2005