English (Home)

~ Books ~

My Poetry is Silence
Verses in The Light of Truth
English-Spanish-Portuguese

You are Love.
Not somebody who loves, but Love itself.

You are truth.
Not your truth, but Truth itself.

ISAAC PORTILLA is a thinker, author and teacher in the fields of contemporary spirituality and spiritual evolution, including topics related to ecumenical spirituality and interfaith dialogue. His working-project covers four major areas: spiritual teachings; academic and scientific studies; development of evolutionary spiritual practices; explorations of individual and collective models toward a divine and integral life. He has authored various books... (read more: bio; lineage)

~ News ~

Field of Supporting Presence

Updated weekly

We are a group of meditation practitioners dedicated to the exploration of mysticism, based in Spain, Portugal, and Scotland. The Covid-19 crisis triggers conditions that we understand open various difficult fronts. For this reason, we have decided to create a field of supporting presence, through a series of initiatives (at no cost):

A. Meetings in prayer and contemplation

B. Existential exploration: The Yoga of Forgiveness

C. Other initiative

~ Academic work ~

Research Focus. Phenomenology of mystical experience; interfaith dialogue from the perspective of mystical consciousness; inter-religious mysticism; Indian sages: Sri Ramana Maharshi and Sri Aurobindo; East-West dialogue.

Research Overview. His general research aims to better understand the significance of spiritual-existential dynamics and mystical narratives to explain human destiny, and the evolutionary formation of mystical consciousness. He uses phenomenological approaches, centering his enquiry on mystical experience and existential discussions which are often overlooked.

Research at St Andrews. His present research at St Andrews focuses on the Indian sages Sri Ramana Maharshi and Sri Aurobindo in the context of Intra-Hindu and Hindu-Christian interfaith dialogue, and contemporary Western spiritual movements. The research aims to better understand the unique evolutionary contributions of these iconic figures (considered by many the most important mystical sages of the 20th century), and to explore new interfaith perspectives through the lens of mystical consciousness.

Research methods. Descriptive mystical phenomenology; mystical-phenomenological hermeneutics.

(See full academic profile at the University of St Andrews)

The Possibilities of Spiritual Experience: An Autobiographical and Philosophical Exploration
The Possibilities of Spiritual Experience brings together the four major forces in Western spiritual movements—Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism and Hinduism (including the Yogic and Advaita traditions)—acknowledging their distinctive contributions to an emerging, evolutionary and universal paradigm (read more)

Nov/2017 'The Possibilities' at NOVA University
Isaac was invited by Dr. Luis Filipe Lages to one of his Value Creation Wheel courses at NOVA University (Lisbon) to show an application of the Three Pillars Model (described in the book 'The Possibilities...') in the context of finding solutions for the problems, aspirations and needs of the participants. Isaac explained how our construction of reality and of "what we are" affects how we frame a problem and the solutions we eventually consider. He put the example of "how to quit smoking" (which many identified as their major problem), and showed how it can be addressed from nine complementary perspectives (from physical to spiritual) depending on the aspects of being considered. [You can download the smoking example and 'the 9 aspects enquiry form' below:]

vcw_and_three_pillars_model_9_aspects_enquiry_smoking_example.pdf
File Size:	85 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

Explaining an application of the Three Pillars Model to 40 PhD students at NOVA University

~ Teachings ~

Nuevo Libro
El yoga del perdón. El perdón como estado del ser y otras exploraciones existenciales
El yoga del perdón significa para la enseñanza cristiana lo que la investigación del karma ha significado para el budismo: la creación de un campo de exploración entorno a la que quizás sea la enseñanza práctica más importante de esta tradición. El resultado de esta exploración es un nuevo "yoga"... (leer más)

Spiritual Life in Contemporary Society. It is not up to you to decide the ideal framework for your spiritual life. At the beginning of the path, many of us have dreamed of... (read more)