Reviews Written By: AARHLUIV2NNI2provided by Amazon.com |
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 | The Lives and Liberation of Princess Mandarava: The Indian Consort of Padmasambhava | |
 | "Worthwhile Reading" | 2009-09-13 |
| I am still giving this book 5 stars. It is a worthwhile read about Mandarava and describes both her process or realization and her service to sentient beings to relieve their sorrow and become enlightened. I have one reservation about the book and that is that many of the chapters are almost like written summaries and outlines. For instance, there is a section where she and Padmasambhava conquer aging and death at Maratiki Cave. This shows that there is a Buddhist tradition of physical immortality and light translation. The rituals that she and Padmasambhava used to accomplish this are covered. They practiced extensively quite a large number of practices which are only named. You would have to go elsewhere to find out about these and cannot learn much about them from this book. This kind of summarization is common in a number of medium to advanced Buddhist books. I have found some books which explain the practices in more detail and some Buddhist glossaries that help define many terms that are undefined in some of these books. With the internet it is getting easier to search for these missing elements. A reader would need to do this with this book if one were to try to understand everything that it is saying. But even without this, you do get a flavor of her process and her enlightenment. | ||
 | Discovering Your Personality Type : The Essential Introduction to the Enneagram, Revised and Expanded | |
 | "Good Book on the Personality Enneagram But Cannot Stand Alone" | 2009-07-02 |
| This book is a good Enneagram Book but by itself it does not explain enough of the Personality Enneagram to fully appreciate the psychological system behind it. The book focuses on being a questionnaire to determine your psychological type. As an inventory, it is an interesting experience to undergo, though I would wish that there were more than two categories for each item and merely trying to pick which of the two feels the most true. My own feeling is that it would be more precise even if it added "difficulty deciding which feels truer" between the two choices. Many choices will be clear to the person anyway. I have enjoyed studying the Enneagram over more than two decades. I still like THE ENNEAGRAM by Helen Palmer the best and it is this book that opened up most of the popularity of the Enneagram system and brought it out from the confines of the Arica system. But where I differ with the Enneagram typing systems is as follows: (1) I am not sure if all people fall into one type only. Some people seem more accurately describable in terms of a composite of more than one strong point. I have found that some people are easily discernable as one type and seem to stay in this type in nearly all situations, while others are less centered in one type, and may respond to different stresses with different type strategies, (2) Sometimes a person will go through an emotional crisis and will appear temporarily to be a certain type. For instance, when people are processing a deep fear issue, they might appear as a ennea-six for a short while or when involved in a certain loving relationship they might appear as an ennea-two or an ennea-four. It would be interesting if people would be studied to see if their answers to an inventory would change at 5 year intervals and maybe even show a movement to another type (perhaps following the development lines). So far it seems that no one has done this, but perhaps this kind of questionnaire may be the first step. There is one author who has studied the Enneagram and Astrology and has found a correspondence between these two. Her approach would explain both the observations I have made above, one by the planetary configuration emphasizing elements of more than one type and two by transits and midpoints (in a relationship chart) bringing out different enneagram elements in given time period or relationship. In this kind of perspective, it is less important to type a person once and for all time, but simply to notice what type energy they are manifesting in present time and to see if it illuminates the psychological or interpersonal process they are going through now. I have found that several Enneagram study groups can conflict with each other regarding what type an individual person is and the approach I am suggesting side steps the need to find out which one is ultimately right. Having said this, if you take the questionnaire, I think it can be a worthwhile experience and may increase our self understanding. But I would caution against overdefining what it means to be one type or another. | ||
 | Zohar: The Book of Splendor : Basic Readings from the Kabbalah | |
| "Gives the Flavor of a Branch of Mystical Judaism" | 2009-06-12 |
| The book is part commentary on many passages on the Old Testament, part historical bits from the lives of various mystical Rabbis and scholars, and part an exposition of certain distinctive teachings concerning the Zohar. I have gathered from a few other reviews (excellent ones by the way) that the Zohar is a five volume set of writings that is very extensive in scope. This small book probably cannot really encompass this larger book and be anything more than an introduction and perhaps a barely adequate summary of certain highlights of that set. But it does have a number of good stories and passages that definitely give you a feeling for what spirituality itself is for and what kinds of inner experiences you are meant to reach in your contemplative prayer journey. You can get some feeling of the faith and inner life of the various Rabbis that were involved with the Zohar and drew some strength from it and how they esteemed the Torah as central to their lives. As such, this book is a good place to start if you want to learn more about the Zohar, either spiritually or historically. From a Buddhist perspective, the devoted study of the scriptures has a feeling similar to studying various sutras (like the Heart Sutra). This book does not seem to give a meditation methodology or meditation method to go within. It seems that the book does not consider its aim to go there or perhaps you just intuitively feel your way within as you contemplate these passages. I would consider a tradition like this more complete if there were methods of meditation to support these contemplations. It seems that there is a kind of visualization and chanting meditation based on the spheres of the Qabalah in the Tree of Life that may serve this purpose, but this does not seem part of this book. | ||
