Jean Houston

Jean Houston Profile

Since the 1960’s, Dr. Jean Houston has been an influential figure in spirituality, human potential, and social activism. A long-time consultant to the United Nations, she is the Chairman of the Jean Houston Foundation, a non-profit leadership training organization that focuses on whole-systems change and personal empowerment. Since its foundation in 2008 the organization has already trained 10,000 members of multiple nations and aims to reach 10 million people in the coming decade.

Together with her husband, the famous academic researcher Dr. Robert Masters, Dr. Houston founded The Foundation for Mind Research. The dynamic couple was also at the forefront of the Human Potential Movement, coauthoring what became the bible of consciousness exploration for a generation: a book of mental training exercises called Mind Games: The Guide to Inner Space.

Dr. Houston has served as an advisor to the Clintons during their time in the White House. She assisted in the writing of Hillary Clinton’s book It Takes a Village to Raise a Child. She has also had the honor of working with the Dalai Lama in a learning and advisory capacity.

Chosen as “Spiritual Hero of the Year” by Science of Mind magazine, she continues to work to advance the status and importance of women’s leadership believing that women have a critical role today in creating a world that works for everyone. Her mission has taken her to over 100 countries. She has immersed herself in 40 cultures collaborating with local leaders to preserve their identity while entering and participating in the global community.

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  Jean Houston, Ph.D., 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 noted for her ability to combine a deep knowledge of history, culture, new science, spirituality and human development into her teaching. She is known for her inter-disciplinary perspective delivered in inspirational and humorous keynote addresses.

  A prolific writer, Dr. Houston is the author of 26 books including Jump Time, 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 Manual of the Peacemaker.

  As Advisor to UNICEF in human and cultural development, she has worked around the world helping to implement some of their extensive educational programs. In September of 1999, she traveled to Dharamsala, India as a member of a group chosen to work with the Dalai Lama in a learning and advisorysmjeanandthedalilama capacity. Dr. Houston has also served in an advisory capacity to President and Mrs. Clinton as well as assisting Mrs. Clinton in her writing of her book, It Takes A Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us. She has met with President and Mrs. Carter, and with leaders in many countries and cultures. As a high school student she worked closely with another First Lady of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt, in developing strategies to introduce international awareness and United Nations work to young people.

  Since 2003, she has been working with the United Nations Development Program, training leaders in human and cultural development as well as in Social Artistry, a community-leadership training program that she developed. Together with other international agencies and companies, over the last 45 years, Dr. Houston has worked in over 100 countries.

  In 1965, along with her husband Dr. Robert Masters, Dr. Houston founded The Foundation for Mind Research. She is also the founder and principal teacher, since 1983, of the Mystery School, now called the Renaissance of Spirit, a school of human development, a program of cross-cultural, mythic and spiritual studies, dedicated to teaching history, philosophy, the New Physics, psychology, anthropology, and the many dimensions of human potential.

  In 2008, the Jean Houston Foundation was formed to teach Social Artistry in the United States and overseas. This training has been conducted in Albania, the Eastern Caribbean, Kenya, Zambia, Nepal, and the Philippines.

  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.

  Dr. Houston is considered one of the most evocative and entertaining speakers on aligning the human spirit, potential and action with the needs of the time. Her talks are legendary for their ability to inspire, inform and activate her audience. Her lifetime passion is to encourage the inherent possibilities, visions and capacities that lie within each person and/or group, and translate them into positive action.

  Jean Houston holds a B.A. from Barnard College, a Ph.D. in psychology from the Union Graduate School and a Ph.D. in religion from the Graduate Theological Foundation. She has also been the recipient of honorary doctorates.

  “Jean Houston’s mind should be considered a national treasure”, said Buckminster Fuller, a renowned American philosopher, thinker, visionary, inventor, architect, engineer, mathematician, poet and cosmologist. A life-long friend of Jean Houston, his observation is shared by the thousands of individuals, communities, organizations and nations that have been and continue to be inspired by her words.