Vicente Hao Chin - The Process of Self-Transformation: A Spiritual Guide for Effective Healing

The roots of human problems lie within the mind and personality of human beings. As long as there are internal contradictions and fragmentation within the psyche of individuals, there will be unhappiness in people as well as conflicts and discord among them.

Since ancient times, whether in the East or the West, sages have known that there are pathways toward the resolution of the inner contradictions within the human soul and the flowering of the full human potential and wholeness. These roads have been tried and tested for millennia and have produced some of the noblest human beings in history.

This book is a modern restatement of this age-old wisdom of humanity supplemented with specific tools that will help in accelerating the transformation of individuals. It was initially presented as a three-day workshop called the Self-Transformation Seminar. Because of the perceived effectiveness of its methods and approaches, it spawned a four-day youth camp for people from the ages thirteen to twenty-five called the Golden Link Youth Camp. Then, because of its impact on the young people who participated in the camps, the Golden Link School was established, which has since become an institution that offers tertiary courses and is now called Golden Link College. The principles of self-transformation became part of the core philosophy of the college. The Golden Link educational system now covers five campuses in various parts of the Philippines.

The workshops of self-transformation have further branched out into courses and seminars on parenting, leadership, peace education, development of corporate culture, marital relationships, stress relief, trauma healing, family healing, effective relationships, meditation, and nurturing the spiritual life. They are all rooted in the same principles of self-change.

This self-transformative approach germinated in the fertile soil of the Theosophical Society in the Philippines, a branch of a worldwide organization that fosters human unity, character building, spirituality, and the quests for truth and human perfection. It promotes these non-dogmatically and in a genuine spirit of freedom. Thus, the self-transformation approach contained in this book grew in a rich environment that benefited from the experiences and insights of various spiritual traditions, philosophies, and sciences.

An important element in this approach is that it is integrative in nature. It combines timeless principles and values with the practical demands of human life. It is not simply a palliative to ease the symptomatic pains of living, nor is it an attempt to primarily adapt to the current demands and values of society. The approach is based on the conviction that the happy and fulfilled life must not be in conflict with the deepest values of human beings, including spirituality and transcendence.

The author is grateful to Quest Books for the suggestion to publish a revised edition. Some parts of the book have been expanded, and it has benefited from the very helpful comments of Richard Smoley, to whom the author is grateful.

Vicente Hao Chin Jr.

May 2015