A Soul’s Journey
I bought this book primarily because there was a quote on the cover by Taylor Caldwell:
“I thought this book profoundly beautiful and mysteriously consoling and most inspiring.”
A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog on Wikinut that was rejected because I quoted from this book in long swathes. I knew that there wasn’t any way that I could do justice to it, except by doing that. So I withdrew the blog.
Now, I think it’s time to try again.
From the inside flaps of the dust cover
Here are the diary entries of a man as he embarks on a series of mysterious “soul journeys” to levels of consciousness beyond the physical plane.
The story begins on a summer’s day in 1941, as Henry sits brooding over the recent death of his brother. Without warning, a tall, slim Indian enters his library, and, from a cross-legged position on the carpet, announces, “You sent for me…” It ends as Henry enters the highest level of consciousness — the nirvana-like state of the mental world.
In between, Henry’s mystical visitor not only reunites him with his dead brother in the “astral sphere,” but transforms the very fabric of his world — in this world and beyond. He is instructed on the realities of an afterlife where suffering is eliminated, where wisdom and compassion are attained, and is initiated in the seven different levels of astral life — to encounter many other souls and realize the purest of ascetic pleasures.
The result is a remarkable book — a provocative blend of ideas from the Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist faiths dealing not only with the afterlife, but with reincarnation, Karma, and the existence of the soul — which can be viewed as an extraordinary metaphysical document, or, skeptically, as a series of elaborate dreams. One thing is certain: No reader will be left untouched, for here is a truly unforgettable reading experience.
I couldn’t have said it better myself
The one thing to remember is that this book was originally published in 1972. (My copy of the book was printed by Doubleday & Company, Inc. in 1973.) A lot has happened in the 45 intervening years.
Mostly, I have changed.
This soul’s journey is very much like one of a student of Eckankar. I suppose that’s why I picked up the book in the first place: the concept of a Seventh Heaven.
Now I realize that this journey is more like an exploration of the seven Chakras in the human body.
Conclusion
I came to the thought more than 30 years ago that we are too focused on the ending, death, completely forgetting that the whole point of life is to live it to its fullest.
Here ended this lesson.
