Lewis Harrison Wikipedia
The story of my Wiki Page, and why I deleted it.
“These newsletters serve a demographic of highly intelligent readers, with a passion for ideas, critical thinking, and unknown possibilities. Readers of my posts are usually really tired of being patronized elsewhere by fact-less, opinionated know-nothings, who complain about everything they don’t like, but lack a willingness to think about, find resources, or create life hacks, shortcuts, and solutions to fix what they don’t like.”
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On a personal note: Please excuse grammatical errors, typos, repetition, and any general nonsense, and such in this post. I am getting a bit older now, and I have about 20,000 pages of information that must get published before I leave the mortal coil. I simply write and publish more than my humble editors are able to correct. If you find enough errors you are welcome to contact me about being an editor of my work.
Thanks for sharing this newsletter with your friends and associates
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Q. Lewis, Why can’t I find you on Wikipedia?
A. I actually had a wiki page but had it removed. About 2 decades ago, fresh into my 40s I had a glorious moment, at least for my ego. Actually, the moment lasted for about two days. What happened was I looked myself up on Wikipedia, and low and behold I had my very own wiki page.
As I read the details of my life I quickly realized much of the information about me was inaccurate.
After a bit of contemplation, I realized that having a Wikipedia page about my life might not be a very good idea.
I have a theory that in order to have a great life, it is helpful to have control of the environment you need to function in. With Wikipedia, I could never control that environment. Better to not be there at all.
I knew as my following on the web especially through my group and forum that people might do a Google search of “Lewis Harrison Wikipedia”, or “Lewis Harrison wiki” and read a bunch of crap that had nothing to do with me.
So, I spent the next few weeks taking down my wiki page.
Of course, because I was hosting a radio show on an NPR affiliated station, had a few dozen books published, and had built a strong social media presence, I knew that people might look me up on Wikipedia.
It crossed my mind, that if I simply organized an accurate bio, and posted it on Substack.com with the title “Lewis Harrison Wikipedia” people could easily find me and learn more about me and my work.
Here is the correct information about my life and what I am presently up to.
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Who is Lewis Harrison
Lewis Harrison (June 19, 1951 - ) is an American Author, Teacher, Practical Philosopher, and a pioneer in the integration of various trends in self-improvement, personal development, life coaching, and alternative medicine movements. He is best known as an interpreter of Taoist and Natural Healing philosophies for a multi-cultural audience.
He is the author of more than two-dozen books and numerous articles on a diverse range of subjects including meditation, Eastern Philosophy, self-actualization, botanical medicine, achieving higher consciousness, conscious business practices, applied game theory, and the creation of wealth.
Early years
Harrison was born to middle-class, Jewish parents of polish ancestry in the Borough of the Bronx in New York City. His father was an entrepreneur, selling home furnishings through a large network of Black Churches in NYC. His mother Dorothy was trained as a dental hygienist but became a housewife after the birth of her daughter Lily and then Lewis six years later. With modest financial means, they lived a traditional life for the times, spending summers at a bungalow Colony in the Catskill Mountains in Upstate NY.
There are a number of early influences in Lewis’ development as a practical philosopher including J. Krishnamurti, Helen Nearing, Vincent Collura, and Danial J. Wiener.
An introspective student with an intense curiosity for all things informational Lewis spent long hours reading through encyclopedias and reference texts fascinated with the organization of information.
Mixed with Lewis’ own fascination with information, particularly history was his mother’s passion for art and culture. Lewis spent weekend after weekend with her in the museums and concert halls of NYC taking in Natural history, light opera, classical music, modern art, and Jewish history.
With regard to these “weekend adventures” Harrison once stated “There was never any focus to it. It was just her passion for knowledge, art, and culture and her desire to share this with me that had us going from place to place. It was all so mysterious and exciting for me. One week it could be Gilbert and Sullivan, and the next week the New York Botanical Gardens. We might explore the Shamanic practices of some aboriginal people at the Museum of Natural History and the next day go to a minor league hockey game at Madison Square Garden. ”
Lewis’father, Harold spent two years at the Juilliard School of Music( he studied violin) and spent considerable time in Harlem as well as at a resort in the Catskills owned by Clayton 'Peg Leg' Bates (1907 -1998) an Afro-American entertainer who owned and operated the first black Country Club in Ulster County in the heart in the Catskill Mountains “Borscht Belt” of Jewish resorts.