 | Elektra (Widescreen Edition) | |
| "Japanese Animation Style Done with Human Actors" | 2009-05-26 |
| The style of this movie reminds me of adult Japanese animation in the Samarai tradition. I liked the surrealistic montages and found them to be well coreographed. There were some interesting plot twists that added to the story, though sometimes the plot was a little hard to follow. Without having seen the end of the Daredevil movie and figuring out that they were bringing Electra back to life, I would have missed an important piece to the plot. Even so, the visuals are very beautiful, the camera work was excellent, the music fit the scenes like a glove, and there was enough time devoted to human interaction to get a sense of most of the characters. I have found most modern action film is too much on blowing things up and too little on the human interaction part. This movie is more balanced in this sense, though I would have liked a little more time on some of the side characters. Although the plot is interesting and reminds me to classic comic book type plots, I felt that the plot was mainly to give some coherence, continuity, and meaning to some fairly long scenes which were done very well. It is not the action, conflict, and resolution formula of a usual Hollywood film, but more of a surrealistic montage of images and scenes that highlight the psychological angst of the main character. I found the martial art scenes to be well choreographed and was happy that they did not go overboard with too much fighting. I liked that pacing was slow and communicated a more dance like quality to the fights. I was impressed with whatever training Jennifer Garner got that made her shine in those scenes. I suspect it was all that time on Alias and some excellent camera work to show her at her best. | ||
 | Making a Living Without a Job : Winning Ways For Creating Work That You Love | |
| "Decent Book about Doing the Psychological Homework to be Self Employed" | 2009-05-20 |
| The book is a fun read with a lot of stories and exercises sprinkled in. It is not a rigorous book, but a book to inspire you to find your own solutions and find your own creative passion. I like the phrase "multiple profit centers" that she coins. It is not my favorite book on self employment and making money, but it is a good one. Oddly enough the author herself quotes a few of my favorites and apparently drew inspiration from those also! I think the key is to just get the idea and give it a chance. I would, however, recommend not getting into debt at all if possible and not be in a rush to invest/risk money in a venture. In the beginning, with a "shoestring marketing" the inevitable mistakes will cost less that way. The author does keep this reasonableness front and center. | ||
 | Rastafari: For the Healing of the Nation | |
| "Good Summary of Rastafarian Spirituality" | 2009-05-16 |
| This book has a very readable conversational style that hides a fair amount of serious scholarship. It seems to touch almost every aspect of Rastafarian spirituality from its values, its history, its politics, and its way of life. It goes into how integral breathing, chakras, ganja, and herbs in general are to this way. It has ample quotes of the Bible and points out a neglect of the historical passages in the Bible that relate to Egypt and Africa. It talks about why Rastas use the word "Jah" for G-d, and its relationship to the Coptics. It does seem like a very good intro and summary of the spiritual tradition. The only item I was not clear about from the book is that I thought that Rastafarians were vegan and largely vegan (no animal products), but I could not verify this while perusing the book. If it is there in the book, which I could have easily missed, it is not presented as forthrightly as some of the other subjects (like its very large section on ganja). | ||
 | Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year (Wise Woman Herbal Series, Book 1) | |
| "A Good Introduction to Herbs Applied to Pregnancy" | 2009-05-15 |
| Herbal Medicine is a big subject and I suspect that there are few single books that can give a comprehensive overview. I think perhaps THE HERB BOOK by John Lust and BACK TO EDEN by Jethro Kloss, and PLANETARY HERBOLOGY by Michael Tierra may come the closest. This book by Susan Weed is not so comprehensive, but she packs a lot of information related to pregnancy and childbirth that is useful. Although it is about pregnancy and childbirth with herbal support, the book can be a useful introduction to herbal medicine. There is a section on how to prepare the herbal formulas, a section on terminology, herbs and vitamins, and an index. What is curious is that the book seems to lack the usual caveat that goes "this book is not intended to be a replacement for medical care or a doctor, if you have any doubts about whether or not the information is right for you, seek a health professional, the author cannot assume an responsibility for...". It seems that the author wants to empower women to find out what works for them and not lean on health authorities, so that there is a parallel clause that encourages the woman to go within and feel what is right for them. I suspect that she is going back to the midwife, herbalist, curandera, and wiccan type traditions in this kind of orientation, but does encorporate a fair number of scientific footnotes. There are some cautions that she places fairly frequently in her book that are worth heeding. If this book is to be used as a primary source during pregnancy, it would be worth reading from cover to cover at least once