Kenneth Sørensen – A short biography

Born 12.09.1962 Næstved, Denmark

Kenneth Sørensen – From Working Class Boy to Spiritual Teacher

I grew up in Næstved, a small Danish provincial town in South Seeland. My parents were working class and their main ambition was to become middle-class. Both had spent only seven years at school before embarking on a lifetime of manual labour, which at the time was  the only way they could acquire the material prosperity they wanted. Politically conservative with right wings leanings, they valued qualities such as independency, trustworthiness and industriousness. Violations to these values met with harsh discipline, but as long as I toed the line I had the freedom to find my own way in life.

Early on it was instilled in me that I had to defend myself; “hit first” was one of the mottos, which naturally led to plenty of fights with the other boys at school. Around the age of 10 I realized I had to change my approach if I wanted friends. My family environment was stable and secure, but I remember feeling scared, isolated and an outsider, feelings I hid behind a tough and cool façade in order to protect my sensitivity and vulnerability

I finally found a direction in my life when at the age of 17 I joined the army. I was now part of a group who shared my values and with which I could identify. I also met my first real friend here. The discipline in the army did me good and I enjoyed learning about weapons. I stayed five years in the battle troops, including one year as a UN soldier in Cyprus.

From breakdown to breakthrough

A failed relationship would eventually break down the tough guy façade that had become an unbearable prison. I left the army in a state of depression and chaos, totally confused about my identity.  I managed to find sporadic work as road worker and cleaner, and then at the age of 24 I enrolled at a college where I could study astrology, film art, and the supernatural.

It’s a mystery to me how and why I made that leap. I must have been broken and desperate to find out what was wrong with me. Loneliness was my only companion and I felt an impenetrable wall between myself and my surroundings. I suffered panic attacks talking with people I did not know, which only reinforced my isolation.

Astrology became my rescue; it took me out of my dark cave and showed me the light. A glowing passion in me had been ignited. I moved to Copenhagen and cut ties with my previous life. I was undergoing a radical change of identity.

Pretty soon I had gone from one extreme to another; the tough working class boy and professional soldier had transformed into a dedicated New-Ager in pink and purple jogging bottoms. Now everything was about love and emotions and my passions turned into a burning idealism. I was 26 when I realized that I had to see a psychotherapist. Many barriers and defence mechanisms prevented me from being myself and my emotional life was simply fucked up.

Fortunately, I discovered meditation! Thank you Buddha, Pantajali and all the enlightened ones who opened this path to awakening! Since I first sat down, closed my eyes and visualized a sun in my chest, meditation has been the most important practice in my life. It showed me the way out of spiritual poverty. I would sit for hours every day meditating, peeling away layers of unconsciousness and negative thoughts. Gradually the real “me” emerged.

Social political engagement and cosmology

I grew tired of what I was doing and decided to train as a social worker. This was a challenge. I had to ignore my dislike of the left wing and communist attitude that was predominant among my peers. My old attitude, rooted in my upbringing and time in the army, began to change. I believe my interest in social policy followed naturally from my spiritual studies.

Throughout my 30’s I had two careers. My social work led me to social psychiatry. I co-founded a nationwide magazine for people with mental health problems, written and produced by the service users themselves. It is still going strong today. But my intellectual life was expanding. I had a passion for knowledge, particularly about cosmology, spiritual science, and psychology.

Astrology led me to theosophy and to Alice Bailey’s esoteric psychology. I felt I had reached home. Looking back, I realize my missionary and activist zeal was directed at two different causes, both close to my heart: mental health and esoteric philosophy. But I had not yet matured and was arrogant to people who did not study as hard as I did.

By the time I reached forty my missions had run their course. I was disappointed with myself and disillusioned with the esoteric world when I realized that our ability to live what we preached was very limited.

Psychosynthesis and psychotherapy

At the beginning of the 2000’s I decided to change my career. In order to work with my new passion I took teacher training courses and completed a 4-year Psychosynthesis Psychotherapy programme. With my training and personal experience in psychotherapy, I felt it was time for me to offer coaching and astrological and psychotherapeutic counselling. I was also teaching meditation and psychological development. This was in 2003. Soon after I got involved with Kentaur Training and Publishing, which has been a focus point in my life since.

In 1999 I published my first book, “Full Moon Meditation”. Over the next decade Kentaur Publishing published 20 books in psychology and spirituality, mostly translations of works about Psychosynthesis or esoteric philosophy. I also published 5 books of my own. During this time I was involved with 3 compilations of the work of Alice Bailey on mental health, karma and reincarnation, which were published elsewhere. I also completed training in Psychotherapy with an MA in Psychosynthesis Psychotherapy at the University of East London.

I think of this time as a kind of purging and cleansing of my emotional life as well as an expansion of my intellect. My meditation deepened. I practiced an awareness based meditation combined with visualizations. I experienced gentleness and inner peace and realized that silence and being still were as important to me as my more dynamic and passionate qualities.

Looking back, this seems like a process of digging myself out of unconsciousness, of abandoning a protective shield of inadequacy. I had to be free from all the limitations of my previous life. This is an endless journey. Every time you experience freedom, a door opens to an even greater freedom.

Collaboration on Energy types and Soul Flow

During the late 2000s Søren Hauge and I started to work with energy types and what we called Soul Flow. The collaboration proved very fruitful. We developed a new language relating to the seven-ray philosophy, which we called Energy Psychology.

We were both committed to bringing our experiences to a new audience. We wanted to make Energy Psychology practical, useful to people in their everyday life.

In 2012, with a group of enthusiastic people from business, IT and psychology, we founded JivaYou.com. JivaYou.com offers a varieties of online identity profiles. It presents a unique identity profile based on a number of questions. The profile maps your most important types, talents, and shadow aspects based on the seven energy types of energy psychology and the insights of Psychosynthesis.

In 2014, I became head of the Norwegian Institute of Psychosynthesis in Oslo – the same institute where I had completed my undergraduate psychotherapy studies. A group of former students took over the institute when it came under the threat of closure. Three groups of students completed the training, but no matter how much money and resources we poured in, we could not make it work financially. This was a difficult time for us, but we did our best and came out stronger for it

Fortunately for me, I also met my wife and soul mate Karianne in connection with my work with the institute. She is also dedicated to personal and spiritual growth, astrology and wants to contribute to human development. I guess the moral of the story is that when one door closes, another one opens.

My focus is now on JivaYou, my work as writer and my family. A quieter, contemplative period has started, preferably in the Norwegian mountains.

To be continued …

More about Kenneth Sørensen

My Life with Energy Types is an autobiographical account which illustrates how personal development is influenced by the characteristics of our five energy types.

Integral Meditation – The Seven Ways to the Soul describes the different types of meditations and the experiences that follows. Based on the author’s 30 year practice and experience with meditation.