A poorly organized collection of musings on a variety of consciousness-related topics.
A disjointed exploration of paranormal phenomena and existentialism.
Debut author Hirasek switches from autobiographical recollections to semi-scholarly examinations of past-life regression hypnosis, the interpretation of dreams, numerology, ghosts, psychic powers, auras, reincarnation, near-death experiences, the seven chakras, different religions and their views of the afterlife, the law of attraction and other weighty topics—a sprawling approach, which makes the book difficult to follow. Despite the arguments’ loose organization around issues of meaning and purpose, they are further obscured by an idiosyncratic style of writing: “By then my understanding of it was understood, but not yet complete”; “The primordial question here we should all ask is, who or whom do we really listen to in systematic situations?”; “Dreams are intriguing but somewhat complicated in opinion.” Sometimes, the results are impenetrable: “Time loops consume an individual from his own awareness of time, which prevents him from living and coexisting in present presence; one that eventually becomes obscured and passingly fleeting in time.” Changes in tense within paragraphs and even within sentences—“You can feel it when you go to work, when you got to church, when you pay your taxes”—further impair readability. In the autobiographical section, the book’s strongest, Hirasek details his first encounter with a ghost in 1999 and a life-changing psychic reading following a particularly painful breakup in 2004. He also describes the immense pain he felt after losing a romantic relationship after only a month since he was convinced he knew and loved the woman in a previous life. Elsewhere, he asserts his belief that in past lives he was both a survivor of the Titanic and the Greek poet and playwright Aristophanes, among others. While skeptics may not be convinced by his arguments, adherents to these beliefs are likely to find these passages compelling. The other sections usually cover too broad a variety of topics, resulting in superficial examinations. Unsupported statements—e.g., “In 80 percent of cases, NDE [near-death experience] individuals who came back become more compassionate and are filled with a new outlook on life after death”—further weaken the book. The conclusion attempts to tie these threads together, but it’s too late to make a coherent whole.
A poorly organized collection of musings on a variety of consciousness-related topics.Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2014
ISBN: 978-1492253754
Page Count: 280
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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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