to get a feel for the whole approach, rather than look up something on the fly when the challenges are happening. There is a biochemical individuality that makes standardized advice not always work and the female body changes a lot all the way through the birth process, having different needs and challenges each step of the way. I noticed one reviewer seemed to take the advice in the book and had complications. All in all, I am impressed with how much ground Susan Weed covers and suspect that as a person she is brimming with information, with much of it learned helping a lot of people one on one. I think the limits of this book would be true for almost any book trying to cover as much as she does in about 171 pages. As good as this book is, I would recommend supplementation with at least another book, getting a second opinion or two, just to keep perspective, and to realize one's limits if some complication comes up that feels big and find a health professional, holistic or conventional, that one feels comfortable with. | ||
 | A Year With Emerson: A Daybook | |
| "Intellectual Snacking on Emerson" | 2009-05-13 |
| I like year books where you have some worthwhile thoughts given to you each day that connect together to build up themes and an overall view. This year book differs from some, because it is not merely philosophical, it is also historical. You get the flavor of the person, how he felt about nature, and the environment and times that he lived in. There are ink prints in the book based on some wonderful engravings that introduce each month, the detail on these is really amazing, some of them are of animals, mainly birds, and others are of the landscape. One, which is on the dust jacket is a profile of Emerson. It gives the book a classic feel. I recommend this book for someone who wants to get a sample of how Emerson felt about many things, his writing style, and his thoughts. It is a little like a stream of consciousness poem that reveals much. It is not merely an introduction to the philosopher, but a way of remembering the revelant highlights of his thinking. I suspect you could deduce the rest of what his other writings are about from these high potency capsules of his thinking. | ||
![Future Sounds of Jazz, Vol. 6 [Compost]](product_images/160000/160614_thumb.jpg) | Future Sounds of Jazz, Vol. 6 [Compost] | |
| "LIvely Experimental Synthesizer Jazz with Global Fusion" | 2009-01-11 |
| This CD has instrumental experimental Jazz and near trance synthesizer pieces. Some of the rhythm patterns have a Latin flavor and feel very danceable. Others remind me of chill out lounge music. A few selections have some subdued vocals that are more part of the background rather than the foreground. I enjoyed the selections and liked working with them in the background. I have not heard the other volumes in the series and so I cannot compare them with each other. My only reservations about this collection is that the mood between selections is not always consistent, some are more mellow and some are more lively. But the mood of the CD is more consistent than a lot of collections I have heard. Some of the pieces are more experimental than the others and are interesting studies. Two of them felt slightly dissident to me, but the experimental sound still felt worth hearing. | ||
 | Life Is Real Only Then, When I Am | |
| "The Last Writing of Gurdjieff" | 2008-11-26 |
| This book is the last of a series of three books. The other two are BEELZEBUB'S TALES TO HIS GRANDSON and MEETINGS WITH REMARKABLE MEN. There is also a compilation of his lectures called VIEWS FROM THE REAL WORLD. The best one of the three to start with is last one mentioned. LIFE IS ONLY REAL WHEN "I AM" does not really stand on its own. A person would have needed to read other books on the Fourth Way in order to appreciate this book. The book is also incomplete. It stops mid-sentence when Gurdjieff was about to describe the qualities of a complete man who would be his successor. This abrupt ending had puzzled a number of his followers and several of them thought of his successor being Pak Subhud or Idries Shah. But without any writing at all, it would be hard to confirm any candidate. I take the abrupt ending as a kind of unintended Zen koan. The mention of being able to knock out a yak at a distance was significant to John Bennett, because it indicated that Gurdjieff did receive some mind training in Tibet (where yaks are present). There is also a technique artfully embedded in the book that I have found very valuable and which involves concentrating attention on various parts of the body. Several Fourth Way groups have taken this exercise and developed it further. All in all, the book is a kind of scrapbook of interesting items, some autobiographical, some historical, and some practical. In terms of core material about the system Gurdjieff left behind, there is not much in this book that a person really needs to know. It is definitely not a beginners book on the system either. But I do feel that it helps complete the picture of his teachings and therefore is an appropriate final book to his series. The one practical item, the technique mentioned above, is not present in most of the Fourth Way literature. It is not in IN SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS or THE FOURTH WAY (both by Ouspensky), nor in the ones mentioned above. It is worth studying this method and doing it for a while. The method mentioned also appears in TRANSFORMATION by John Bennett in a more detailed form. I have not found this method in any other Fourth Way book, though it does resemble a Hindu method. In an odd way, its abrupt end is significant, because it means that we have to complete the work ourselves. | ||
 | Prisons We Choose to Live Inside | |
| "Transcripts of Some Valuable Lectures" | 2008-11-11 |
