Make money doing the work you believe in
I recently learned of the death of spiritual author and teacher Jean Houston (May 10, 1937-May 16, 2026).
Jean, whom I published in the early 2000s, popularized key tenets of the human-potential movement, a branch of alternative spirituality that emphasizes self-knowledge, intentional living, and peak methods of creativity and expression.
When I knew her, Jean was also tormented by mistreatment in the mainstream media.
She was smeared for conducting “séances” with Hillary Clinton in the White House during Bill Clinton’s first term in 1996 and dubbed “Hillary’s Guru.”
The story—nascent though not sensationalized by Bob Woodward in the Washington Post—eventuallygrew distorted and exaggerated, nudged along by a June 25, 1996, New York Times article: “Performing Seances? No, Just ‘Pushing the Membrane of the Possible.’”
First some background, because I knew both of Hillary Clinton’s reputed “gurus” from the era.
It is not widely remembered, but during Bill Clinton’s first term (1993-1997), the first lady was depicted as something of a New Agey figure in the media. This was cemented by a New York Times Magazine cover story headlined “Saint Hillary” by Michael Kelly on May 23, 1993.
At the time, Clinton was talking with a leftwing rabbi and activist, Michael Lerner (1943-2024), for whom I worked after college. Michael coined the term “politics of meaning,” which Clinton used in at least one of her speeches.
Michael was interested in investing politics with questions of self-worth and the search for higher aims. The media predictably called him “Hillary’s Guru” or “Hillary’s Rasputin,” perceptions he never cultivated.
A greater sensation arose around Clinton’s White House meetings with Jean, who I knew about four years later.
They spent time together while Clinton was writing her 1996 book It Takes a Village. They held creativity sessions where Jean asked Clinton to conduct an imaginary conversation with Eleanor Roosevelt, one of the first lady’s heroes. A dialogue with Gandhi also emerged . . .
