Pain, Sex and Time: A New Outlook on Evolution and the Future of Man (Provenance Editions) [Paperback]

Gerald Heard (Author), Huston Smith (Foreword)

Book Description

Series: Provenance Editions | Publication Date: December 15, 2004

Pain, Sex and Time explores evolution and postulates the possibility and means of a future evolution of the mind. First published in 1939, its philosophy converted a generation of leading thinkers from the scientific worldview to the perspective of the mystics.

Gerald Heard (1889-1971) was a well-known British polymath and science commentator for the BBC. He later toured and lectured prolifically in the United States. Heard wrote thirty-eight books including The Ascent of Humanity, The Social Substance of Religion and A Taste for Honey, a detective story which sold over half a million copies. Referring to Heard’s influence on Western notables, Ellery Queen wrote, “Gerald Heard is the spiritual godfather of this Western movement.”

Aldous Huxley (from his 1939 review of Pain, Sex and Time): “Gerald Heard’s book represents a significant attempt to reinterpret in contemporary terms and in the light of modern knowledge the teachings, practical no less than theoretical, of the traditional religious philosophies...”

Professor Huston Smith, (from his 2004 Foreword to

Pain, Sex and Time

): “Overnight, the book in hand converted me from the scientific worldview to the vaster world of the mystics. I applaud the decision to bring this book back into print.”

In this absorbing and provocative book, Gerald Heard shows that a fissure in human consciousness, which has been rapidly widening for 400 years, is the cause of modern man’s tragic dismay. Believing his problem external, when it is really in his own mind, man at last faces a “veritable Copernican revolution” psychologically. Science tells us that man is the only animal capable of continued evolution. It shows further that he can evolve in only one way—mentally. Pain, Sex and Time is then a new outlook, a new promise for the future, a new exploration of those strange and little-known powers of human consciousness of which man is becoming increasingly aware. Harper & Brothers, 1939

Pain, Sex and Time was James Dean’s favorite book.

Pain, Sex and Time has been out of print for 60 years.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Gerald Heard was a well-known British polymath in the second quarter of the 20th century. He began his career as science commentator for the BBC, and H. G. Wells was widely quoted as saying that he was the only one he bothered to listen to on the wireless. From there he went on to write the most successful detective story of the day, A Taste for Honey, which sold over half a million copies, an astronomical number in those days. Thirty more books followed including Pain, Sex and Time, The Ascent of Humanity, and The Social Substance of Religion.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Monkfish Book Publishing (December 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974935913
• ISBN-13: 978-0974935911
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,293,951 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gerald Heard (1889-1971), author, philosopher, lecturer, and historian of consciousness and its evolution, took honors in history at the University of Cambridge. He began lecturing at Oxford University in the 1920s. Heard's 1929 book The Ascent of Humanity won the British Academy's prestigious Hertz Prize. From 1930 to 1934 he served as the BBC's first science commentator, receiving accolades from H. G. Wells.

In 1937 Heard came to the United States, accompanied by Aldous Huxley. In the 1940s he founded and directed Trabuco College, which advanced comparative-religious studies and practices. In the 1950s his main activities were writing, lecturing, and occasional TV and radio appearances. Heard lectured at most major colleges and universities in the United States. Heard's broad philosophical themes and scintillating oratorical style attracted and influenced many people, including Huxley and Huston Smith. His visionary work earned him the title, "true grandfather of the New Age."

A prolific writer, Heard penned some 38 books, including his pioneering academic works (Pain, Sex and Time; The Five Ages of Man), several popular devotional books (The Creed of Christ; Training for the Life of the Spirit), and, as H. F. Heard, a number of mysteries (A Taste for Honey; The Great Fog).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Outdated but Remarkable for Its Time, April 14, 2007

By 

So many books....so little time... - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Pain, Sex and Time: A New Outlook on Evolution and the Future of Man (Provenance Editions) (Paperback)

I would actually give this book 3.5 stars. The only reason I'm not giving it more stars is that the concepts regarding the evolution of the spiritual man, though still retaining some validity, seem somehow outmoded. In addition, the writing style is a bit anachronistic. However the author was remarkable for his time (which was not all that long ago) and he is still very much worth reading. He was an underrated, somewhat eclectic philosopher who was courageous enough to question the scientism of his day.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PAIN, SEX AND TIME, February 8, 2008

By 

John R. Barrie "Heard Estate/GeraldHeard.com" (Nevada City, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pain, Sex and Time: A New Outlook on Evolution and the Future of Man (Provenance Editions) (Paperback)

"History may be interpreted as the symptoms of a mental evolution," writes Gerald Heard in PAIN, SEX AND TIME. "Man's civilization is the shadow cast by his evolving consciousness." The evolution of his psyche is the sequel to the evolution of his physique. This mutation in his psyche, in consciousness, is a spiral of ascent, of continuing evolution. He must leap forward or sink.

"In man is a store of evolutionary energy and that energy can give rise to his further, purely psychical evolution. Pain and pleasure, agony and lust, are the two fundamental polar sensations which lie at an equally rudimentary level. Only when this dazing sensationalism is transcended, can consciousness experience sustained intensity of being. This process indicates a possible ending of pain, a possible solving of the problem of sex, and also the possibility of a completely new step in evolution."

By means of "a specific training" this evolutionary change can occur. Then humankind's purpose will be revealed: "The only possible meaning of life is that here, under Time, human consciousness discovers itself. The Universe exists for the emergence and development of free creative consciousness." By this advance in consciousness we, "are able to reinterpret correctly the experience which we call Time and, doing so, we see Reality no longer distorted, but as it is. Then we shall have fulfilled the purpose of our Being, the meaning of evolution," concludes Gerald Heard in PAIN, SEX AND TIME.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Some Good Points, December 28, 2009

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C. Richard (Virginia USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Pain, Sex and Time: A New Outlook on Evolution and the Future of Man (Provenance Editions) (Paperback)

This is a book by Gerald Heard. Catchy title, no?

The book starts off rather well. It proposes that man must make the next step in evolution - mental/expanded consciousness - or degenerate or destroy himself. Note that Heard wrote this around the start of WWII.

The pain and sex in the title has to do with excess energy present for doing this next step that we are failing at doing, hence problems with these. The time part is that it is an illusion - not much done with this that I noticed. He seems to say that when we are intellectually occupied, we are less worried about sex, have less sensitivity to pain and are not as aware of time - he may be on to something here.

Heard then reviews history (including evolutionary history of life) to shown that his points have merit. There are some interesting items here.

Things get a little sketchy and hard to follow near the end - even his sentence structure gets hard to follow - when he starts talking about how to achieve the next step. His method is hard to explain, but it based on explicit effort in special communities. Apparently, he even attempted to found one in California in the 1940's which did not catch on - this is not to say that his ideas were wrong.

Heard was a rather interesting character - see the biographical information in the book. He was friends with Huxley and involved in the Vedanta Society. Meditation was very important to him in later life.

Worth a read, but be prepared to trudge through some rough spots, especially towards the end. The summary at the very end is fairly informative about the book as a whole.

I had very high hopes when I started it, but kind of lost them in many respects as I finished it.