Living the therapeutic touch: healing as a lifestyle, by Dolores Krieger, Ph

Recent years have seen the appearance of several excellent multi-volume and one-volume encyclopedias of religion, and now Oxford University Press, the doyenne of all purveyors of such scholarly reference works, has weighed in with a substantial work in the one-volume category. Readers desiring brief but adequate "placing" definitions of virtually any significant name, date, term, or movement of a religious nature throughout the world, from Aaron to Zwingli, will find it here. There are also entries on principal philosophers and scholars of religion, useful topical and other indices, and a solid introductory essay by John Bowker, the general editor, on the definition and nature of religion. Bowker and a good majority of the editorial board and the contributors are British, which perhaps accounts for a slightly donnish tone; the entries tend to be dry, bookish, precise, yet very occasionally display flashes of descriptive color (or "colour") and rather arch wit. Inevitably, in a multi-topical and multi-authored work like this, some entries will be more satisfactory than others. I naturally looked up "Theosophy," and found the summary of this topic in only (our sentences to be neither offensive nor entirely satisfactory. We are told that the purpose of its founding by "Mrs. H. P. Blavatsky and Colonel H. S. Olcott" in 1875 was "to derive from ancient wisdom and from the insights of evolution a world ethical code." All right as far as it goes, though to reduce Theosophical teaching to ethics without regard for the deep worldview underlying the ethics leaves a somewhat meager impression. Then, "In 1882, it moved its headquarters to India, and became the Adyar Theosophical Society." Not strictly accurate: that has never been an official name of the Society, and the statement leaves out the several other important Theosophical groups. The last two sentences, on the increasingly Indian nature of Theosophical teaching and the role of Annie Besant, are also not exactly incorrect and are disappointingly skimpy. However, my impression is that the longer articles are solid and reliable. They are generally by real specialists in the subject rather than generalists who happened to be assigned the topic, as occurs too often in the case of short pieces in encyclopedias. By and large this volume can be recommended to Theosophical and other libraries where, a work of this kind is desired to settle arguments or buttress presentations. Individuals with any love at all for the wonders of the religious world will also enjoy having a book like this at hand. It is the kind of volume one can pick up and flip through for a few spare minutes and then find so engrossing, as one pursues one article after another, that the minutes easily turn into hours.