| I found this book interesting in several regards. I have enjoyed the writings of Doris Lessing very much. As an author she went through three distinct and overlapping periods, one as a feminist, one as a socialist, and one as a Sufi student. Following the insights gained through her contact with Sufi teachings (which show up strongly in THE FOUR GATED CITY and in the Shikasta series), she shares the theme of "influence", all the ways which we are influenced to conform to group think and to make purchases of items we either do not need or which are not healthy for us. There are roots to why these conformist pressures work, some biological and some sociological. Lessing discusses these. The book lacks documentation for some of the assertions made, but I think this is understandable because they were lecture transcripts and because Lessing herself is speaking more from what she observes. There is an assumption that we can take her words as a lens and look at what is going on through them. Most of the themes are present in our daily lives, if we are awake enough to look and verify them. It takes a kind of self reflection that is part of Sufi training. She does not present her observations as a Sufi exercise, though, but simply invites listeners/readers into a self reflection about what is going on, and then perhaps curving back to ourselves to see how we are influenced and how we can break free of this. This particular edition has a beautiful black and white picture of Lessing inside the front cover and a one page biography. Unlike many of her writings, this book is a fairly speedy read, making it an ideal introduction to her writings. | ||
 | The Psychology of Man's Possible Evolution | |
| "Best Introduction to the Fourth Way" | 2008-09-01 |
| The "Fourth Way" is a term given by Gurdjieff for a special spiritual path to practiced in the world, in ordinary human society, which is not one of the three traditional ways of the fakir (yogi), monk (bhakti), or philosopher (jnana yoga), which roughly correspond to physical, emotional, and mental paths. According to these teachings, the Fourth Way is a path of energy and consciousness where a person can generate an evolutionary energy called "Do 48" through a meditation practice called "self remembering" more deliberately, rapidly, and efficiently than the other paths, which have to work harder to produce a small amount of this energy in a more indirect way. This book is based on a series of introductory lectures that Ouspensky gave in London and in other places. These lectures inspired many people in London to form a group there, many of them part of the "intelligensia" of the area, including Orage, Maurice Nicole, Kenneth Walker, and others. Many of the ideas of the Fourth Way did influence the formation of many branches of western psychology and even brain research. Gurdjieff taught, for instance, that humans were "three brained beings" and this idea became the basis of the research into the R-complex (reptilian brain), Limbic system (mammalian emotional brain), and cortex (intellectual human brain) of Restak and Macclain. Gurdjieff also made other scientific assertions that were later verified by western science. The Fourth Way is a variation of Sufi teaching that was related to the Sarmoun community. In Gurdjieff's own writings, he mentions several of his teachers. The books by Ouspensky, IN SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS and THE FOURTH WAY are a good systematic presentation of the teachings Gurdjieff left behind. Ouspenky had a very good memory and the accounts in the book IN SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS do give a flavor of how Gurdjieff taught. However, both IN SEARCH and THE FOURTH WAY are very thick books with highly condensed material which presents a fairly complete system of spiritual growth. The only essential part of the work that seems lacking in these books is the sacred dances that Gurdjieff felt were needed to create the functional fusion of the inner centers which was necessary for a more permanent state of awakened consciousness. These dances are rarely detailed in books, because this medium had not been felt adequate to properly teach them. Only in the last ten years or so have videos of those dances come out which give a feeling for this part of the Gurdjieff work. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MAN'S POSSIBLE EVOLUTION by Ouspensky is a brilliant condensation and introduction to the core ideas of the Fourth Way and presented in such a manner that I feel a person could verify the validity of most these ideas in their own immediate experience. It is a less intimidating way of entering into the whole system of Fourth Way teachings and one that does not lose sight of the practical day to day part of how we can grow into objective consciousness. I suspect that some negative reviews of the books by Ouspensky and even Gurdjieff come from a dogmatic cult flavor behind many of the groups who practice the system. Some of the groups that me and some of my friends have encountered, indeed, do not seem healthy or balanced. One person I met worked with a teacher who did eventually commit suicide. I think part of this has to do with the writings of Ouspensky having a pessimistic flavor, teaching that man cannot 'do', and making the effort awaken feel so difficult that it is easy to get discouraged. Maurice Nicole, a student of both Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, does not have this pessimistic flavor and even held a vision that all humans might fully awaken, while Ouspensky felt only a few could "escape" mechanical human life. Gurdjieff was more optimistic as well, and mentions a blueprint for healing this world in his writings called BEELEZEBUB'S TALES where a Saint develops an initiation system that spreads across the planet until thwarted by another being. Although it seems to be talking about a past saint, Gurdjieff did confide to John Bennett that he was really talking about a possible future and that the opposition was more of a warning about what could go wrong. While I would caution anyone about joining a Fourth Way group and would recommend that they steer clear of any group that has an authoritarian dogmatic flavor (whether Fourth Way or not), I feel the ideas of the Fourth Way are valuable and I feel worth practicing for a length of time to see what happens. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MAN'S POSSIBLE EVOLUTON is a good place to start, to see if one has an affinity to the ideas. I had a time with this work and found the insights and growth I gained through work with this system very valuable. My preference, though, is to work with Buddhist teachings and Buddhist meditation practice. I feel the Buddhist inquiry into the illusory sense of self is a valuable remedy to "crystallizing a false sense of self" that the Fourth Way has a danger of creating as well as the Mahayana emphasis on compassion being an antidote to the danger of the work becoming overly intellectual. | ||
