Rabbi David Zeller is a pioneer in Jewish spirituality and transpersonal psychology. His lively and enthusiastic spiritual memoir charts the adventure of his soul — and what a wild and varied adventure it is!
He was born the son of a Jungian therapist who was always pleased to hear about his dreams. His grandparents died in the Holocaust and his parents barely escaped it, but as Reform Jews, the family observed few of the Jewish traditions, and over the years Zeller took a long and twisting road back to his spiritual roots. During his student days in the 1960s in California, he met Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, an Orthodox rabbi from New York known for his charismatic presence and his soulful singing and storytelling. Carlebach changed Zeller's life and set him on a quest that would take him around the world.
For two years, the author lived in Israel doing organizational development and human relations work for the kibbutz movement, experiences that taught him the true value of community. He then went to India where he was a sadhu (monk) for two years, living outside, bathing in rivers, and learning the hard lesson of surrendering to God. His guru, Sri Pad, tried to teach him by example how to let go of his desire to control, predict, and direct his life. What that meant became clear during a six-month pilgrimage when he met some of India's most respected spiritual teachers. By the time he returned to America in 1972, he understood the salutation "Blessed Self" used by Sri Pad in his letters.
Zeller melded all of his experiences overseas into a teaching style that blends East and West, psychology and spirituality, theory and experience. He helped establish the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, the Network of Conscious Judaism, and Shevet Center for Jewish Spirituality and Meditation. Under the guidance of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, he has woven mystical insights into his teaching. It's easy to see from this book how his encounters with people of other faiths have deeply informed his storytelling, teaching, and music.
