An unorthodox and unexpected work that will give readers reason to rethink and re-examine otherwise familiar biblical...
A unique commentary on the first portion of the Hebrew Bible.
The author, writing under the pseudonym B. Conscious, looks at the first 70 chapters of the Old Testament (from the books of Genesis and Exodus) through a very Eastern-styled lens. Having read the Bible during and after a two-year stay in Nepal, the author began to compare it to Hindu and Buddhist texts, and his own interpretations evolved from there. The stated motivation in writing this book is “to share the manner in which the first seventy chapters of the Bible offer humanity models of highly conscious individuals.” As a result, this is a commentary that’s completely set apart from any other on the market. Instead of focusing on common tools of exegesis or espousing a traditionally Jewish or Christian understanding of the text, the author instead presents a sort of parallel version of Scripture that teaches about consciousness and unity through quasi-historical tales of antiquity. The author follows up each scriptural passage with a set of questions and commentary. An oft-repeated question, “Who or what was the ‘God’ that…,” speaks to the author’s ambiguous concept of the deity. “References to ‘God,’ ” the author explains, “are references to that which is boundary-less and one.” These references can take on a variety of forms; for instance, “Consider the ‘God’ that was to allow ‘Noah and his sons’ to ‘Be fruitful’ as the collective voice of the women offering their dark, watery wombs so as to continue the light of consciousness from within their bodies.” In the author’s unusual version of the story of Moses and the burning bush, Moses’ meeting with God represents a “communion with the infinite, eternal, timeless present moment, which just is.” Further, the Ten Commandments are said to be about the qualities of conscious awareness, or, rather, about what life in conscious awareness looks like. The goal of humanity, the author says, is to grasp that state of unity and consciousness and become fully aware.
An unorthodox and unexpected work that will give readers reason to rethink and re-examine otherwise familiar biblical stories.Pub Date: June 16, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4787-8906-2
Page Count: 476
Publisher: Outskirts Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Schulze’s courageous story fills a major gap in the story of the world’s greatest conflict, and she deserves a wide audience...
This compelling memoir of a German girl’s bitter, frightening life reveals the horrors visited upon an average family caught between two of the most cruel dictators in history.
Amidst the copious histories of Hitler and Stalin, historians have often neglected the horrific tales of innocent girls like Schulze, who early in World War II survived Nazi occupation, then was forced to hide in a secret attic for months at war’s end to escape sexual attacks from the invading rampages of the Russians. The Russian soldiers pillaged her tiny village of Doelitz, where women scrubbed their faces with ashes and dirt to make themselves unappealing to the Red Army’s serial rapists. With professional writer Collier’s help, Schulze tells a ground-level story that is at once haunting and shocking in its narration of ordinary, peaceful lives shattered forever by war. The small, poignant touches are riveting–the family’s favorite horse being dragged away to haul artillery; their argument about whether to follow Nazi orders to display Hitler’s portrait. Her inspiring story concludes with the long, harrowing struggle to escape to West Germany, followed by a months-long wait for a berth on a ship bound for America. Her first tastes of ice cream and pineapple aboard the ship are a fitting climax to a tale of never-ending stress and fear–and ultimately, redemption.
Schulze’s courageous story fills a major gap in the story of the world’s greatest conflict, and she deserves a wide audience of all ages.Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2005
ISBN: 0-58348-072-2
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A daunting but worthwhile journey through the material and divine realms of our universe.
An intriguing if sometimes ponderous examination of man's place in the universe.
Bartow creates a systematic philosophic framework for integrating concepts from diverse disciplines, such as astrology, psychology, metaphysics, theology, eastern and western mysticism and quantum physics. The author uses complex–and often unintelligible–diagrams to create a visual representation of the corporeal and spiritual universe, building layers of complexity that illustrate the dynamic interaction of mind, matter, energy and spirituality. He divides man’s perception of the universe into objective and subjective categories with distinctive subcategories, using piano keys as the primary metaphor–the black keys represent the objective planes, embodied in the concrete laws of science, and the white keys represent the subjective interior planes. The author makes frequent use of the philosophies from such ancient traditions as the Kabbalah, Buddhism, the teachings of Don Juan and Tibetan thought. The massive scope of Bartow’s vision eventually becomes overwhelming, and the esoteric nature of the study will deter casual readers. Ultimately, however, the text will prove thought-provoking and rewarding for the diligent.
A daunting but worthwhile journey through the material and divine realms of our universe.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 0-9760863-0-1
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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