 | Door of Everything | |
| "A Wonderful Book About Ascension" | 2008-08-05 |
| I got interested in this book because it was quoted on CELEBRATION OF BREATH by Sondra Ray. It is part of a literature base of what can be called "Immortalist" writings. These are books that believe that it is possible to conquer aging and death as part of a long term healing and enlightenment process. THE DOOR OF EVERYTHING is an ideal example of this literature and is very poetically written. It talks about the Ascension attitudes of gratitude, faith, and devotion (a channeled being added "humor" to the list to make it more complete), the importance of forgiveness as a gift to yourself (so that resentment does not eat you up), and about going beyond limiting beliefs and opening up to the full abundance of what Divine Grace wants to give us, even on this physical plane. The book is perfect to read when one is doing the first ten rebirthing sessions, which tend to bring up the "death urge" (the sum total of all the thoughts we hold that make us believe that life is not worth living) which is locked into our chronic muscle tensions and which is charged with anger, fear, and sadness. Inspirational literature of the quality of this little book is helpful medicine when the repressed emotions come up for completion. | ||
 | Traveller in Space: In Search of Female Identity in Tibetan Buddhism | |
| "A Much Needed Book on Feminism and Tibetan Buddhism" | 2008-03-28 |
| I have been aware for some time that Buddhism has not been completely egalitarian about it approaches males and females on the path. In some Buddhist countries, laywomen are not allowed the same initiations as their male counterparts and nuns who are senior to new male monks must still defer to them as authorities over their lives. I do not think this was the original inspiration of the Buddha, but when Buddhism spread and got integrated with other religions, like the indigenous Shamanism of Tibet (Bonn), it sometimes inherited the anti-female attitudes of the culture. There is a passage in the Theravadin canon where the Buddha declares that if men and women (who are stated as being equal in number in every class of Buddhist seeker) were not both part of his religion that it was be deficient. This is different than a passage I found in one Tibetan Buddhist book by a Lama that said that women could not become Pretyakabuddhists (solitary liberators) inspite of the fact that Tara appears to have done this just to prove this idea wrong as well as her emanation/incarnation Machig Labron. The book by June Campbell comes from an awareness of some of these imbalances and goes into the Lama system which takes tulkus away from their mothers to be raised in an all male celibate society and what impact this could have on how women are seen and treated. She goes into the idea that many lamas have secret consorts while being outwardly and socially "celibate", something that she testifies to having had personal experience with. A friend of mine had witnessed her being disturbed during the time in question and was keeping this to herself. She is discrete and does not name names in her book. I will honor her silence and not name his name either in this review. What I find interesting is that she proposes that the original gender of Avalochiteshvara was female and was actually called the Lotus Goddess. This makes sense in terms of the construct of the mantra "Om Mani Padme Hum", since Usually the name of diety is framed by "om" on one side and the Tantric energy family on the other side ("hum" for the Amogasiddhi family and the element of air) as in "Om Vajrasattva Om" or "Om Amitabah Hreeh". Since Padme means "lotus" this may have been the original form. Regards of whether or not it is correct, it is an interesting proposal and may deserve some further investigation. Ultimately, I feel the gender of the diety is not crucial to the call for help via the mantra, but one may wonder if and why the gender changed. I like the passages that indicate a kind of "feminist psychoanalysis" which I feel is part of a larger movement of attempting to synthesize Buddhist meditation with Western psychotherapy. I find this direction interesting and worthwhile, it seems to have personally helped the author to get clear on her experience and to share what she learned with us. I love Tibetan Buddhism as a path of practice and am devoted to the kind of meditation it encourages, yet I have gone beyond needing my religion to be perfect and feel that it is healthy that a religion critique itself. | ||
 | Meditation for Healing: Particular Meditations for Particular Results | |
| "A Good General Book on Meditation" | 2008-02-24 |
| The author shares this book as a support for his more person to person teaching. He has created Tai Chi Chih which is a simplified form of Chi Kung that is focused on energy movement. I think the improvements to Chi Kung in this focus are helpful. This book is interesting because it describes a lot of the author's experiments in meditation in his life. I was particularly interested in his generation of Tumo heat. He does not use the traditional method, but his own hybrid method of creating the heat and did a good job of it. From my own experience, though, I would recommend those interested in long term Tumo practice get an Empowerment to Vajra Yogini so that the energies can be regulated by the diety and make the practice a little safer. The author has another book that goes into the Chi Kung system he has created. It is only really mentioned here, because some of the experiments use it as a foundation for getting the chi circulated through the meridians first (a good idea). The warnings he has about the dangers of meditation I suspect relate to somethings he has met with his students. I personally feel meditation is safer than the impression I get from his writings, but the warnings may still be worth sharing. These precautions may be more important to follow if you do not gain the benefit of an empowerment. I gave the book four stars rather than five because it is a little loose and incomplete, it would not be enough of a meditation book by itself, but has some useful notes for those already familiar. | ||
