The Secret Spiritual World of Children: The Breakthrough Discovery that Profoundly Alters Our Conventional View of Children's Mystical Experiences [Paperback]

Ph.D. Tobin Hart (Author), Joseph Chilton Pearce (Foreword)

Book Description

Many of the great mystics and sages in history have told us that their spiritual realizations began in childhood. Gandhi, Albert Einstein, and Abraham Lincoln are just a few famous figures who have reported these events. Based on more than five years of interviews, this book combines startling firsthand accounts of secret spiritual lives, including recollections from adults who have forgotten or repressed such experiences in childhood. The author explains how parents, educators, and therapists can recognize, identify, and nurture children's deep spiritual connections. The book is divided into ten chapters treating the phenomena of wisdom, wonder, and visions, including guiding parents along the spiritual path, building a curriculum, and learning from children.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Adults too often mistakenly believe that to be considered spiritual a child must understand the tenets of a particular religion. In fact, says Hart, children are far more likely to experience what William James referred to as "personal religion" (an intimate knowledge of God) without any formal religious training. After learning that his six-year-old daughter often saw angels, psychologist Hart embarked upon a five-year study of children's spirituality, an area all but ignored in the annals of child psychology. Defining spirituality as an intimate and direct influence of the divine in our lives, Hart interviewed more than 100 children and adults about their experiences. The inspiring accounts he reports reveal that often independently of, and sometimes despite, their parents, children enjoy rich and rewarding relations with the spiritual side of life. He concludes by proposing that parents encourage spirituality in their children by recognizing them as complete spiritual beings, and he offers parents a "spiritual curriculum" intended to nurture a child's personal power and perspective. Donna Chavez
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: New World Library (September 24, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930722192
• ISBN-13: 978-1930722194
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #90,868 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Secrets of Children's Spirituality, May 30, 2005

By 

Henry Reed "Creator Spirit" (Mouth of Wilson, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Secret Spiritual World of Children: The Breakthrough Discovery that Profoundly Alters Our Conventional View of Children's Mystical Experiences (Paperback)

One of my favorite childhood dreams, a recurrent one that I had when I was around seven or eight, is that I am conducting a symphony orchestra. That would be a special experience in itself. What makes this dream more interesting is that I am making up the music, note by note, as we go. Almost like the wand that Mickey Mouse borrows from the Sorcerer, as I wave my baton, the music comes into being. In the dream, that is a thrilling experience. What is even more interesting is that in the dream I am noticing that the orchestra seems to know what notes to play even though there are no notes until I wave them into being at that very moment. In the dream I am puzzling over how the orchestra can play the notes at the very instant that I create them.
Years later I can see in this dream many of the themes I've meditated upon in trying to come to a better understanding of a spiritual path that is natural to me, one that involves allowing improvisation to connect with a transpersonal source of creativity. While my adult self can both appreciate and understand the dream, my childhood self experienced the wonder and awe of the dream, but did not have any understanding of its meaning or source. Not all children, however, display the same lack the understanding of such experiences, according to Tobin Hart in his book The secret spiritual world of children (Inner Ocean Publishing). He shares many stories of children seeming wise beyond their years, children who experience cosmic consciousness and understand its significance and use the experience to guide them throughout their lives.
The idea that children are close to God certainly comes through loud and clear in Hart's stories. The children in his book have mystical experiences, visits by angels and other beings, they spontaneously offer healing words or touch to other children and adults, and they have psychic experiences of many varieties. An account of these experiences comprises only the first half of the book. He devotes the second half of his book to providing guidance to parents. There he skillfully weaves together insights for both parent and child as they attempt to respond to such experiences.
Spirituality is a mixed blessing, for while it may open the child to the secrets of the universe, such knowledge can also be a burden on the child. Adults face similar challenges and the parents may find their own spiritual issues mirrored in the struggles of the child. A vision of one's mission in life may also create pressure to succeed. Being given extraordinary insights, visits from angels, and other non-ordinary encounters may make the child feel "special" and disinclined to make the mortal efforts in life required of the rest of us. Awareness of invisible worlds that no one else can see can make a person, child or adult, feel alienated from others. Balancing heaven and earth is difficult, regardless of a person's age.
Psychic experiences offer their own special challenges and they are quite similar for both children and adults. Precognitive experiences, for example, especially about unfortunate events, can make the experiencer feel somehow guilty, as if knowledge of an event creates responsibility for it. Telepathic sensitivity can confuse a person's sense of self, requiring effort to discern one's own feelings from those of others. Balancing individuality with inter-connectedness is a lifelong riddle that requires the development of a stable ego, content enough to remain calmly in the background. The child's experience becomes a teacher for the parents as they endeavor to respond appropriately to the child.
Tobin's advice to parents seems to revolve around two key principles. The first is that the parent should endeavor to respond matter of factly to the child's reports. While it might seem inconceivable to us that we might deny the child's reality, making too big a deal of it can be equally harmful. The second, and more challenging, principle is for parents to cultivate a good relationship with their own spirituality and not vicariously live through their children. Although he allows for the probability that our species is evolving, he expresses some reserve about such concepts as "Indigo children." He argues, alternatively, that children have always had a secret spiritual life. It is the parents, he suggests, that are now highly interested in spirituality and have become aware of its existence in their children. The children may seem "special" in the parents' eyes, but this perception may be a compensating projection of the parents' own sad alienation from their own spiritual inner child. The child's spirituality often needs some help with incarnating into the workaday world. Parents who can embrace this need and provide a family atmosphere in which all parties are collaborating to bring heaven into earth seems to create the best classroom for the lessons spiritual experiences bring to the home. www.henryreed.com/publications/bookreviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars useful and enjoyable, December 5, 2003

By 

Linda Iribarren (Carlton, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Secret Spiritual World of Children: The Breakthrough Discovery that Profoundly Alters Our Conventional View of Children's Mystical Experiences (Paperback)

As Joseph Chilton Pearce wrote in the foreword, this book is "extraordinary and magnificent"!

Dr. Hart sets the tone of the entire work with the closing statement of his introduction: "This book is offered as a prayer to help us nourish the spirit within our children and within ourselves." His skillful interweaving of the stories of spiritual leaders with the mystical experiences of children is not only masterful but also heartwarming. The compassion and love for the children he interviews is palpable, and engaging. Challenging concepts are explored in a way that is relevant, and his insights provide practical solutions for parents and educators.

The questions supplied for enhanced communication offer a practical format to foster the growth of children's' sense of independence by enhancing their innate ability for self-reflection. By discussing impressions and inviting clarification, adults can gain valuable insights while encouraging meaningful dialogue that leads to healthy relationships and continuous discovery.

An enjoyable and useful read for anyone who has or works with children.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hey, world, read this book, March 2, 2004

By 

PMH Atwater (Charlottesville, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Secret Spiritual World of Children: The Breakthrough Discovery that Profoundly Alters Our Conventional View of Children's Mystical Experiences (Paperback)

Once in a while an exceptional book comes along and you want to scream at the top of your lungs, "Hey, world, read this book - it will forever change the way your children are treated." Oh, if only I could make such a scream be heard.

"The Secret Spiritual World of Children" covers everything, not just dreams and visions, angels and fairies. It covers life, that pulsebeat within us that propels action, growth, societies and cultures - our history as humans on this very big world called Earth. Whatever you need to help you understand your children, speak with them, encourage them, help them - even practical and easy exercises and suggestions - all of this is lovingly tucked into this gem of a book. But Hart doesn't stop there. He goes on to speak to the child in all of us; and as he does, you will recognize yourself and your own childhood unveiled in a new way. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

P. M. H. Atwater, L.H.D., author of "The New Children and Near-Death Experiences" and "We Live Forever: The Real Truth about Dying."