A pragmatic, engaging, and sympathetic guide to higher consciousness.
In this concise self-help book, a psychology professor provides an overview of the concept of enlightenment and instructions for achieving that state of being.
Britton immediately grounds his manual on spiritual awakening in his own experiences with the startling claim that he achieved enlightenment for the first time at age 14. Reserving a detailed description of this remarkable event for his second appendix, he embarks on a thought-provoking journey to teach the principles of consciousness, based on his conviction that years of study and practice are not necessary for achieving spiritual understanding. “Instead of meditating,” the author asserts, “there are practical and easy to use methods that you can use on your own to experience enlightenment quickly and easily.” Written in the form of a Socratic dialogue between himself as a teacher and a group of hypothetical students, dubbed “participants,” Britton’s narrative extracts principles and exercises from a number of authorities, ranging from seventh-century Zen master Huineng to 20th-century French psychoanalyst Hubert Benoit. The author’s streamlined approach to enlightenment is heralded in the title of the book’s first section, “Getting There Right Away Now.” Here, he defines the state of enlightened consciousness (a list of synonyms in Appendix 1 helps in understanding the concept) and provides a number of “tricks” to persuade the mind into an untrammeled awareness of itself. Like the Zen masters who use riddles, punches, and slaps to jar students into an awakening, Britton jokes, urges, and guides his putative participants into an experience of oneness that he does not identify as mystical or religious but “totally and markedly mundane.” The author’s writing is informative and his premise is beguiling. Who, after all, wouldn’t wish to achieve a state of enlightenment without years of dedication to a spiritual practice? He is successful at making the state of awakened consciousness seem accessible, and many of his suggestions for changing readers’ outlooks are playful and creative. But some readers may find themselves lost in such verbiage as “My emotional-imaginative movies of imagined social interaction have three tracks: mental images, mental talk, and emotional body sensations.” Still, willing students of mindful awareness are likely to find Britton an appealing teacher.
A pragmatic, engaging, and sympathetic guide to higher consciousness.Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-64719-657-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Booklocker.com
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.
“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
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