Mysticism
By his own assessment, Harrison was socially inept, impatient, imaginative, and talkative to the extreme. He was a poor student in the traditional sense though he filled most of his time reading voluminous amounts on a wide range of subjects. Early on, while still in high school Lewis came across the book “The Wisdom of Insecurity” by Alan Watts and was given the book “Life Ahead” By Jidda Krishnamurti a world-renowned writer and speaker on philosophical and spiritual subjects. Both books radically transformed his thinking and gave him a direction to focus his attention on, the concept of Self-Actualization.
After graduating from high school in 1969 he attended Sullivan County Community College where he met Vincent Collura, the local barber in South Fallsburg (Where the college was located). Collura was a mystic with vast knowledge of Shamanism, meditation. Plant Spirit Medicine and Chinese and Indian Philosophy had been an influence for young people from around the country for years. An unpublished, virtually unknown wiseman he would take in troubled young people, help them reorganize their lives in powerful and positive ways, and then send them out into the world to make a difference in some positive way. Many of Vincent’s mentees had gone on to become important teachers in their own right among them Joseph Goldstein (born 1944) one of the first American vipassana meditation teachers and, co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS).
Harrison continued to study and work with Vincent over the next ten years and was greatly influenced by the 1971 book “Be Here Now” authored by Baba Ram Dass and “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind” by Suzuki Roshi. The first book, filled with profound ideas on spirituality and elaborate and beautiful line drawings pulled Lewis’ focus away from herbs and nutrition alone and drew him into a spiritual inquiry into the nature of being and the role of the teacher in transforming the lives of their student’s. The second book gave him an appreciation for the role of simplicity and meditation in living life to the fullest and was a foundation for the creation of the Transmodern Zen Community.
These two books book guided Lewis into studying mystic trends in Buddhism, Islam, Taoism, Judaism, and other religious traditions as well as expanding his studies in nutrition, botanical medicine (Herbalism), and naturopathy.
The connection to naturopathy was an extension of Vincet’’s relationship with Jesse Mercer Gehman, a Past President of the American Naturopathic Association and a major force in naturopathic medicine in the 1930s throughout the 1950s. Dr. Gehman had been one of the senior students of Benedict Lust ND, the founder of Naturopathic medicine in the United States. Today there is a display of Dr. Gehman’s work at the University of Texas in Austin.
By the 1970s Lewis was making regular visits with Vincent to Dr. Gehman’s compound in Duncannon, Pennsylvania, spending hours in the library there studying the private notes and writings of Dr. Lust and the early pioneers of American Naturopathy including John Harvey Kellog MD and Henry Lindhlar MD.
Lewis integrated studies of mysticism, and Eastern Religious philosophies, particularly Zen and the Tao te Ching. He and various approaches to natural healing gave him a unique perspective on human potential and he hungered for more.
In 1972 Vincent began to introduce Lewis to important teachers and teachings including Scott Nearing (August 6, 1883 - August 24, 1983) an American conservationist, peace activist, educator, writer, and economist. He also re-introduced Lewis to Jiddu Krishnamurti (May 12, 1895-February 17, 1986) whose book “Life Ahead” had so influenced him when he was still in High School. Lewis for some time had an interest in different forms of meditation. About this time Vincent also introduced Lewis to Sant Mat an East Indian-based meditation technique and spiritual path. Lewis initially rejected this work focusing more on the ideas of Nearing and Krishnamurti. He later focused for a short time on the practice of Transcendental Meditation but the writings and teachings of the Sant Mat Gurus became of great interest to him and a series of mystical experiences and shamanic dreams caused him to become deeply involved in the spiritual teaching of the Sant Mat masters.
