by Anthony Santen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 23, 2015
A well-organized and easily digested overview of a lifelong practice of transformation.
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A guide to finding and cultivating an internal, spiritual sense of self, with an eye toward improving relationships, communities, and eventually the world.
Santen, a “counselor, holistic health practitioner, life coach, and transformational hypnotist,” spent years observing his clients as they struggled with their own psyches and baggage. They came from all backgrounds but shared the inability to articulate what would truly make them happy. Santen has poured years of advice into a self-help book that is more “about becoming an authentic sovereign being” than about following any particular doctrine. The most important element of his philosophy, however, is to “learn how your mind interacts with your core Self, your Universe, your fears and illusions.” If one undertakes this task, suggests Santen, one will find that the elusive “answers” to the questions about oneself, one’s relationships, and one’s everyday reality have been available within the entire time. The need for external experts (a “Path Within practitioner”) or spiritual leaders is only in the beginning; these figures may help the reluctant or “obstinate,” to use Santen’s term, overcome their resistance and find the “Path Within.” The book comprises three sections. The first introduces the core ideas of the program; the second, “The Path Within Foundations,” outlines the roots of negative or even false thinking, providing exercises and strategies for the reader; the third continues to build on the second, adding meditations and further points of exploration. Refreshingly, Santen continually emphasizes that the program cannot do the work for you; you need to be willing to focus and make conscious changes in your thinking in order to affect your subconscious mind.
A well-organized and easily digested overview of a lifelong practice of transformation.Pub Date: Jan. 23, 2015
ISBN: 978-1504325226
Page Count: 286
Publisher: BalboaPress
Review Posted Online: April 22, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Stephen Batchelor ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 18, 2020
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
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by Kerry Egan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 25, 2016
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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