 | Make the Most of Your Mind | |
| "Exercises Worth Doing" | 2008-02-21 |
| There are several exercises in this book that I feel everyone would benefit from doing. Based on brain science and how to build proper associational pathways, this allows you to retrieve things you deliberately remember and deliberately connect with a "branch". The information is not unique to this book but it is well presented here. | ||
 | Atlas of Manipulative Techniques for the Cranium & Face | |
| "Useful Pictures" | 2008-02-19 |
| The book is a catalog of useful Cranial Sacral alignment techniques for the head, neck, and face region. I found the level of detail helpful in getting the feel for subtle alignments. The book is meant to supplement the basic courses on Cranial Sacral work and take the work to the next level. The book is from a European Cranial tradition and has useful alternatives to the movements used in the US. | ||
 | Reiki: Universal Life Energy | |
| "A Good Starter Book" | 2008-02-17 |
| The drawings in the book are beautiful and do convey the spirit of Reiki. The chapter on the possible emotional or metaphysical causes of a disease is speculative and suggestive, but it is not meant to be otherwise. I did find the allergy interpretation to be useful for me and it actually worked. Between Vitamin C, becoming vegan, and doing emotional processing with their idea of what the cause was, my allergies are 99 percent gone. The authors do align with the idea that Usui was in a Christian seminary for some time. This seems unverified by those who have tried to find out more about this, but it was a common interpretation that was given out by many Reiki teachers. My own sense is that he had more involvement with Shingon Buddhism but kept much of this to himself. All in all, it is a nice book that gives a feeling for the Reiki work. I have been an energy healer for about 25 years and a Reiki Master for over 10 years and would feel good about a person reading this book. I feel that the charcoal pencil drawings in the book are particularly beautiful and convey a lot about how Reiki feels and how it could be practiced. | ||
 | Jonathan Livingston Seagull | |
| "Read It and Pass It On" | 2008-02-14 |
| I read this book a long time ago and heard the narrated version on a record by Richard Harris (excellent, hope people can eventually get it again). I read the book when I was first opening up spiritually and feeling what it meant to be a divine being created by universal being. This book expresses this thought in a story form, simply and clearly. It also touches upon how you will be shunned by your tribe when you aim higher than mere survival and even how with compassion we need to go back to the tribe to help it to grow, and then leave again. I suspect that many who walked the planet followed this pattern. | ||
 | Harman JBL On Tour Portable Music Box Speaker System | |
| "Very Good for Their Size" | 2008-01-12 |
| I like the JBLs a lot. They make a very good on the road portable. The protective shell slides over the speakers. The little speakers kick out very good sound for their size and are only slightly weak in terms of their bass sound. They run well on batteries and do not drain them too quickly. They plug in easily to anything with a headphone jack. The weakness are: (1)with all the brilliant design, they do not have an off button, this means that you cannot use it as a computer speaker without unplugging it and replugging it or having a blinking light that tells you that it is not in use,(2) if you up the volume to max on both your MP3 and the JBL at the same time, you could hurt the speakers, so it is good to adjust the volume cautiously, (3) the low volume indicator is not always reliable and can reflect temporary volume surges in a piece,and (4)it may sound very distorted, which means that you have to make sure that it is plugged in all the way and firmly (that solves it). I did artfully combine the JBL with a subwoofer and found the sound was wonderful. | ||
 | How to Meditate | |
| "A Good Guide to Meditaiton" | 2008-01-02 |
| This book and the other book by LeShan, THE MEDIUM, THE MYSTIC, AND THE PHYSICIST, were early inspirations in my spiritual journey. Although somewhat dated, the book has good notes and observations. It also gives some good guide lines about integrating psychotherapy and meditation. This something that I feel the work of Almaas, the contemplative psychotherapists, the alchemical hypnotherapists, the focusing work, and the process oriented hypnotherapists have gone deeper into since the publication of this book. But this does not invalidate what this book has to offer. He may be a little overly cautious with the physiological changes that deep meditation traditions may induce in people, but it is understandable given this cultures relative inexperience with what these shifts mean and how to meet them. This is probably why many Eastern meditation traditions have recommended that people have a guide to lead them through those changes. I have since moved to other phases of my own meditation journey, having done Dzogchen Buddhist meditations and Tumo Heat Yoga supported by Hatha Yoga, overtone chanting, and Pranayama. But I am happy with the support and grounding of several early books on the subject and this is one of them. The author gives several methods of meditation, makes them feel understandable, and relatively easy to practice as well as an overview of what is out there and what science has learned about them. | ||
 | How to Meditate : (Revised and Expanded) | |
| "A Good Guide to Meditaiton" | 2008-01-01 |