-ROBERT ELLWOOD

Autumn 1998

The Analects of Confucius: A Literal Translation with an Introduction and Notes. By Chichung Huang. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Paperback, viii + 216 pages.
The Lun Yu (literally "Discussions and Conversations," usually translated "Analects," the term used by James Legge in his 1861 translation), is one of the most important texts in Chinese philosophy. It is a record of brief conversations between Confucius (ca. 551-479 BCE) and some of his disciples and notable persons. During the Han Dynasty (206 BCE-2OO CE), the book became the model for Chinese society. It and the other Confucian Classics became the basis of the Chinese education system, so that mastering and writing formal examinations on them was the way Chinese entered the bureaucracy -much like our civil service examination today. Mao Tze-tung's effort to stamp out Confucianism during the Cultural Revolution (1965-1968) failed because the ideas in those works have taken such hold on Chinese consciousness. For the Theosophist, however, the Analects have a deeper significance. Confucius is identified in The Secret Doctrine as a "Fifth Round" man, that is to say, one whose insights into human nature and society were far in advance of the average person of his-or for that matter our-day. Contemporary readers tend to be more interested in Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching, but they ought not: to neglect study of the Analects as well. The collection of conversations was made by Confucius's disciples, probably shortly after their Master's death. They have been the subject of many commentaries during the past 2500 years and were first translated into a Western language, Latin, by Catholic missionaries in 1697. In addition to Legge's translation, the work has been Englished more recently by Arthur Waley, Lin Yutang, Wing-tsit Chan, D. C. Lau, James R. Ware, and Raymond Dawson. A strength of Huang's book is its extensive use of footnotes to explain certain important words and its extensive cross-references. Huang provides an introductory discussion of key terms, such as dao, de, ren, li, and shu, an appendix on the life of Confucius (though Lau's is better), and a chronology of Chinese dynasties. Huang has obviously done a carefully considered translation. But that is not to say that it is the best one available. He identifies his translation as "far more literal" than any other English translation, but that could easily be debated. He seems, at times, not to be sufficiently familiar with the nuances of English to realize that his "literal" translation is often misleading. One example is his translation of the key Confucian term ren (or jên in another transliteration) as "humanity" or "extensive love" or "loving men." He also and more appropriately translates it as "humaneness," i.e. that which makes one fully human. Lau's "benevolence" is less misleading. Ren is a quality Confucius believed very few persons actually have. From a Theosophical point of view, Confucius's belief accords perfectly with the theory of Rounds, which holds that we are still in the process of becoming fully human. Another example of a misleading translation is of 2.11 as "The Master said: 'He who keeps reviewing the old and acquiring the new is fit to be a teacher.'" The term translated "reviewing" literally means "warming up" and suggests, Waley points out, that a good teacher is one who is able "to give fresh life to the Scriptures by reinterpreting them so that they apply to the problems of modern life." The idea of acquiring new knowledge, that is, keeping up with one's field, is not the point. Again, Huang translates 2.16 as "The Master said: 'To apply oneself to heretical theories is harmful indeed!'" following commentaries from more recent: times. But the term translated as "heretical theories" means something like "loose ends" and is a weaving metaphor implying that to attend only to various individual items of a teaching is often to miss the overall pattern. Huang translates analect 7.20 as "The Master would not discourse on mystery, force, rebellion, and deity" and comments that Confucius's teaching was about practical matters, "not those of the unknown." The commentary certainly is correct, but a better translation would be "The Master did nor speak of strange phenomena, physical exploits, disorders, or spirits." Ancient Chinese society was much concerned with the paranormal and interpreted natural phenomena as omens of Heaven's pleasure or displeasure with human (especially governmental) actions. Huang also follows later commentaries in interpreting general terms like "man" to refer to the ruler, where they seem more obviously intended to refer generally to anyone, as most other translators have it. In fact, limiting such a term to rulers deprives the Analects of its universal appeal. It makes the book into a mere curiosity, confined to ancient China, rather than a work of relevance to anyone in any age. And his use of "love" instead of "benevolence" frequently conveys a Christian implication where none is intended.. So, although there is much in this latest translation of the Lun Yu which is valuable, I cannot recommend it over translations by Lau, Dawson, or even Waley, who is overly Platonic in his translation of ren and sometimes wordy. Perhaps the best course to follow is to compare several different translations and commentaries so as to avoid taking any specific English translation too literally..

