Book Description
"If you don't like the way your life is going, redesign it. Redeem the years you lost. Restore your vision, revive your passion for living, and reclaim what was dormant inside of you. I cannot give you the dream but I can give you the tools to reach the dreams you have inside. I have seen what successful people do over and over again. I want to show you how to Reposition Yourself so you can do it, too. I have learned that minor adjustments make a big difference."
-- T.D. Jakes
In his latest book, Reposition Yourself, bestselling author T.D. Jakes shares insights that will help readers adjust to the many changes that life brings. This is a shrill wake-up call to take charge of your life now. Not only does it confront areas where subtle passivity or even poor choices may have stifled the reader's creativity, but it also instructs how to manage change and maximize life now. Using wisdom collected from his more than thirty years of counseling and working with everyday and high-profile people, Jakes covers financial, relational, and spiritual creativity and shows how adapting to transitional moments in your life is the path to an enriched existence filled with contentment at every stage.
Reposition Yourself offers reality-based plans for those seeking to make the years ahead even more productive. Jakes accepts the inevitability of change, teaching how to embrace and expect it rather than fear it. Mixing both sacred and secular insights, he shares a unique blend of practical and pragmatic steps coupled with the sage wisdom of Scripture for which he is noted.
This new book is without question a makeover for the soul. It gives you permission to succeed and the how-to's necessary to position yourself for the limitless potential that comes from making minor adjustments in your thinking and plans. Jakes believes there is nothing more important than your next decision. Before you make another choice, this is a must-read!
Customer Reviews:
MAXIMIZE LIFE NOW.......2007-10-06
Bishop TD Jakes is an amazing spiritual leader, who is continually empowering the masses of the world, "Reposition Yourself" is overdue. I have purchased and submitted 12 books to family/friends, we are planning to live life without limits and reverse the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in the Big Easy (New Orleans).
What a book..........2007-10-06
What a book..an indispensable resource for any one who intends to live above the ordinary person; it brings biblical truths into practical realm without pretending.
OK! So you made some mistakes, bad choices, got hurt. So what do you do?.......2007-10-03
Many of us fall down on the road to success, while successful, in the limelight or when we're role models for others to emulate after. In T.D.JAKES book "Reposition Yourself" it challenges one to get up brush yourself off and start fresh with a positive attitude, like "hey I can do this". Reading the entire book at once won't have it's full affect on you. This is a book that's living. I opened the book and began to read, then I came across chapter 12 "Shattering Glass Slippers-Revealing More Secrets of Women's Success". It starts with the story of the beauty queen who was given a second chance. After reading this I appreciate Donald Trump for giving it to her. In life we all need a second chance. If you've fallen down along the way and ain't sure how to get up, purchase this book, it's really a keepsake item. This book is for women, men and young people of all races, and financial status.
Reposition Yourself: Living Life Without Limits.......2007-10-02
I'm still reading this book. I have to re-read the chapters at time to get the full meaning of what the writer is trying to convey to me as a reader. This book will be part of my Christian Library. I am going to try to reposition myself in my life's decisions concerning work, finances, how I relate to others as well as how I'm raising my son as a single parent. I'm also trying to teach my son how to reposition himself so that he can get the best out of life, and lives his life without limits.
very inspiring.......2007-09-28
a very inspiring book for people in life's difficult
stages, also very good to empower people in other
situations.
Product Description
The New Psycho-Cybernetics will help you:
- Deprogram yourself from self-doubt and negative self-evaluators **
- Respond to stressful events with positive, corrective action **
- Improve your self-image and reprogram yourself for success **
- Learn to recognize potential signs of danger and avoid failure **
- Overcome resistance to change **
- Cope with important responsibilities without feeling overwhelmed **
- Use a variety of techniques to virtually eliminate stress and anxiety from your life **
- Learn a 10-point program for daily self-image strength conditioning **
- And much more...
