An engaging, if unorthodox, approach to health.
This fourth installment of a nonfiction series explores the intersection between the physical and spiritual worlds.
In this volume, Murphy expounds on his “two-world hypothesis” with an emphasis on physical and spiritual health. Featuring an underlying assumption that humans are “dualistic” beings with both physical and spiritual bodies, the author’s thesis argues that there are likewise two worlds—a finite “physical world” and an infinite “ethereal world”—that “act upon each other.” While accepting that modern medicine can cure physical problems, the book claims that many of humanity’s ailments (particularly mental health ones) are really “of spiritual origin” and thus require spiritual treatments. Divided into two parts, the volume looks at specific spiritual causes of human suffering in the first section. These spiritual ailments range from “past-life traumas” that can physically manifest in the birthmarks of reincarnated babies to possession by “evil spirits” or “demons.” Indeed, the book contends that possession by an evil spirit is more than just the stereotypical psychosis associated with images conjured by movies like The Exorcistand include benign symptoms, such as forgetfulness and indecisiveness. After offering a “primer” on spiritual conditions, the volume’s second half delivers strategies, such as meditation techniques and child-rearing tips, that can address and provide relief for those who suffer. Written in a concise style whose main body is under 100 pages, this book does not make a comprehensive case for the existence of the supernatural. Rather than analyzing otherworldly beings through the lens of scientific data, the volume often simply assumes that the entities, from gnomes (who are “very loyal, if you can convince them to help”) to ghosts (“the spirits of materialistic people who have no thoughts of the afterlife”), are part of the two-world universe in which humans exist. And while Christian readers may dismiss some of its topics as occultic, the engrossing work leans heavily into Christian theology, with ample biblical references and appendix material centered on squaring its ideas within that religion’s traditions. Some physicians and psychologists may dismiss the unconventional book as pseudo-scientific while acknowledging the value of its arguments supporting meditation and empathy.
An engaging, if unorthodox, approach to health.Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-976225-58-1
Page Count: 46
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Review Posted Online: Jan. 6, 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
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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