-RICHARD BROOKS

Autumn 1998

Lucid Waking: Mindfulness and the Spiritual Potential of Humanity. By Georg Feuerstein. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions International, 1997. Hardback, xxvi +230 pages.
Georg Feuerstein has written another splendid book. This one, like his earlier work, is founded on broad familiarity with the relevant sources, is expressed in clear and felicitous language, and most important is written from a profound understanding of human nature, especially spirituality. Feuerstein is intimately acquainted with the spiritual and philosophical traditions of both East and West, traditions he has carefully read and pondered. "Lucid waking" is Feuerstein's fresh term for the inner state of those who have realized enlightenment or liberation. It characterizes the true saint-sage, one whose wisdom manifests as truth, goodness, beauty, and love - all actively lived. Lucid waking can be cultivated by anyone willing to adopt the necessary perspectives and practices, namely, those that facilitate an expansion of the sense of oneself from ego to infinitude. The qualities in lucid waking are what we need if the extraordinary challenges of global living in the twenty-first century are to be met adequately. The book's themes include the value of the philosophic al life ("passionate reason and spiritual lucidity applied to the business of living"), human nature or identity ("Who am I?"), embodiment (“enlightenment is the enlightenment of the whole body"), the soul ("soul as essence ... the life-infusing principle of the body"), Spirit ("translocal ... supraconscious .. transpersonal ... supremely blissful"), imagination ("imagination is to the mind what breath is to the body"), intuition ("the other way of knowing"), creativity ("a peculiar manifestation of the impulse to transcend everything that is not the Spirit"), and higher consciousness ("happily bereft of the usual chasm between subject and object, between cognizer and cognized"). The penultimate chapter, "Toward Integral Consciousness," expresses the main thrust of the book and sets it in the context of the evolution of human consciousness as outlined by the Swiss cultural philosopher Jean Gebser in his epochal work The Ever-Present Origin. This emerging "arational-aperspectival-integral consciousness" is needed as we enter the new millennium. Feuerstein's extensive knowledge of the world's philosophical traditions, coupled with his lifelong engagement with actual spiritual practice, gives him a universal, even timeless, vantage point from which to critique contemporary currents in Western thought and practice. For example, while applauding the inestimable value of rational thought and scientific discoveries, Feuerstein knows their inherent limitations and, therefore, the pressing need to ground them in an awareness of spiritual nature. Our personal and social problems are fundamentally spiritual ones and will elude resolution until their nature is recognized and responded to. The same discerning eye that Feuerstein applies to so-called secular society he applies to religion, and even to what presents itself as spirituality rather than conventional religion. In the latter too he finds limitation, distortion, and error. While acknowledging some authenticity in the New Age movement, he also finds "misplaced enthusiasm, wishful thinking, fashion, gimmicks, and half-truths." He sees much of it as "a whole new ideology ... reminiscent of ... the mythologies of premodern periods." Drawing from his seminal book Holy Madness, Feuerstein shows in this new work's chapter on "The Shadow of Enlightenment" that even those who evince enlightenment may still be conditioned by limitations in their personalities. Fundamentalism, though not directly addressed by the author, receives a devastating blow from the book's overall argument. Lucid Waking sets forth the features of enlightened awareness in a readable, informative, and insightful way. This book will inform and inspire the reader who approaches it with an attitude of openness thereby furthering the engagement with life which is its subject.

-JAMES E. ROYSTER

Autumn 1998

Angels in a Harsh World. By Don Bradley. New York: Putnam's, 1998. Hardback, xli + 302 pages.
Esoteric fantasy is a genre not exactly overflowing with stimulating books. Don Bradley, however, has written a story that will help to supply the lack. For a Theosophist, this book is a great read. For anyone who bought the book expecting it to be about angels, it will be a disappointment. This book does not rank with Julian May's Intervention series or the Galactic Milieu trilogy. However, it does have overtones of the successful Adept series of Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris. The story revolves around a heroine, Haley Olsten, whose birth has been foretold. After a slow beginning of about twenty-five pages, the pace picks up, and the book becomes something of a page-turner. Except for the last ten pages of a questionable and anticlimactic finish, the book presents an exciting esoteric tale. One of the most interesting things for a Theosophist is the background of the story, for example, Haley's father and his "chums" at the Society for Metaphysical Studies. Anyone familiar with Colonel Olcott's writing, will recognize "chum" as a favorite term of Madame Blavatsky and Olcott for talking about each other. Other Theosophical figures show up too; in quick succession, we meet C. W. Leadbeater, A. Besant, Master "J," and other notables. One interesting passage not only compares Haley with HPB, but suggests that she might be her successor. Bradley ends the story with the phrase "The beginning." Obviously, if this book does well, we will have a series in the pipeline. This is good, because we need more books with a good Theosophical foundation.

