About the Author

Background to Margot and Gordon Herbert

I'm Gordon Herbert and I wrote this book on stages of human development. It has an integral model of evolution, proposes a quantum soul structure, and brings together science and mythology. I have been researching, meditating and delving into the mysteries of integral development for about 35 years now, and would like to share my insights with you. My wife Margot's innate wisdom and love enabled mutual personal progress that fostered intuition and attunement. Without her support this book would not have been possible.

Biodata

Further schooling was not possible so I worked around Australia for 7 years in surveying, builders' labouring, copper mining, steel making, meatpacking, sugar cane cutting and clerical work. Then learning called, and part-time study in Sydney enabled me to enter the Australian National University, where I majored in psychology and human geography. Then I completed a Masters degree analyzing the contagion of voting in city regions.

I taught Human Geography and Scientific Statistical Methods at the ANU in Canberra, and at Macquarie University in Sydney. Although offered a tenured position and PhD at Macquarie University I decided instead to study the ancient wisdoms privately and to practice their methods. This included symbols and myths, the wisdom teachings of religions, theosophy, modern inspired writings, gurus, astrology, and the works of A.A. Bailey. During this period I realized that some aspects of modern science closely parallel the older teachings, and wrote on these issues for local magazines.

With new family responsibilities, I then joined the Australian government's Agency for International Development and managed foreign aid for 27 years. Diplomatic posting and development work in Asian and Pacific countries gave me first hand experience of the practical issues of economic and cultural development. In parallel with this I privately designed and ran personal development workshops and courses with my wife Margot, who is an accomplished counsellor, hypnotherapist, acupuncturist and spiritual healer. Other major activities include facilitating meditation groups with Margot and writing on global and integrative matters.

Recollections

My childhood was normal except for the constant change of home after my eighth year. By the time of my late teens the constant social adjustments that this required led me to consciously know and emphasize my own values and identity. The repeated moves showed me that continually adapting to local cultures could deplete the sense of self, unless I really knew who I was. I then relied on my own perceptions and judgments, and was able to exclude many cultural influences. This trait can contribute to originality, independence, initiative, and even leadership when within cultural bounds. There are occasions when it does not win friends. However, I made friends easily, despite the sometimes limiting pressures to conform to local norms.

I enjoyed sports, and the varied work and travel developed self-reliance, a sense of adventure and determination. The pull of higher learning took me after a long while to university, where I found that I revelled in the intellectual work. Without realizing it, I developed an intuitive meditation that integrated scientific knowledge and analysis to create new insights, and fortunately, good results.

I then started a hard course in close relationships that culminated in a failed marriage. What a lot to learn! During this difficult period, I studied astrology. It was the combination of scientific and statistical evidence together with my case studies that convinced me that there was something in it. I was aware of the traps of psychological delusion and of statistical flaws in assessing the evidence. After divorce, I continued teaching at university but with a growing interest in wisdom teachings that eventually led me to devote my time to them rather than to conventional academic life. I practiced self-purification, yoga breathing, meditation, dream recording, invocation, and the practice of more creative behaviour. I attended many spiritual and wisdom groups to hear their messages.

After a few years, I knew it was time to get married again and meditated on my new wife. This led to my long-term partnership with Margot, who has remarkable healing and counselling capabilities. Together we created healing, meditation and teaching groups, and shared some counselling, all the time practicing, to the best of our ability, what we preached. As our children grew, this was a long period of consolidation of practical spiritual growth and service. Both being strong personalities, we had much to learn from each other.

We practiced meditation, invocation, visualization, healing, sharing, the search for truth and integrity, and other forms of self-transformation together and in groups and alone. We experienced the ineffable elevations of consciousness, clairvoyance, knowledge of past lives, and connection with forms of consciousness that were by far wiser than our own. We became aware of illusions, glamour, spiritual ambition, selfishness and the need for clear discrimination of the higher from the lower, as well as those parts of ourselves needing transformation and our karmic lessons to be learned.

I became aware of the need to manifest higher attunements for common benefit, and of the eventual need to be divested of attachments to all thoughts, feelings, relationships, positions, and places: a difficult thing indeed. However, in attempting this, I became aware that all people are doing their best for the world, however it may appear. We can all work practically for the upliftment of the entire world. We can love in freedom. There is a vast network of people and beings of varying types and levels of consciousness who are creating the upliftment of humanity and of the soul network of all.

From meditative attunement to this network came the experience of the flow of divine energy throughout the planet. The role of people in focusing and transforming aspects of this energy became clearer. The experience of meditative contact with sources of clear, constructive and inspirational information convinced me of the reality of their existence. I came to realize that we all have the potential awareness of the infinite Mind, of God, and that we can work at revealing this. The need for practical living application in all we do became self-evident.

Much of this inner awareness came while doing apparently mundane work, yet my world and work became much richer. Constant application is needed, yet we forget and slide, and then remember and renew our attunement. We know that no-one is perfect, and that progression brings greater peace, and wisdom, and happiness. And love, do not forget love. Without it we would not be here. With it, we can create our own eternity of joy.

Here I can only quote the inspiration that came to me after I had written Progressions: