Beyond the Stained-Glass Window

Book excerpt: This book is about one man’s journey to find himself and his place in the world, both spiritually and career-wise, and how his conventional views of the world, encompassing orthodox religion and old conforming and traditional ways, were radically changed by some extraordinary events during early education, travel, a career-switch to clinical psychology, and a powerful dream that led to a profound spiritual awakening. He worked in mental hospitals during the apartheid era and at the time of the un-banning of the ANC, and later began a private practice. The book has some historical value since the author’s grandfather was a great friend of General Smuts and was the Mayor of Benoni, a South African gold-mining town, during the turbulent wild-strike days of 1922, when his grandfather’s house was burned down by white strikers. The author’s mother attended the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games and sat near Adolf Hitler during the swimming events.