It was his meditation work with Vincents, his studies in Sat Mat as well as his undergraduate studies in Philosophy at the State University of New York in Purchase that introduced him to mystic trends in Judaism (Kabbalah), Islam (Sufism) Christianity (Meister Eckhart) and the essential teachings and practices of Taoism and Shamanism.
Further Education
Lewis’ formal studies in University took place at the same times that he sought out and studied with important teachers of the day including John Cristopher in herbology, Alan Jay and Pierre Pannatier in Polarity Therapy and Energy Medicine, Cranial Sacral Therapy, and Emotional Release Bodywork.
In 1971 Lewis began a Meta-Analysis of the Tao te Ching, essentially creating a new translation. This work would not be successfully completed until over 40 years later.
In 1974, still studying with Vincent Collura and continuing with his undergraduate studies Lewis opened one of the first private practices in New York City as a Wellness Consultant. In this work, he integrated traditional naturopathic techniques, Nutrition, meditation, herbs, and movement reeducation creating a Holistic approach to client care. This was facilitated by his friendship with Dr. Daniel J. Weiner a Psychologist and Marriage Family Therapist who had begun to mentor Lewis about the psychological elements of the healing process. Dr. Weiner’s work opened the door for Lewis to integrate action-oriented therapies using drama, music, art, dance, drama, yoga, and ritual into his work with his clients. The ritual elements of Dr. Weiner’s work became important for the expansion of the Shamanic work lewis had done with Vincent Collura. Dr. Weiner’s approach to psychotherapy became the foundation for Lewis’ later work in Life Coaching and the creation of his Self Actualization and life strategies system.
After completing his undergraduate work in Philosophy (1975) Lewis attended what is now the Swedish Institute College in NYC where he studied massage Asian Bodywork Systems including Shiatsu. He then expanded his studies and teachings to the emerging field of Somatic a field within bodywork and movement studies that emphasizes internal physical perception and experience. The term is used in movement therapy to signify approaches based on the soma, or "the body as perceived from within," including Skinner Releasing Technique, Alexander technique, the Feldenkrais Method, Rolfing Structural Integration, Aikido, and other approaches.
All during this time, Harrison continued to explore wide-ranging ideas related to philosophy, personal growth, and healing. He focused on the language theories of the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, the integration of eastern and western ideas of physicist Fritjof Capra and the energy medicine concepts of the mystic physicians Randolf Stone and Rudolph Steiner.
In 1983, Harrison’s first book was published, Massageworks. Co-authored with Elinor Bowles and other writers this work presented a merging of traditional Swedish Massage with fundamental concepts of nutrition and energy medicine.
Teaching
From the very beginning of his studies with Vincent Collura in the early 1970s, Lewis had taught courses and classes related to nutrition, herbs, massage, and energy medicine. Over the years Lewis remained close to Vincent Collura and had continued to study the naturopathic concepts passed down from Dr. Lust to Dr. Gehman and on to Vincent Collura.
With Dr. Gehman’s passing in 1977, Lewis refocused his studies with Vincent. He became friendly at that time, through vegetarian activist circles with Helen and Scott Nearing. In an earlier part of her life, Helen had been close friends with both Jidda Krishnamurti and the anthropologist Joseph Campbell (according to biographies on both of these individuals). Lewis’ conversations with Helen Nearing in the 1970s would have a major impact on his perspective on sustainable agriculture’ life hacking, and intentional.
In 1987 Lewis completed his second book “Helping Yourself with Natural Healing” a work that integrated information on Aromatherapy, Bodywork, Vibrational healing, homeopathy, nutritional therapy, and Somatics.
Lewis completed his third book, Making Fats and Oils Work for You in 1990 which was updated and republished as, The Complete Fats and Oils Book in 1996.
The 1990s
With the passing of Harrison’s Spiritual teacher Maharaj Charan Singh in 1990 as well as the passing of Harrison’s Shamanic guide Vincent in 1994, Harrison’s work continued to expand. He developed an interest in quality of life issues and explored how and why people make certain choices rather than others. This led him to create a seminar “Make Choices, Not Excuses” and a talk radio show of the same name on WEVD (1050 AM) in NYC.