-RALPH H. HANNON

Autumn 1998

Love & Survival: The Scientific Basis for the Healing Power of Intimacy. By Dean Ornish, M.D. New York: HarperCollins, 1998 .Hardcover, 284 pages.
The Mozart Effect: Tapping the Power of Music to Heal the Body, Strengthen the Mind, and Unlock the Creative Spirit. By Don Campbell. New York: Avon Books, 1997. Hardcover, 332 pages.
Poetic Medicine: The Healing Art of Poem-Making. By John Fox. Preface by Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D. New York: Jeremy Tarcher/Putnam, 1997. Paper, 303 pages.
Facing Death and Finding Hope: A Guide to the Emotional and Spiritual Care of the Dying. By Christine Longaker. Foreword by Sogyal Rinpoche. New York: Doubleday, 1998.Hardcover, 262 pages.
Pertect Endings: A Conscious Approach to Dying and Death. By Robert Sachs. Rochester, Vermont: Healing Arts Press, 1998. Paper, 164 pages.
After Death: How People around the World Map the Journey after Life. By Sukie Miller, with Suzanne Lipsett. New York: Simon and Schuster Touchstone, 1997. Paper, 235 pages.
When my wife was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in February 1994, we began an immersion into healing and a kind of "courtship" with dying that transformed our lives and relationships. Sarah went through two full rounds of chemotherapy over the next two years, each of which seemed to rid her of cancer, but only for a few months. A third round of chemo-therapy was abandoned after a few weeks as the cancer spread out of control, and a few weeks later, in April 1996, Sarah died. About six months prior to her death, I was diagnosed with a blood disorder involving platelets. The condition, related to leukemia, is manageable by medication. Then, last fall, I had a heart arrack and, subsequently, two angioplasties and double-bypass surgery. So the hospital and various medical offices have become a major part of my life for nearly five years. In the course of all this time spent with doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel, we had the opportunity to contemplate healing and death and dying from inside the process. It seems to come as a surprise to most people when I tell them Sarah found the last two years of her life among the best. She marveled at her lack of anxiety and fear and only rarely experienced the grief she would have expected. Three days before she died, Sarah described her plans for her "next life," as an artist, probably in California. The books listed here have much to offer those who face health crises and preparation for death. In the healing process and even in the dying process, there is room for self-discovery, growth, and hope. The first three books are focused on healing the body, mind, and spirit. Dr. Ornish testifies to the importance of love and affectionate relationships in healing. He asserts, "I am not aware of any other factor in medicine-not diet, not smoking, not exercise, not stress, not genetics, not drugs, not surgery- that has a greater impact on our quality of life, incidence of illness, and premature death from all causes." Ornish has also written books on stress and diet, and in this book he also speaks of these matters. But the main emphasis here is on the importance of the presence of love in our lives Don Campbell has been engaged in the use of music in healing for many years and has published several books and conducted workshops on the subject. In The Mozart Effect, he provides an extensive account of the ways in which music can be incorporated into our lives to inspire, educate, and heal. Creativity is important, too, and John Fox, a certified poetry therapist who conducts poetry-writing workshops throughout the United State s, offers in his newest book, Poetic Medicine, many ways in which the creative process of writing poetry can be used to heal relationships and deal with loss, illness, and death. Telling your story and witnessing in a conflicted world are part s of the process Fox lays out. The other three books address issues around the confronting of illness and the facing of death. In Facing Death and Finding Hope, Christine Longaker writes of the discovery she and her husband made after he was diagnosed with leukemia in his mid-twenties and died after a year of futile treatment:
When my husband suddenly fell seriously ill, "cut down" in the middle of his happy but spiritually neutral life, some might have called it a fall from grace. But I know now that living in blissful ignorance is not grace, or even a desirable way of existence. For one thing, it can't last.... In truth , facing illness, suffering, or death is a fall into grace. [11]
Longaker tells how her confrontation with her young husband's death changed her life, setting her on a spiritual path that included Buddhist studies, establishment of the Hospice of Santa Cruz County and the Rigpa Fellowship in the United States, and leading training seminars on the care of the dying throughout North America and Europe. She is now developing, with Sogyal Rinpoche, the Spiritual Care for Living and Dying Program. "In death we experience our finest hour," declares Robert Sachs in Perfect Endings. Sachs is a member of Sogyal Rinpoche's Spiritual Dying Network. He shows how in fact - dying is part of living and that a greater power embraces us in life and in death. He offers approaches to the task of letting go of life, including advice for caregivers, loved ones, and the dying themselves. Sukie Miller weaves together reports of extensive research with wonderful anecdotes and stories from various cultures about dying and the question of what happens to us after we die. She maps four stages of the after-death journey-waiting, judgment, possibilities, return-and presents a variety of research by the Institute for the Study of the Afterdeath.

