The Man With No Head: The life and ideas of Douglas Harding

by Richard Lang, Victor Lunn-Rockliffe (Illustrator)

Douglas Harding (1909–2007) began asking the question ‘Who am I?’ as a young man. Rejecting his father’s fundamentalist religion he decided to put aside what he’d been told about himself and look for himself at his identity. Harding made an astonishing discovery – his body was not just his human frame but was a many-levelled system ranging from the most distant galaxy to the nearest particle. At the centre of this all-inclusive onion-like structure Harding found his True Self, the formless Reality behind all his appearances.

Harding wrote many books about ‘who we really are’, exploring its profound implications in our lives and its connection with the core message of the world’s great religions. He also invented experiments that point directly to the ‘headless’ Reality at our centre. Harding’s work is a paradigm shift, a leap into a profoundly new way of seeing ourselves.

This graphic biography reveals who this great man was and what he discovered.

Genres: Philosophy, Meditation, Spirituality, Biography, Nonfiction

166 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 11, 2017

Reviews

[Quiver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun illustrations; few words but meaningfully arranges. I had not heard of Douglas Harding prior to reading this book, so I cannot judge how accurately his work was presented within. That said, the central idea, how we all carry a timeless emptiness containing the whole universe in the place where we normally think we carry our heads, holds a certain momentary fascination. It’s an empowering thought, which unfortunately leads down a oversimplified path straight from a self-help to a mystical, quasi-religious angle where we are all One, or God. Another objection would be to the over reliance on the argument that we have no heads because we cannot see said heads except in a mirror. Partly, this argument is overly emphasised by the visual nature of the graphic novel; partly, it’s flawed: I cannot see my back either...

If you’re willing to live with oversimplification for the sake of some interesting ideas—this is the book to read. If anything, I’m now keen to read Harding.

[LUCAS H. GOLDING · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful, colorful piece of graphic art. The central idea is equally beautiful. The only issue I had with the book was the writing was a bit scattered. Some storylines end up going nowhere, but it’s understandable considering the big picture nature of the book. Highly recommended for anyone interested in spirituality.

[Hamza Javed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life Changing Ideas

The format of this book was highly engaging and really helped me understand so much more about who Douglas was and what his teachings were about. Truly blown away, I couldn’t put this down. Highly recommend to anyone!

[Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated! A great intro to Douglas Harding. Makes me want to see my true nature.

[Ivan Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book presenting the ideas of Douglas Harding. Really easy to read.

[EJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly accessible with highly important ideas that people of all (and no) faiths can contemplate. The micro and macrocosm structures of ‘creation’/‘physical science’ which are the basis for a large number of concepts in both religion/spirituality and the pure sciences…

[Carlos Collazo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful summation...

This is a great and easy read and a wonderful introduction and summation of the The Headless Way. I read it in a single sitting and will likely return to it again and again. It illustrates perfectly the man and his genius and the wonderful gift he made so accessible to us us all direct from the One inside us all. This is a really good place to start for the curious and the perfect springboard to starting this journey of Self discovery for those wanting to go further. Highly recommended!

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Came across this after listening to Making Sense podcast

Richard Lang and Sam Harris discuss D Harding in a podcast which prompted me to search Amazon to find out more from R Lang and I came across this entertaining, informative and easy to grasp explanation of D Harding’s concept of headlessness. I think I understand the concept now and either way was really interesting reading about D Harding’s life and the illustrations are very much to my liking,