Harrison had remained close with his mentor Vincent until the time of Vincent’s death in 1994. Just prior to that event, and with Vincent’s consent, Harrisonmerged Vincent’s and Dr. Gehman’s work with his own and formed an educational center and school in New York City - The Academy of Natural Healing. It was at this time that Harrison produced his fourth book “30-Day Body Purification: How to Cleanse Your Inner Body and Experience the Joys of Toxin-Free Health.” Harrison acknowledged that he had created this book from the nutrition concepts he had learned from Vincent over the years, which for the most part focused on whole foods, vegetarianism, and various forms of fasting.
Looking to expand the work he had begun with the “Make Choices, Not Excuses Seminar Harrison studied with Thomas J. Leonard (July 31, 1955 - February 11, 2003). Leanard is now considered a major contributor to the development of personal coaching and the life coaching professions and was the founder of the International Coach Federation.
Harrison began to integrate what he learned from Thomas Leanard and this transformed his private wellness consulting practice into an Integrative Coaching practice that he linked with the Academy of Natural Healing
Soon after Vincent Collura’s death in 1994 and the completion of Lewis’ coaching studies with Thomas Leanard, Harrison began two major projects; The first was his involvement with the National Speakers’ Association (NSA), a professional association for speakers. It was through this group that he began to focus on the creative process, entrepreneurism, and the use of wealth, power, and influences for making a difference in the world. Lewis eventually became President of the Tri-State Chapter of NSA and Chairperson of The Wellness Experts Group (PEG) at the National Level. Through his association with NSA Harrison became a noted motivational and inspirational speaker.
In 1994 he also began work on a book of spiritual teachings based on the meditation work he had done through Sat Mat, Maharaj Charan Singh, Zen, and the Tao te Ching. This manual “The Mystic Teaching of the Taoist Masters” would become the foundation of Harrison’s Mentoring Program Spiritual, Not Religious.
In 1998 Harrison married his wife Lilia and that same year he produced a combination Autobiography and shamanic healing handbook entitled, “Hands-on-Healing: Massage for Total health The Shaman’s Way.”
Over the next five years, Lewis expanded his involvement with NSA teaching and speaking throughout the United States on human potential, spirituality, and natural healing.
As he continued to teach and write Lewis began to focus on creating and teaching a process that would harmoniously and naturally integrate the emotional, chemical, structural, and spiritual elements of the healing process. He resisted anything that appeared to be dogmatic, rigidly ideological, or which appeared to reflect a knee-jerk reactivity or resistance to the status quo. He was continuing on the track he had begun with his mother early on - an exploration in and of the joy of ideas, knowledge, and culture.
In 2003 he produced his sixth book Master Your Metabolism, a work focused on medical botany (herbs) and weight loss. That same year, through his association with the National Speakers Association Harrison met Jack Canfield, the co-author of the hugely successful “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series of books and the star of the motivational human potential movie “The Secret.” Canfield wrote the introduction to Lewis’ seventh book “Healing Depression Naturally,” (2004) an encyclopedic work on the non-pharmaceutical treatment of clinic depression.
Motivated by his association with Jack Canfield Lewis began to reread some early classic books in the field of wealth building and motivational and inspirational thinking particularly Napolean Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich.” He also worked with a number of teachers versed in hypnosis, shamanic trance work, lucid dreaming, and the application of subconscious influence in human relations. He was specifically interested in using these skills to create a more effective approach to professional coaching than might take the work he had done with Thomas Leanard to the next level.
