The Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge (ISHK) is a non-profit educational

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * C ...

ISHK is a 501(c)3 educational corporation, incorporated in the State of California. Federal Tax ID #94-1705600. and

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

established in 1969 by the psychologist and writer Robert E. Ornstein and based in

Los Altos, California Los Altos (; Spanish for "The Heights") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 31,625 according to the 2020 census. Most of the city's growth occurred between 1950 and 1980. Originally ...

, in the United States. FEIN: 941705600. Type: Public Benefit. Corporate or Organization Number: 0586548. Its aim is to provide public education and information on issues of health and human nature.

Founder

Robert Ornstein, psychologist, writer and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

at Stanford University, founded and chaired ISHK. He has published over 25 books on the mind and won awards from organizations including the

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...

and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

). His work has been featured in a 1974 ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' magazine article entitled ''Hemispheric Thinker''. Ornstein is best known for his research on the hemispheric specialization of the brain and the advancement of understanding into how we think. See biographical detail under ''Physiological Studies of Consciousness'': Robert Ornstein. He has also contributed to the London-based Institute for Cultural Research set up by his associate, the writer and Sufi teacher,

Idries Shah Idries Shah (; hi, इदरीस शाह, ps, ادريس شاه, ur, ; 16 June 1924 – 23 November 1996), also known as Idris Shah, né Sayed Idries el- Hashimi (Arabic: سيد إدريس هاشمي) and by the pen name Ark ...

. The ICR and its associate, Octagon Press have since been replaced by

The Idries Shah Foundation The Idries Shah Foundation (ISF) is an independent educational and cultural charity, set up by the family of the late thinker, writer, and teacher in the Sufi mystical tradition, Idries Shah, who wrote over three dozen books on topics ranging fr ...

and ISF Publishing, respectively. In 1972, Ornstein published ''The Psychology of Consciousness''. More recent works include ''The Right Mind'' (1997), described as "a cutting edge picture of how the two sides of the brain work". Robert Ornstein died in December 2018.

Aims and activities

ISHK's primary aim is public education, by providing new information on health and human nature through its book service, through its children's imprint Hoopoe Books and adult imprint Malor Books, which includes the works of Robert Ornstein. Hoopoe Books focuses on publishing traditional children's stories from

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

, including works by Idries Shah, See entry for ''Hoopoe Books''. such as ''The Lion Who Saw Himself in the Water.'' The Institute also operates philanthropic projects, including Share Literacy, which provides books for children; support for

caregiver A caregiver or carer is a paid or unpaid member of a person's social network who helps them with activities of daily living. Since they have no specific professional training, they are often described as informal caregivers. Caregivers most commo ...

s; training and support for teachers, and independent program evaluation. Through its Share Literacy Program, Hoopoe Books has partnered with other organizations to give books away to children in low-income areas. It also provides books free of charge to lending libraries. ISHK has worked with organizations such as The Institute for Cross-cultural Exchange to provide children in Afghanistan with desperately needed books for distribution to schools, orphanages and libraries throughout the country, in order to address the literacy crisis. In partnership with ISHK. Events organized by ISHK include a symposium in 2006 on "The Core of Early Christian Spirituality: Its Relevance to the World Today" which featured presentations by

Elaine Pagels Elaine Pagels, née Hiesey (born February 13, 1943), is an American historian of religion. She is the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University. Pagels has conducted extensive research into early Christianity and Gnost ...

, well known for her studies and writing on the

Gnostic Gospels The Nag Hammadi library (also known as the " Chenoboskion Manuscripts" and the "Gnostic Gospels") is a collection of early Christian and Gnostic texts discovered near the Upper Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi in 1945. Thirteen leather-bound papyru ...

(''Beyond Belief: A Different View of Christianity'');

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

scholar

Bart D. Ehrman Bart Denton Ehrman (born 1955) is an American New Testament scholar focusing on textual criticism of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the origins and development of early Christianity. He has written and edited 30 books, including t ...

(''Jesus and the Apocalyptic Vision''), and scholar of religion and Professor,

Marvin Meyer Marvin W. Meyer (April 16, 1948 – August 16, 2012) was a scholar of religion and a tenured professor at Chapman University, in Orange, California. He was the Griset Professor of Bible and Christian Studies at Chapman University and Director of ...

(''Magdalene in the Gnostic Gospels: From the Gospel of Mary to the DaVinci Code, Mary Magdelene in History and Culture''). In 1976, Robert Ornstein and Idries Shah presented a seminar, ''Traditional Esoteric Psychologies in Contemporary Life'', in cooperation with

The New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

, New York City. Psychologies - East and West Seminar: May 1976. In 2010, ISHK set up a web site for a project entitled ''The Human Journey''. It aims to "follow humanity from our origins in Eastern Africa and the Middle East to the present day, with an eye to what comes next."

References

External links

Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge (ISHK) web site

Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge: The Human Journey

Share Literacy
{{Authority control Book publishing companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Psychology organizations based in the United States Consciousness studies Companies based in Santa Clara County, California Educational charities based in the United States Organizations based in the San Francisco Bay Area Los Altos, California Publishing companies established in 1969 1969 establishments in California

Founder

Aims and activities

See also

References

External links