The Power Within: Leon MacLaren, A Memoir of His Life and Work - Paperback

by Dorine Tolley (Author)

The Power Within: Leon MacLaren A Memoir of His Life and Work by Dorine Tolley examines the life and legacy of one of the world's great thinkers and spiritual teachers. This very personal biography follows MacLaren from his youth through to his last days, casting a light on the teachings, the man, and the profound influence both had on thousands of supporters and adherents who were part of the movement he began: The School of Economic Science. Building on the ancient mystery schools and the legacies of the great G. I. Gurdjieff and P. D. Ouspensky, MacLaren finally met his true master HH Shantananda Saraswati. From this great spiritual teacher, MacLaren received the ancient knowledge of Advaita Vedanta, or the underlying single universal consciousness, a pillar of his future teachings. Written in masterful prose and told from the perspective of the ultimate insider, The Power Within demystifies one of the leaders of the Western mystery tradition, while painting a compelling human portrait.

Author Biography

Dorine Tolley was born in 1947, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She holds a Masters Degree in English and Literature from Amsterdam University. She is co-translator of the Corpus Hermeticum of Hermes Trismegistus (the Egyptian sage), which was published as The Way of Hermes in 1999 by Duckworth publishers, United Kingdom. Dorine's parents were followers of P.D. Ouspensky and G.I. Gurdjieff, protagonists of the Fourth Way teaching in the early Twentieth Century, so early on she was exposed to the mystery school teachings of the Western masters. At twenty-four she became personal assistant to Leon MacLaren and for the next twenty-two years traveled with him worldwide visiting all the overseas branches of The School of Economic Science. After MacLaren's death in 1994, Dorine returned home to Amsterdam. She subsequently married and lives with her husband Nigel Tolley in Sydney, Australia.