Barter
In 2004 based on his reading of Think and Grow Rich, and the entrepreneurial skills he had learned from his father and applied for three decades, Lewis developed an interest in life hacking, the prepper lifestyle, and Intentional Living. Through these interests, he created an economic system for the trading of non-cash, non-government-issued currencies. Here, two decades before the development of cryptocurrencies, Harrison traded goods and services such as time, space, information, influence, and other people’s barterable goods and services for other, similar services. Lewis was able to codify business practices that had been previously conducted in an ineffective and chaotic atmosphere. He produced a manual on his theories “Wealth Without Cash: Barter, Reciprocal Trade, and Alternative Economics.” Soon afterward he formed a company for the large-scale trading of goods and services named “The Kingdom of Barter.” In 2007 This company was accepted as a member of the International Barter Alliance, an association of Barter Brokerage Companies.
Harrison’s Applied Game Theory
In 2005 Harrison began an exploration into game theory a system for making effective, rational decisions when these decisions may be influenced by the actions of others in a competitive environment. For the next decade, he was mentored by Dr. Harvey L. Slatin, an American physicist, and inventor. Slatin who was 94 years old when he took Harrison under his wing, was the 23rd scientist recruited to work on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, New Mexico in 1942. Dr. Slatin worked on the isolation of plutonium. He was the last surviving member of his Special Engineering Detachment (SED) relating to the Manhattan Project when Lewis first met him.
Recent Years
Having created a practical system for using game theory “Harrison’s Applied Game Theory (HAGT) and learning new ways to apply it Harrison completed two more books “Healing Depression Naturally” and “Wealth Without Cash.” Noticing shifts in the professional coaching profession Lewis created a school to train professional Life and Wealth Coaches in 2006, naming the school The Institute for Ultimate Coaching.
In this same year, Harrison and a number of peers from other schools of alternative and complementary medicine created a not-for-profit professional trade association for wellness and healing professionals based on the National Speakers Association model. This organization The International Association of Healing Professionals offers professional certification and produces teleseminars and business-based educational programs for the professional healing community.
While focusing on coaching, speaking, game theory, and writing Lewis continued his work at the Academy of Natural Healing and in 2006 was elected to the Board of Directors of the American Polarity Therapy Association
In 2007 Lewis Harrison and his wife Lilia purchased a 7,500 square foot facility in Delaware County, New York, and created The Harrison Center for Entrepreneurship and Self Actualization to serve as an umbrella organization to support all Lewis’ schools, projects, and companies.
In recent years Lewis Harrison wrote an introductory book for students seeking to study his vast body of work. This book Beyond Thought: An Introduction to the Practical Philosophy of Lewis Harrison (2019) is available on Amazon.com at
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W95SRZL?ref_=k4w_oembed_fcLezX7E5xkXWw&tag=kpembed-20&linkCode=kpd
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Author: Lewis Harrison is a skilled life hacker, a creative writer, mentor, and a psychonaut. An Independent Scholar and a Results-Oriented Success Coach, he has a passion for knowledge, personal development, applied game theory, self-improvement, creativity, innovation, problem-solving, and story-telling. He is a practitioner of Transmoderm Zen. You can contact him directly at Lewiscoaches@gmail com.
“I am always exploring trends, areas of interest, and solutions to build new stories upon. Again, if you have any ideas you would like me to write about just email me at LewisCoaches@gmail.com”.
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I have a personal interest in combining Taoist thought, Lifehacking, spirituality, and the creation of wealth. I came across a wonderful program that teaches this same approach called the “Tao of Rich”.
Click on the growing wealth and money icon below and learn about the wonderful Tao of Rich Method.
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Are you ready to find your Mentor?
Fulfill Your Untapped Inner Potential By Getting Spiritual Mentoring with Lewis Harrison
If you have an interest in having a more mindful and meaningful life, schedule an interview with Lewis, and you can explore together how his Life Strategies and Spiritual Mentoring Method and Playbook can transform your life.
“Let's schedule a 15-minute interview to determine how I can serve you, and if you are a good fit for “Our Mentoring Program”. Email me at LewisCoaches@gmail.com
Lewis
Order the introductory book on spiritual self-improvement
by clicking the link below
https://www.amazon.ca/Spiritual-Not-Religious-Sacred-Modern-ebook/dp/B00I9H41C4
