AUTHOR'S NOTE

Born in 1944, I have had a lifelong interest in mysticism. Graduating in 1966 from Cambridge University with a degree in natural (biological) sciences, I went on to work for seventeen years at the University's Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. In 1984, I left the University to develop the Wholistic Research Company, a business I had started in 1981. The company was successful, and it was passed on to new owners in 2000, who wanted to further develop the company's range of services, information and products.

After leaving the University, I wrote a series of five books on science and mysticism. The intention was to give a voice to the idea that an understanding of science was in no way incompatible with a spiritual perception of things. Much to my surprise and encouragement, these books have received great reviews, and have been very well received by the general public, especially by those who think "outside the box". They have also been translated into a number of other languages.

In 1989, I began researching the origins of Christianity, to see if it was possible to determine what Jesus had actually taught. The main fruits of this research were first published in 1995, as The Gospel of Jesus: In Search of His Original Teachings (1995), revised in 2004. I have also written several other books concerning the origins of Christianity, largely containing stories, parables and poetry from early Christian times.

At the same time as I started research on The Gospel of Jesus, I began work on what was to become the multi-volume A Treasury of Mystic Terms, of which Part I (six vols., 2003) & Part II (4 vols., 2016) have so far been published. Part III (six vols.) is completed and will be published in 2018 or early 2019, and Part IV is presently in progress. The work is the result of contributions from a large number of contributors, from various cultural and religious backgrounds. Its intention is to demonstrate the fundamental and universal elements in the world's religious and spiritual traditions. It provides both information and inspiration.