In addition to being a Mindfulness Fellow in Northeastern University’s Center for Spirituality, Dialogue, and Service, Aaron B. Daniels is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Psychology Department. He is the faculty leader for the Psychological Humanities at Northeastern University Workgroup (PH@NU) which facilitates undergraduates creating transdisciplinary conference posters and presentations as well as participating in editing scholarly works. His PhD is from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, California where he focused on Archetypal Psychology with a dissertation on the use of imagination by criminal profilers. His MA is from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he studied existential phenomenology. His BA with honors is from Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. His books are: Imaginal Reality, Volumes 1 & 2 (both in 2011); Jungian Crime Scene Analysis: An Imaginal Investigation (2014); and, most recently, he contributed four chapters and edited Dante and the Other: A Phenomenology of Love (2021). He is working with students on editing two upcoming volumes, one on the idea of the Alien and the other on Spiritual Direction. Aaron has been teaching in higher education for two decades. A psychotherapist in Seattle for 10 years, he worked in community and private practice, achieving LGBT-specialist status. He completed his certification in spiritual Direction in 2022. Film, science-fiction, and ‘Weird’ literature are frequent additions to his classes and research.
Aaron’s youth and young adult life involved deep explorations of faith traditions. Growing up in Ohio, he was privileged to have monthly visits to an Amish farm. His father’s family has deep roots in the Quakers and his home was a site of lively—and sometimes contentious—religious discussions. Brought up in the Lutheran Church, Aaron has since explored many other practices and beliefs including Zen Buddhism, Sufism, Reconstructionist Judaism, Wicca, and some of the many dark alleys of the Western Esoteric Traditions. This has led him to find that the language, rituals, and imagery of spirituality, religion, and mysticism can offer unique access to fundamental frontiers of our being and relationships too easily covered over by our everyday beliefs about the world. As tools to gain some ‘quiet in the storm’ of all the images constantly bombarding us, he has found mindfulness and meditation indispensable. Given this diversity of experiences, Aaron and his wife have found a welcoming home in the Episcopal Church where they cherish participating in the rich liturgy, commitment to social justice, incarnational theology, and beautiful music.
Aaron offers Spiritual and Mindful Accompaniment at no additional charge to members of Northeastern University’s faculty, staff, and students, including all those who work with Northeastern’s CSDS in any capacity. Aaron also offers guided meditation at 12pm on Tuesdays in the Sacred Space and mindfulness mentoring by appointment.