-WILLIAM METZGER

Winter 1998

The Book of Enlightened Masters: Western Teachers in Eastern Traditions. By Andrew Rawlinson. Chicago and Lasalle, Illinois: Open Court, 1997. Large format paper, xix + 650 pages.
The Nine Stages of Spiritual Apprenticeship: Understanding the Student-Teacher Relationship. By Greg Bogart. Berkeley: Dawn Mountain Press, 1997. Paper, 250 pages.
These two books approach the concept of the masters and enlightenment from different angles. Andrew Rawlinson has put together what is surely an unprecedented compendium on living Western masters in the Eastern tradition. The book takes 1875 and the founding of the Theosophical Society by H. P. Blavatsky and others as the pivotal point for the development of Western teachers in Eastern spiritual traditions. The major contribution Rawlinson has made is probably in a section on "The Meaning and Significance of Western Teachers," in which he offers a model of experiential comparative religion and weighs the dimensions of traditions and subtraditions. He categorizes them as "cool structured" and "hot structured" traditions and identifies their characteristics in terms of transmission, representation of the tradition, and departure s or independence from the tradition. Furthermore, he diagrams Western teachers, not as a lineage tree, but in terms of connect ions between them. It is, he says, "one way of constructing the phenomenon of spiritual psychology." The book is written in a lively and engaging manner and is great fun. But it is also much more than an often titillating read. It is a thoughtful evaluation of the panoply of Western teachers in Eastern traditions and should prove helpful to those who are trying to navigate this spiritual landscape. It will always be difficult for students of teachers in the Eastern tradition to sort out the guru-student relationship. Greg Bogart, in The Nine Stages of Spiritual Apprenticeship, offers an approach to understanding it. From choosing a teacher to separating from a teacher, Bogart covers the whole range of experiences associated with this relationship.

-WILLIAM METZGER

Winter 1998

On Common Ground: World Religions in America. By Diana L. Eck. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.CD-ROM.
Growing from extensive research conducted at Harvard University, directed by Professor Diana L. Eck, and called the Pluralism Project, this carefully developed presentation documents how America's religious minorities have transported their beliefs and practices into the United States, where their adherents are creating the religious communities required for transmitting these faiths to their posterity. By examining the historical, political, and social aspects with in the country's proliferating pluralism, this study indicates how these groups challenge and change the meanings ascribed to "assimilation" and "diversity." This CD-ROM introduces the essential teachings, describes these varied traditions, and explains how these teachings and traditions become transformed in new settings. This colorful, informative survey pictures the churches, synagogues, temples, masjids (mosques), gurdwaras (Sikh shrines), and other communities that have transformed the country's architectural landscape by arising in cities, suburbs, and small towns scattered throughout the United States. In addition to describing the varied worship centers of world religions in America, this presentation examines the believers' affirmations, services, and celebrations in a sweeping, comprehensive summation. Included are Pagan, Hindu, Afro-Caribbean, African-American, Native American, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain, Jewish, Islamic, and Christian groups. Masterfully combining text, video, graphics, music, and vocal narration, this comprehensive multimedia presentation spans the country from a Hindu temple near Boston through the nation's oldest Islamic center in Iowa to the West Coast, where new varieties of spirituality are emerging.

-DANIEL ROSS CHANDLER

Winter 1998