INTO THE HEART OF THE INFINITE

A memoir examines a woman’s profound spiritual experiences on her journey to enlightenment.

Nolan reveals her first religious experience in which she witnessed a group of people, including her parents, levitate a table. Gifted with the “Second Sight” that runs in the women of her family, the author became aware of the consciousness of animals and trees and, later, people. After drifting away from spirituality as a teenager, she rediscovered “the divine Presence” with the help of LSD and became heavily involved in the Eastern yogic meditation path during the late 1960s. She made a life-changing journey to New Delhi to meet her guru, Shrii Shrii Anandamurti: “When I met his eyes, they were not ordinary but large and otherworldly, brimming with Shakti or divine energy. I was engulfed by his gaze, a powerhouse of spir­itual force. Then Shakti shot from his eyes into me. I was stunned. My mind became immobilized by bliss, unable to think.” Tasked with being the vessel in which he infused the essence of his consciousness “in seed form”—a responsibility Nolan struggled with at first—she eventually embraced her role and helped train a new generation of meditation teachers and students in the ways of her guru. Clear and descriptive prose elevates this memoir, delivering a story that readers dedicated to the metaphysical will find enthralling. Raw and uninhibited in these pages, the author never shies away from addressing the thornier issues of spirituality—even frankly acknowledging her parallel journeys to mental health and enlightenment. Her own belief that such an important spiritual burden “doesn’t happen to ordinary people like me” makes her experiences all the more relatable, even if readers haven’t come close to walking the kind of divine path that Nolan describes. Her ultimate message of realizing “the One in everything, in pleasure and in pain, in happiness and in sorrow” transcends religious affiliation.

A captivating exploration of divine wisdom that will appeal to readers seeking deeper spiritual connections.