July 10, 2017

I. Who Is Gerald Heard?

July 10, 2017/ Guest User

His range of interests and span of learning were seemingly unfathomable. William Sheldon wrote, "Considering the whole panorama of human life, historic, anthropologic and archeologic, Gerald Heard may well be the best informed man alive."

July 09, 2017

II. Early Years

July 09, 2017/ Guest User

Henry FitzGerald Heard was born in London on October 6, 1889, the youngest of three boys. His family home, however, was in Ireland, where the Heards have been landed gentry since the sixteenth century, bearing the formal ancestral name "Heard of Kinsale, County Cork."

July 08, 2017

III. A Psychological-Historical Tapestry

July 08, 2017/ Guest User

Heard’s passion for history kept him roaming the corridors of the past, haunting the open spaces between the pigeonholes. He had found it increasingly difficult to avoid the notion that there was a pattern to be discerned in man’s history.

July 07, 2017

IV. In America: Vedanta Society

July 07, 2017/ Guest User

On April 12, 1937, together with his close friends Aldous and Maria Huxley, their then 17-year-old son Matthew, and pianist/movie critic Christopher Wood, Gerald Heard arrived in New York City on the S.S. Normandie.

July 06, 2017

V. Trabuco College

July 06, 2017/ Guest User

A long-cherished dream of Heard’s had been to establish a place where the study of comparative religion, together with research into and practice of the techniques of meditation and prayer as taught by the major religions of the world, might be carried on. In 1941 Heard put the larger part of his personal financial resources from his inheritance into building and endowing Trabuco College, completed by builder Felix Greene in 1942 as envisioned by Heard.

July 05, 2017

VI. Later Years

July 05, 2017/ Guest User

For the remaining fifteen years of his active life Heard spent his time and energy in writing, lecturing, research, travel, and making numerous radio and television appearances. "Vacations!" he decried, "Who has time for a vacation? I suffer from an insatiable curiosity: the Universe is my hobby."

Jay Michael Barrie

Jay Michael Barrie (1912-2001) served as Gerald Heard's personal secretary, business manager and editor, associated with Heard from their meeting in December 1944 until Heard's death in August 1971.

Primary Sources

Parapsychology Review,

Training for the Life of the Spirit

Parapsychology Foundation,

Supplementary information—primarily from the Heard Family genealogy prepared by Stawell St. Leger Heard, Gerald Heard publicity materials, and from testimony by Jay Michael Barrie—and textual revisions and emendations by John Roger Barrie, Copyright 2002 The Barrie Family Trust.

Many thanks to Stawell Heard Jr. and to Marvin Barrett for reading and offering their indispensable comments on the entire text. Equal thanks to Stawell St. Leger Heard who read and commented upon the section on Gerald Heard’s genealogy; to Dr. Rhodri Hayward of the University College, London, who read and commented upon the section on Gerald Heard’s 1920s to 1930s activities; and to Kate Targett, formerly of the Plunkett Foundation, who read and commented upon the section on Sir Horace Plunkett. Their valuable suggestions enormously benefited the text.

Gerald Heard Official Website

The purpose of this website is to provide a central clearinghouse of information about Gerald Heard, his life, legacy, and work; where permissions to use his materials may be obtained; and where links to archival Heardian resource materials may be accessed. All Gerald Heard activities, including this website, are privately financed by The Barrie Family Trust. We invite and welcome your support.

Biography

I. Who Is Gerald Heard?

II. Early Years

III. A Psychological-Historical Tapestry

IV. In America: Vedanta Society

V. Trabuco College

VI. Later Years

Jay Michael Barrie

Primary Sources

Gerald Heard Official Website

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The Mysteries

Reissues of Five Modern Spiritual Classics

Other Writings

Gerald Heard Official Website

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