"What you really want for yourself is always trying to break through, just as a cooling breeze flows through an open window on a hot day. Your part is to open the windows of your mind." -- Vernon Howard
Vernon Linwood Howard (March 16, 1918 - August 23, 1992) was an American spiritual teacher, author, and philosopher.
"A clear understanding of negative emotions dismisses them.""A truly strong person does not need the approval of others any more than a lion needs the approval of sheep.""All forms of self-defeating behavior are unseen and unconscious, which is why their existence is denied.""Beauty is only skin deep, but it's a valuable asset if you're poor or haven't any sense.""Can you think of anything more permanently elating than to know that you are on the right road at last?""Freedom begins as we become conscious of it.""It is a true miracle when a man finally sees himself as his only opposition.""Just be honest with yourself. That opens the door.""Learn to see things as they really are, not as we imagine they are.""Our freedom can be measured by the number of things we can walk away from.""Quit thinking that you must halt before the barrier of inner negativity. You need not. You can crash through... whatever we see a negative state, that is where we can destroy it.""Remember above all that mental stability comes by examining the contents of the mind, not by avoidence.""Study carefully the law of cause and effect.""To change what you get you must change who you are.""Truth is not a matter of personal viewpoint.""We are enslaved by anything we do not consciously see. We are freed by conscious perception.""We are exactly where we have chosen to be.""We are slaves to whatever we don't understand.""We clearly realize that freedom's inner kingdom cannot be touched by exterior attacks.""We must become acquainted with our emotional household: we must see our feelings as they actually are, not as we assume they are. This breaks their hypnotic and damaging hold on us.""You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need."
Howard was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts and began his writing career, in the 1940s, as an author of humor and children's books. He began speaking on the principles of personal development in the late 1950s while living in southern California. In the 1960s, he began writing books that focused on spiritual and psychological growth. These writings emphasized the importance and practice of self-awareness. By the early 1970s, he had moved to Boulder City, Nevada and had begun teaching spiritual development classes after being contacted by numerous individuals interested in his writings.
Howard drew from what he perceived as being a "common thread" among several different philosophical and spiritual traditions for his insights and teachings. These included: Christian and Eastern mysticism, Gurdjieffian Fourth Way teachings, the Gospels of the New Testament, Jungian psychology, J. Krishnamurti and American Transcendentalism. He taught that there is a way out of suffering, and advocated self-honesty, persistence, the study and application of spiritual principles, and a sincere desire for inner change. He explained that a new and higher inner life is found through releasing the negative conditioned ego, which he described as the "false self". He asserted that this new life can only be found through awareness, and that the human ego is a barrier to this awareness. Thus, he taught that inner liberation was a ridding process, and that the false self is a fictitious collection of self-images or pictures about who we think we are.
In 1979, Howard founded the non-profit learning center New Life Foundation, where he continued to teach until his death in 1992. The foundation, now located in Pine, Arizona, continues Howard's legacy via personal classes held by some of the students who studied with Howard, as well as the marketing of his writings and recorded talks.
After Howard's death, several non-profit Foundations were established as a result of his many years of teaching. Mark L Butler, who studied with Howard from 1972 until 1992, established the Eagle Literary Foundation in Eagle, Idaho in 1994. Guy Finley, who studied with him from 1978 until 1992, established the Life of Learning Foundation in Merlin, Oregon in 1993. Both Butler and Finley are authors and teachers continuing with the spiritual principles learned from Howard's work. Tom Russell also studied twelve years with Vernon Howard and founded the nonprofit SuperWisdom Foundation to bring these principles to the internet through free weekly podcasts. An "Archive of Work by Vernon Howard" has also been made available for viewing online from the estate of one of Vernon Howard’s long time students and New Life Foundation Board member until the time of Vernon’s death, Concetta (Connie) M. Butler.
