 "How Balanced a Leader are You?" | 2009-09-09 |
| - Reviewed By User: AH1O0L1GI3U5S |
I read this book as preparation to work with a client using the leadership compass.
This is an easy to read book that divides the personality into 4 different abilities: Warrior (being present), Healer (heart), Visionary (truth), and Teacher (non-attachment). Unlike many other books, it's about becoming an effective leader by balancing your abilities in each area.
I especially liked the way the author not only described each area but also connected each back to nature and indigenous people's beliefs. There are also exercises for each area to help you identify where you are. The only thing I would have added were ideas for how to strengthen any areas in which you may be less capable.
Karen L. Jett, Values Based Growth Expert, Author Grow Your People, Grow Your Business |
| |
 "Many paths so little time" | 2009-03-19 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1IV5VVYHUMBK9 |
| The book is well written by an author who obviously has lived what she writes about here. If you are looking for a path with wisdom check this one out. No one path is for everyone but this may very well be the path you have been looking for. You won't know until you look. Reading this will definitely provide you with wisdom and insight. There is something for everyone in this book whether this is your path or not. |
| |
| "As ordered" | 2009-01-20 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1QFLDMOA0WIMI |
| Good price, and delivered in a decent time frame. The book arrived in the condition described. |
| |
| "Seems to be more quotes from other writers than this author's own viewpoint" | 2008-01-15 |
| - Reviewed By stephanie-viscioussl |
I'm about halfway through this book. It contains good information about the four paths and their shadow sides, but I'm having a hard time getting past the fact that this author continuously quotes other authors instead of taking their information and putting it into her own words.
It gives the feeling of a collection of tidbits that will encourage further research.
I will revise this review once I have completed the book. |
| |
| "Take time with this book. This aint no all-nighter." | 2007-04-27 |
| - Reviewed By bagyo |
The exploration of archetypes and symbols within one's life is a powerful tool for self understanding, healing and growth. And so, this is a significant book in my life at least.
This book took a while to be effective in my case. It has become well-worn from being opened to certain pages over and over again. It is marked, folded, penned and penciled in many spots.
I had to go through just one part at a time, and then take time--- to think about the words and their meanings, meditate upon how it applied in my life. Thus, I was able to experience difficult but valuable lessons when taking on the roles of Warrior, Healer, Visionary and Teacher while living through my own self-disassembly and dissection.
I know some reviewers didnt like them, considering them hodgepodge puzzles of various religions... but I particularly liked the tables and charts that illustrate the symbols and things to contemplate upon and process for a particular archetype or power role. For example, I was drawn first to "The Way of The Healer" and Arrien presents the following ideas, symbols and actions: Direction: South/ Element: Earth/ Human Resource: Love/ Kind of Meditation: Lying/ Way of Living: Right Speech/ Four-Fold Way: Pay Attention/ Season: Spring... to just name a few. Trying out the ideas on for size, the suggested practices, the skills... takes a lot of time! I can read a cliffhanger novel in one night, but I couldn't do that with the stuff in this book. LOL.
And so, I read this book for 1 year for self-healing and gained some inner strengthening. I also began to recognize my boundaries and the circle of power that I would have to be willing to stand in. During this time I also began to see patterns of these archetypes in leadership roles within communities and societies and thus continued discerning and observing the qualities of Warrior, Healer, Visionary and Teacher in the admirable men and women leaders I have met personally.
Bottom line, the ideas and symbols associated with Warrior, Healer, Visionary and Teacher needed time and again, contemplation, trial and error, before it really opened up for clearer understanding on the levels of mind and heart for me. Maybe this book can work for you too if you give it some time and your self some patience.
Fare thee well, book lover and fellow Seeker! |
| |
 "Aiyah... Disappointing" | 2007-01-27 |
| - Reviewed By dr__007 |
I hate writing reviews for books like this. I had high hopes for this book (perhaps because of its popularity), yet in the end I found it to be, well, disappointing. (I recently decided to write reviews as a way of giving back to author's works I liked and also to people in the Amazon community from whom I've received on the whole some incredibly valuable recommendations).
Like some of the other reviewers, I found that it lacked depth and substance. For me, I feel there's a substantial difference between something that's well researched (this book) and that which comes from embodied wisdom. Unlike the other reviewer I do not really have an in depth knowledge of the field of classical shamanism so I cannot really refer you to some of the better books in the field (my understanding is Harmer is supposed to be well respected though).
Having read a lot and having had very good teachers, I can easily tell the difference though between something that's well researched (As a researcher myself I understand this situation intimately! Over time I've developed the capacity to 'feel' whether what someone has written is a collection of things they've read about or something they have deep knowledge and personal experience with, there's an authenticity that comes through in the words that just can't be faked).
With respect to this book, take for example, Loren Cruden's works The Spirit of Place and The Compass of the Heart which both written from a medicine wheel perspective, yet you can tell hers comes from deep within, embodied knowledge or wisdom, whereas with this book, it's feels a bit cut and pasted together, there are extensive references to the works of others and a 10+ page bibliography at the back. In a similar way, if you compare books on the chakras written by New Age authors with someone who's actually experienced a kundalini awakening (eg. an Indian master) you will find a very substantial difference in the presentation of their material.
There are many exercises in this book and if you do them, you will definately gain more self knowledge and probably some greater self awareness. For some people, it may add greater understanding of the archetypes the author writes of. For my purposes though I'd rather go to someone who has made the path their life's work and is closer to the source, for example, someone like Don Miguel Ruiz, whose family has a whole lineage of healers.
The book is about the four archetypes of the Warrior, Healer, Teacher and Visionary. It gives outlines of each archetype, relates them to a direction of the medicine wheel, has some poems and questions for relfection and some meditations. There is a good deal of referencing the work of others (both indigenous and western perspectives). There is a quite a substantial practical component to this book, which is something other authors sometimes lack. It's just that for my purposes, many are a bit 'new age'. I cannot tell you how accurate the allocation of excercises and perspectives to the directions are, I wouldn't be surprised if there were inaccuracies as the other reviewers indicate (although I know different traditions do allocate some aspects differently).
In summary, it's not a bad book, there's no way you'd come away from it not learning anything new about your life, it just doesn't have the depth and authenticity to a particular tradition that I'd want in order to take the very serious step of expending a lot of the necessary energy to applying it into my life, I'd prefer to take a more serious, proven approach.
All the best for your journey! |
| |
Expedited Available
