The transmission
The Teachers
1,020 who carried the discovery — across Hermetic, Vedic, Sufi, mystic, scientific, and modern streams. Start with the essential few, or browse by family and tradition.
1,020 teachers · 42 traditions
60 essential teachers — oldest first
Neoplatonism
Pythagoras
Number as the structure of reality
c. 570-495 BCE
Buddhism
Gautama Buddha
Mind precedes all things
c. 5th-4th c. BCE
Taoism (Daoism)
Laozi
Wu wei (effortless action)
traditionally 6th c. BCE (semi-legendary)
Neoplatonism
Heraclitus
The Logos
c. 535-475 BCE
Neoplatonism
Plato
The Forms
c. 428-348 BCE
Yoga & Tantra
Patanjali
Samyama and the eight limbs of yoga
fl. c.200 BCE-400 CE (date debated)
Vedanta (Advaita)
Krishna
The deathless Self and the yogas of action, devotion, and knowledge
traditional/scriptural figure (Bhagavad Gita, c. 2nd c. BCE - 2nd c. CE text)
Christian Mysticism
Jesus of Nazareth
The kingdom of God is within you
c. 4 BCE - c. 30/33 CE
Stoicism
Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Mind as source of tranquility
c.4 BCE-65 CE
Stoicism
Epictetus
Dichotomy of control
c.50-135
Hermeticism
Hermes Trismegistus
As above, so below
Legendary / non-historical (texts c. 100-300 CE)
Stoicism
Marcus Aurelius
Inner judgment governs experience
121-180
Neoplatonism
Plotinus
Emanation from the One
c. 204-270 CE
Christian Mysticism
Augustine of Hippo
Interiority — God more inward than my innermost
354-430
Sufism (Islamic Mysticism)
Muhammad
Tawhid - oneness of God and submission of the self
c. 570-632 CE
Vedanta (Advaita)
Adi Shankara
Advaita: Self is Brahman
c. 700-750 CE (traditional dates vary; often given c. 788-820)
Kashmir Shaivism
Vasugupta / Kashmir Shaivism
Consciousness self-expresses as reality
c. 8th-11th century CE (classical period)
Christian Mysticism
Meister Eckhart
Birth of God in the soul-ground
c.1260-c.1328
Christian Mysticism
Teresa of Ávila
Seven mansions of inner ascent
1515-1582
Christian Mysticism
John of the Cross
Purgative dark night to union
1542-1591
Idealism & Process Philosophy
Baruch Spinoza
Substance monism; God-or-Nature
1632-1677
Christian Mysticism
Emanuel Swedenborg
Doctrine of correspondences; spiritual worlds
1688-1772
New Thought
Phineas Quimby
Disease as false belief
1802-1866
New Thought
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Transcendentalism; the Over-Soul; self-reliance
1803-1882
Theosophy
Helena Blavatsky
Theosophical synthesis of esotericism
1831-1891
Transpersonal Psychology
William James
The will to believe & varieties of religious experience
1842-1910
Quantum Consciousness & Quantum Mind
Frederic W. H. Myers
The subliminal self
1843-1901
New Thought
Thomas Troward
Objective/subjective mind law
1847-1916
New Thought
Emma Curtis Hopkins
Scientific Christian Mental Practice — the teacher of teachers
1849-1925
Jungian / Analytical Psychology
Sigmund Freud
The dynamic unconscious
1856-1939
New Thought
Wallace Wattles
Creative (not competitive) wealth
1860-1911
Yoga & Tantra
Swami Vivekananda
Raja Yoga / Vedanta for the West
1863-1902
New Thought
James Allen
As a Man Thinketh — thought shapes character and circumstance
1864-1912
Energy Psychology (EFT / Tapping)
Mikao Usui
Universal life energy channelled through the hands
1865-1926
New Thought
Charles F. Haanel
The Master Key System — mental concentration and the law of attraction
1866-1949
The Fourth Way (Gurdjieff Work)
G.I. Gurdjieff
The Work; self-remembering; waking sleep
c.1866-1949
Ceremonial Magick (the Western Esoteric Revival)
Aleister Crowley
Change in conformity with Will
1875-1947
Jungian / Analytical Psychology
Carl Jung
Synchronicity & collective unconscious
1875-1961
Channeling
Edgar Cayce
Healing and guidance drawn from trance
1877-1945
Nonduality (the Perennial Nondual Stream)
Ramana Maharshi
Self-inquiry (Who am I?)
1879-1950
Success Literature & Positive Thinking
Napoleon Hill
Think and grow rich
1883-1970
New Thought
Ernest Holmes
Science of Mind
1887-1960
Cybernetics & Systems Theory
Maxwell Maltz
Self-image as servo-mechanism
1889-1975
Yoga & Tantra
Paramahansa Yogananda
Kriya Yoga / God-realization
1893-1952
Nonduality (the Perennial Nondual Stream)
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Choiceless awareness, no authority
1895-1986
New Thought
Joseph Murphy
Subconscious autosuggestion
1898-1981
New Thought
Norman Vincent Peale
Positive thinking: faith and a confident mind reshape circumstance
1898-1993
The Law of Assumption
Neville Goddard
The Law of Assumption
1905-1972
Transpersonal Psychology
Viktor Frankl
The will to meaning
1905-1997
Transpersonal Psychology
Abraham Maslow
Self-actualization & the hierarchy of needs
1908-1970
Hermeticism
Three Initiates (The Kybalion)
Seven Hermetic Principles
published 1908
Nonduality (the Perennial Nondual Stream)
Alan Watts
Eastern nonduality for the West
1915-1973
Quantum Consciousness & Quantum Mind
David Bohm
Implicate / explicate order
1917-1992
New Thought
Louise Hay
Affirmations, self-love & mind-body healing
1926-2017
Transpersonal Psychology
Ram Dass (Richard Alpert)
Be here now
1931-2019
New Thought
Wayne Dyer
Intention & self-determination
1940-2015
Nonduality (the Perennial Nondual Stream)
Byron Katie
'The Work' — inquiry into stressful thoughts
1942-present
Nonduality (the Perennial Nondual Stream)
Deepak Chopra
Consciousness-based health & 'quantum healing'
1946-present
Nonduality (the Perennial Nondual Stream)
Eckhart Tolle
Presence-centered consciousness (the Now)
1948-present
Quantum Consciousness & Quantum Mind
Joe Dispenza
Quantum-neuro meditation manifestation
1962-present
A starting canon, from antiquity to today. Pick a family above, then a tradition — or search — to explore all 1,020.