| This book and the other book by LeShan, THE MEDIUM, THE MYSTIC, AND THE PHYSICIST, were early inspirations in my spiritual journey. Although somewhat dated, the book has good notes and observations. It also gives some good guide lines about integrating psychotherapy and meditation. This something that I feel the work of Almaas, the contemplative psychotherapists, the alchemical hypnotherapists, the focusing work, and the process oriented hypnotherapists have gone deeper into since the publication of this book. But this does not invalidate what this book has to offer. He may be a little overly cautious with the physiological changes that deep meditation traditions may induce in people, but it is understandable given this cultures relative inexperience with what these shifts mean and how to meet them. This is probably why many Eastern meditation traditions have recommended that people have a guide to lead them through those changes. I have since moved to other phases of my own meditation journey, having done Dzogchen Buddhist meditations and Tumo Heat Yoga supported by Hatha Yoga, overtone chanting, and Pranayama. But I am happy with the support and grounding of several early books on the subject and this is one of them. The author gives several methods of meditation, makes them feel understandable, and relatively easy to practice as well as an overview of what is out there and what science has learned about them. | ||
 | How to Meditate by Lawrence LeShan, ISBN 1559276118 | |
| "A Good Guide to Meditaiton" | 2008-01-01 |
| This book and the other book by LeShan, THE MEDIUM, THE MYSTIC, AND THE PHYSICIST, were early inspirations in my spiritual journey. Although somewhat dated, the book has good notes and observations. It also gives some good guide lines about integrating psychotherapy and meditation. This something that I feel the work of Almaas, the contemplative psychotherapists, the alchemical hypnotherapists, the focusing work, and the process oriented hypnotherapists have gone deeper into since the publication of this book. But this does not invalidate what this book has to offer. He may be a little overly cautious with the physiological changes that deep meditation traditions may induce in people, but it is understandable given this cultures relative inexperience with what these shifts mean and how to meet them. This is probably why many Eastern meditation traditions have recommended that people have a guide to lead them through those changes. I have since moved to other phases of my own meditation journey, having done Dzogchen Buddhist meditations and Tumo Heat Yoga supported by Hatha Yoga, overtone chanting, and Pranayama. But I am happy with the support and grounding of several early books on the subject and this is one of them. The author gives several methods of meditation, makes them feel understandable, and relatively easy to practice as well as an overview of what is out there and what science has learned about them. | ||
 | Fitonics for Life | |
| "An Updated FIT FOR LIFE" | 2008-01-01 |
| This book is an updated version of FIT FOR LIFE and the updates are important ones. What I got most is the authors pointing out a popular myth that we need to eat less food because our culture is overweight, when the truth is that we ARE eating less, but not eating enough greens and fruits. Understanding the shift in emphasis is a key point. There are also reviews and reminders about white sugar and some important basics that our culture is still not clear on. While some of the feedback may still consider this approach a little rigid, I find that it is already toned down some. I would recommend cutting out flour products fairly thoroughly and dairy as thoroughly as one can too. But the body needs to some adaption time so starting with this book is good. I give it four stars because it is a repackaging of information that is already out there. It is not a ground breaking book but a very good book written by some good summarizers and presenters. | ||
 | Various Artists - Pure Trance | |
| "An Enjoyable Collection" | 2007-12-26 |
| I recently bought another trance compilation and only downloaded two tracks into my music database. This trance compilation has all tracks that I like and some that feel very good to hear. The music does not get too intense, harsh, or out of control. The beats are interesting, pleasant, and danceable. The selections feel compatible with each other and form a relatively seamless larger music. Most have some singing and the ones that do not have rich synthesizer tones and patterns that are pleasant to hear. I have found it rare to enjoy every track in a compilation of any genre and was happy to have found this one. I feel it is representative of trance at its best. Perhaps the original CDs of the original artists may be better and the tracks are larger and more complete, but this still stands well on its own. | ||
 | The Myth of Male Power | |
 | "A Counter Balancing Voice" | 2007-12-17 |
| I read this book and found that part of me relaxed inside. It acknowledged an undercurrent that I was feeling but was not being validated by the many books about feminism. It seems that others have come since then, many of them written by women who have been concerned with some of the directions feminism has taken. The book shows, legally and economically, how men are sometimes at a disadvantage. It seems that the law, in an effort to protect women, may have went too far in the opposite direction. It seems that sometimes the pendulum has to swing too far in both directions before it finds the balanced middle. I think a book like this has been needed and will have impact. But it comes about during a delicate phase of the feminist cause. I do believe that women deserve equal rights (and men do too). I hope that the book gets taken in the right context and that it does not serve to invalidate all the progress feminism has made and needs to make before the whole planet integrates its ideals. While feminism has been at least partly established in the US, there are other countries where it is obvious that women are not treated as equals or even close. I give the book three stars rather than five because I would have liked more focus on this larger perspective. What seems needed is for both the male and female roles to be redefined from a more egalitarian perspective. This book is detailed enough to highlight areas worth looking it in this regard. | ||
