An insightful, often engaging work that will appeal most to readers who already have knowledge of its concepts.
In this debut memoir, the author recounts the origins of her spiritual journey and the challenges she faced while apprenticing with teachers and guides.
Author Kaiser develops this remembrance through scenes of “awakening”—prophetic dreams that delivered important messages—and the teachings of the famed author Carlos Castaneda, an important figure throughout the book. Following the guidance of the “Right Hand Path of the Masters” (in which one aims “to transform the undersoul or the shadow self by transmuting it into a body of light”) and the advice of other teachers and writers, Kaiser developed her personal spiritual awareness. The author vividly tells of her experiences as a young child with an abusive father and a neglectful mother, showing how she started her journey toward higher purpose by moving away from the stress and dysfunction of her family life. Drawn to Reiki, chakra healing, meditation, and other holistic practices, Kaiser began to explore the world around her and how it related to her true inner self. The book is organized into sections detailing major periods of her life when specific transitions occurred, but the story as a whole is told chronologically, often through dreams. She colorfully describes the latter through storytelling, then connects them with what was happening in her life at the time, giving readers insights into both dream interpretation and her waking experience. The book also discusses past-life recollections, some from ancient times. For readers who are unfamiliar with the work and teachings of Castaneda, many of the themes and terms in the book may seem foreign. However, the author helpfully includes a glossary at the end of the text, as well as an index of dreams for reference.
An insightful, often engaging work that will appeal most to readers who already have knowledge of its concepts.Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4568-1946-0
Page Count: 204
Publisher: Xlibris
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.
A teacher and scholar of Buddhism offers a formally varied account of the available rewards of solitude.
“As Mother Ayahuasca takes me in her arms, I realize that last night I vomited up my attachment to Buddhism. In passing out, I died. In coming to, I was, so to speak, reborn. I no longer have to fight these battles, I repeat to myself. I am no longer a combatant in the dharma wars. It feels as if the course of my life has shifted onto another vector, like a train shunted off its familiar track onto a new trajectory.” Readers of Batchelor’s previous books (Secular Buddhism: Imagining the Dharma in an Uncertain World, 2017, etc.) will recognize in this passage the culmination of his decadeslong shift away from the religious commitments of Buddhism toward an ecumenical and homegrown philosophy of life. Writing in a variety of modes—memoir, history, collage, essay, biography, and meditation instruction—the author doesn’t argue for his approach to solitude as much as offer it for contemplation. Essentially, Batchelor implies that if you read what Buddha said here and what Montaigne said there, and if you consider something the author has noticed, and if you reflect on your own experience, you have the possibility to improve the quality of your life. For introspective readers, it’s easy to hear in this approach a direct response to Pascal’s claim that “all of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Batchelor wants to relieve us of this inability by offering his example of how to do just that. “Solitude is an art. Mental training is needed to refine and stabilize it,” he writes. “When you practice solitude, you dedicate yourself to the care of the soul.” Whatever a soul is, the author goes a long way toward soothing it.
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-300-25093-0
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
A moving, heartfelt account of a hospice veteran.
Lessons about life from those preparing to die.
A longtime hospice chaplain, Egan (Fumbling: A Pilgrimage Tale of Love, Grief, and Spiritual Renewal on the Camino de Santiago, 2004) shares what she has learned through the stories of those nearing death. She notices that for every life, there are shared stories of heartbreak, pain, guilt, fear, and regret. “Every one of us will go through things that destroy our inner compass and pull meaning out from under us,” she writes. “Everyone who does not die young will go through some sort of spiritual crisis.” The author is also straightforward in noting that through her experiences with the brokenness of others, and in trying to assist in that brokenness, she has found healing for herself. Several years ago, during a C-section, Egan suffered a bad reaction to the anesthesia, leading to months of psychotic disorders and years of recovery. The experience left her with tremendous emotional pain and latent feelings of shame, regret, and anger. However, with each patient she helped, the author found herself better understanding her own past. Despite her role as a chaplain, Egan notes that she rarely discussed God or religious subjects with her patients. Mainly, when people could talk at all, they discussed their families, “because that is how we talk about God. That is how we talk about the meaning of our lives.” It is through families, Egan began to realize, that “we find meaning, and this is where our purpose becomes clear.” The author’s anecdotes are often thought-provoking combinations of sublime humor and tragic pathos. She is not afraid to point out times where she made mistakes, even downright failures, in the course of her work. However, the nature of her work means “living in the gray,” where right and wrong answers are often hard to identify.
A moving, heartfelt account of a hospice veteran.Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-59463-481-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
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