Bodhi Ocean is the third of a trilogy of books, containing the annotated transcripts of online talks given by Richard Harvey, a psycho-spiritual psychotherapist and spiritual teacher, between 2014 and 2015. The three series of online lectures titled The Hsüan-Hsüeh Discourses; The Ternion Talks; and Substantia compile fourteen talks on self-discovery, authenticity, and divinity as an urgent imperative in the contemporary world.
The Hsüan-Hsüeh Discourses are humbly and respectfully dedicated to the Hsüan-Hsüeh movement which discussed and mediated the traditional doctrine of withdrawal from the world and merged the philosophy of Confucius, a long-time imagined and sometimes perhaps real, opponent of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, with Taoism or the Perfect Way. The Hsüan-Hsüeh Discourses are a delightful and illuminated stroll through five profound teachings on wisdom, separation, destiny, spiritual birth (or baptism), and stillness. Combined with Richard’s insights and teachings, The Hsüan-Hsüeh Discourses offer a rich blend of ancient wisdom teachings and modern-day, meta-psychology for the 21st century.
The Ternion Talks are a triad of sublime lectures (‘ternion’ meaning three). First, 'Being Born A Human Being' discusses our invitation to live in the Divine mystery through self-awareness and self-reflection. Second, 'Who Needs A Guru?' explores the question of whether the student benefits from, or needs, a spiritual teacher in their life. Who Needs A Guru? examines a student’s relationship to his/her spiritual teacher, the different ways we consciously and unconsciously reject a spiritual teacher, and the truth in the guru relationship. The message of the third lecture titled 'To Realize Consciousness' is that we must come to realize that the only thing that is real is love. Along the way, however, we must experience the passing of the delusion and the importance of assimilating great wisdom and making it our own. To Realize Consciousness echoes the great teachings about the importance of selecting a path, remaining true and committed to that path, and the reasons we need to do so.
Substantia ('Substantia' meaning essence) caps off Bodhi Ocean with a series of six lectures. The Substantia talks focus on a different aspect of the psycho-spiritual journey and extend the themes to Richard Harvey’s sacred-spiritual model of human growth and development for the modern era.
