The Wishing Year: A Memoir of Fulfilled Desire
Noelle Oxenhandler
As soon as I read the book jacket, I realized this book explores the conflict in the New Age between devotion to the Law of Attraction, you-create-your-own-reality-with-your-thoughts side of the movement and the Zen teaching that thoughts are silly noise to be seen through. As a 30-year Buddhist who found the idea of giving in to her desires distasteful, the first half the book is an amusing look at the mental pretzels one twists in order to accommodate both desire and detachment from it. Eventually, the lure of desire wins out, as it usually does, and Oxenhandler learns formal ways in which to wish and manifest those desires. As her wishes begin to come true almost magically, Oxenhandler goes to great lengths to justify the lengths she went to to get what she wanted. And although her account left me unclear whether she actually believes her wishing rituals were what brought her desires to her door, she clearly resolved that desire in itself is nothing to run from, and is, perhaps, the only doorway to a different life. Intriguing read.
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Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization
Lester Brown
This latest edition of Brown’s sobering analysis of the issues threatening the viability of 21st century civilization should be required reading for all citizens, but most especially our legislators and policy makers. (Apparently media mogul Ted Turner felt the same and bought 3600 copies and gave them to “heads of state, cabinet members, Fortune 300 CEOs, and the U.S. Congress.”) Luckily, after being thoroughly depressed by this picture of where we’re headed, Brown sets down a road map that shows us how to go a different direction and literally save ourselves. While I wish his prescriptions for how to solve complicated issues like overpopulation were more detailed than the few pages per problem he offers here, Brown certainly gives us a starting point for action -- and basis for hope. We all need to adopt this plan. See more at Brown’s Earth Policy Institute; http://www.earthpolicy.org
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Integral Spirituality
Ken Wilber
I eagerly grab up Wilber’s newest books, and this one turned out to be particularly valuable to me, especially with its in-depth exploration of the stages of spiritual growth. An understanding of how people linger in certain stages -- and how they evolve into higher stages-- is crucial to helping ourselves and others grow, and absolutely key to any hope of societal transformation. I confess, Wilber’s theories are sometimes exasperatingly complicated -- he works with a vocabulary that leaves my Merriam-Webster dictionary struck dumb. And while I certainly don’t grasp every nuance of his all quadrant-all level model of consciousness, I always feel comforted that someone has figured everything out in such precise detail. Highly recommended for intrepid readers. (Other books that explore “spiritual stages” in great detail are Wilber’s Integral Psychology and Eye of Spirit.)
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Awake in the Heartland
Joan Tollifson
This astonishingly honest spiritual memoir had me copying down dozens of Tollifson’s hard won insights into my journal. While reading this book (and her previous book, Bare Bones Meditation), I actually moved through my days feeling more at peace and accepting of the moment. Tollifson is able to capture the real struggle -- and the silliness -- of wading through our own troublesome thoughts in order to simply live. She takes us through her journey from regular Zen-style meditation to a more relaxed Advaita-style continuous mindfulness. This book made me feel like I understand myself and my life in a deeper way. A stunning piece of spiritual writing.
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Experiencing the Next World Now
Michael Grosso, Ph.D.
While I’ve always assumed there is some manner of existence for us after death, I once believed that looking for proof of this was a futile exercise. Michael Grosso’s book on the “next world” has convinced me otherwise. With his logical and systematic approach to the matter, Grosso makes inquiring into the nature of what lies beyond death the most reasonable of endeavors. In fact, as our feelings about death so often color the experience of being alive, Grosso makes it clear that grappling with what comes next is a most sensible of endeavors. As he writes, “The exploration of the afterlife riddle forces us to go more deeply into ourselves.” An easy, fascinating read that made me see the issue with new eyes. |
The 99th Monkey
Eliezer Sobel
I was delighted and charmed by this book. I always felt a bit cheated that the job and family stuff kept me from taking off to different corners of the world to have New Age-style spiritual adventures, but now that I’ve read Sobel’s account of his own farflung adventures, I feel cheated no more. I related profoundly to the feeling of being “the 99th monkey,” the one person in the room with a plodding practical brain who doesn’t get why everyone else is caught up in some transcendent experience. Yet feeling close enough to the edge of getting it to keep on trying. And trying. And trying. And finally realizing, this is as good as it gets. And realizing that’s fine. A tale told with humor, honesty and fine insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the New Age movement, and what attracts us to it anyway. |
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A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose
Eckhart Tolle
I was a fan of Tolle and read this book long before Oprah selected it for her book club and sent sales through the stratosphere. (Thank God for Oprah for getting spiritual ideas circulating in the mainstream.) This book speaks eloquently of “awakening,” -- spiritual growth not only for our own benefit but for the benefit of all. This is the most basic, and revolutionary, of all New Age ideas and I love Tolle’s gentle, confident tone that yes, you too, can evolve and grow to the next stage of spiritual development. While it is not as easy as he makes it sound to shed old mental habits and see the world through new eyes (he‘s definitely an Advaita guy), I agree with him that “a glimpse is enough to initiate the awakening process, which is irreversible.“ I am thrilled that his books are so popular, and idealistic concepts are being planted like seeds that could very well have the society-transforming effect he describes. |
The Translucent Revolution: How People Like You are Waking Up and Changing the World
Arjuna Ardagh
An inspiring book that describes what an awakened life might look like from different angles. Arjuna interviews a number people who have had peak experiences or moments of “radical awakening.” He not only describes how those moments unfold but how those moments impact the whole of their lives -- on the individual level of identity, relationships, and parenthood, as well the collective level of education, business, health care and religion. I found it fascinating reading, especially in light of the context Ken Wilber sets down in his foreword about the differences between “states” and “stages” of consciousness. While reading the book, I was sometimes hit by the feeling of “hey, not fair” at reading the accounts of those who were hit by unearned transcendent moments as if from out of the sky. Still, it also made me feel more eager to sit myself down and meditate. |
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