 | American Book of the Dead | |
| "I have all Gold's versions of this Text" | 2007-11-24 |
| There was a period of time where I studied the material that E J Gold shared through various means. I find his AMERICAN BOOK OF THE DEAD to be practical and worthwhile. There used to be a training manual and study guide related to this work, which I still have. The training helps one to work with the dying and has given practical material that I have used with actual dying people. The work is meant to be read aloud in an invocational manner, actually following the instructions. One can feel the mood of the space shift and what is being invoked becomes reachable within experience. It is a serious work designed to help people make a "conscious crossing" between death and rebirth. It also helps people in any transitional period where the force of habits does not support where one is. I like both the Tibetan Book of the Dead and the American Book of the Dead. I feel they are complementary. MIRROR OF MINDFULNESS is my favorite book on the Bardo, because it describes how a person resting in Rigpa would experience the transition. Only a few books go into what an advanced practitioner would experience. The ABD is somewhat in the middle between what an ordinary person with no particular training would experience and what a skilled meditator would. This makes this book useful to more people. The ABD is not designed to support our usual habits of learning. It is designed to put you off your habitual thinking groove to open up to the Macrodimensions that surround you always. Although it uses thoughts, it is meant to lead to direct experience very quickly. It is not a light and easy journey. It is designed to put off those that are not ready for such a journey. A person can freak out as the 3D world starts to melt away and open up to something larger. Sometimes the ordinary world looks as fragile as rice paper. One loses the illusory feeling of comfort that the ordinary world used to give and has no choice but to learn how to rest in something deeper and more eternal. | ||
 | Ethics for the New Millennium: His Holiness the Dalai Lama | |
| "Good Book on Basic Ethics" | 2007-11-18 |
| I went to his gathering in Portland where he shared the contents of this book verbally in a distilled form. Much of the talk was identical to passages in the book. He recommends that the religions have tolerance and respect for each other. He shares an ethic that is fairly modern and shows how much he has changed since his earlier times. The message is very basic, many liberal philosophers have advocated the same thing. It is good that the Dalai Lama has put his voice in support of such views. I do feel that, mere ethics is not enough, we need the practice of meditation for our hearts to transform and to become sensitive enough to see where we are not compassionate with each other, so that we can let go of the three poisons of the mind and become free. I found such a transformation and its necessity was not emphasized that much in this book. Perhaps he wanted people to get this more important point from other books he had written. I also personally would like it if those ethics included animals and not eating them, a point that I feel Guatama Buddha emphasized. I would have also liked if he emphasized how important the feminist movement has been to have women included in those ethics. I gave it three stars rather than five, because although the message is good and positive, it seems to lack something for me. I do not get the feeling that such a message by itself is enough to shift the planet. I think more is needed. | ||
 | Frogs into Princes: Neuro Linguistic Programming | |
| "my favorite NLP book" | 2007-11-18 |
| I read this book over twenty years ago. I found the tools I got from the book still valuable in my process oriented hypnotherapy work with clients. The idea of pacing and anchoring were the most valuable. The book describes a workshop in progress, so you get the feeling of being there and involved with the practices. Unlike other hypnotic systems, there is an assumption that people are already in a trance that can be worked with. In a sense, we are always hypnotizing each other, but when we are more conscious of the process then we can make the changes that we want. | ||
 | Ethics for the New Millennium | |
| "Good Book on Basic Ethics" | 2007-11-18 |
| I went to his gathering in Portland where he shared the contents of this book verbally in a distilled form. Much of the talk was identical to passages in the book. He recommends that the religions have tolerance and respect for each other. He shares an ethic that is fairly modern and shows how much he has changed since his earlier times. The message is very basic, many liberal philosophers have advocated the same thing. It is good that the Dalai Lama has put his voice in support of such views. I do feel that, mere ethics is not enough, we need the practice of meditation for our hearts to transform and to become sensitive enough to see where we are not compassionate with each other, so that we can let go of the three poisons of the mind and become free. I found such a transformation and its necessity was not emphasized that much in this book. Perhaps he wanted people to get this more important point from other books he had written. I also personally would like it if those ethics included animals and not eating them, a point that I feel Guatama Buddha emphasized. I would have also liked if he emphasized how important the feminist movement has been to have women included in those ethics. I gave it three stars rather than five, because although the message is good and positive, it seems to lack something for me. I do not get the feeling that such a message by itself is enough to shift the planet. I think more is needed. | ||
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