Youll discover dozens of valuable self-evaluation tools that will help you achieve such goals as finding an ideal job, eliminate addictions, overcome feelings of pessimism, incompetence, shyness, and achieve happier, healthier relationships with those around you.
Amazon.com
Lucinda Bassett is one of those self-help professionals who deserve admiration. Severely agoraphobic through her mid-20s, she gradually overcame this and other personal hurdles to become the founder and president of the Midwest Center for Stress & Anxiety, as well as a bestselling author (From Panic to Power). Envious? Good! In Life Without Limits, Bassett helps readers take a more objective look at their feelings of envy--and other "success sabotage syndromes" (like fear of failure or success), the goal being to discover the positive, motivational properties of such "negative" feelings and to tap these properties to reach personal and professional goals. Bassett also does a bang-up job of guiding her readers through a dream-clarification process, so as to provide a clear road map for the journey.
While many of her suggestions sound familiar (accept feelings of fear; ask whether the fear is just an excuse for avoiding something else; stop the thought process and use self-talk to feel empowered), steps for creating a life-changing action plan and plenty of sample dialogue for healthy self-talk make this book quite practical. Two final chapters swing the focus from pure psychology to spirituality. Bassett describes how intuition, divine signs, miracles, prayer, and faith can enhance the many other, more proactive steps outlined in the book. Never preachy and often a bit humbled by her life experiences (she feels past business failures were the result of her asking God to save her mother's life after a stroke), Bassett handles these final topics with the same insight and sensitivity that she demonstrates throughout the earlier chapters. --Liane Thomas
Book Description
In Life Without Limits, Bassett asks, "If you could have, do, and be anything right now, what would you ask for?" Eight out of ten people are unable to answer this simple question.
How about you? Do you know how to get what you want? Do you even know what you want? What do you see when you look in the mirror? A self-confident, radiant person who is living life to the fullest? Or do you see a frustrated, insecure, dissatisfied person who doesn't know how to change things? Bassett says, "In my work, I am continually amazed at the number of people who are personally, professionally, and financially frustrated. But the worst part is, if they could change things, they aren't sure how, or even what they would change." People stop dreaming, settling for a life that is neither satisfying nor rewarding because their fears and insecurities prevent them from seeing what they want in life, and how to get it. Acquiring happiness, wealth, or success on any level is difficult when you aren't clear about what you want and you don't have a plan. Before you know it, years pass by, and you're looking back with regrets.
"In my work over the past fourteen years, I have encountered two types of people. The first group is the "doers." They are the movers and the shakers. They plan their life and are strongly motivated. They are on a clear path, know exactly what they want, and they are willing to take the risks to get it. The second group is the "drifters." They drift through life with no real sense of direction, ending up frustrated. This can happen to people in the most prestigious occupations. The drifters have a hard time establishing a sense of true happiness, satisfaction, or security because they know they aren't where they "should be," but they don't know what to do about it.
Life Without Limits helps you clarify what you want in every area of your life. By using Bassett's powerful techniques you will change, therefore your life will change. Your thoughts are magnets attracting everything from the type of people you meet to the types of opportunities that come your way. Your thinking must be clear, distinct, and sharply defined. Your focused thoughts elicit emotion; your emotions ignite your actions and have a tremendous effect on the universal energy that surrounds you. You control your life. You control your destiny. And only you can take steps to change it. Life Without Limits helps you take back your power.
Life Without Limits is the complete guide to attaining abundance in every area of your life. It will help you to achieve satisfaction and fulfillment personally, professionally, and financially. Once you have defined what success means for you, you will clarify your dreams and start pursuing them. Opportunities will present themselves, new doors will open, and you will begin to live the life you were meant to live: a life without limits.
"Begin now to change the person you are into the person you know you have the potential to become." -- Lucinda Bassett
Customer Reviews:
Tough Love Principles!!!.......2007-06-19
Life Without Limits: Clarify What You Want, Redefine Your Dreams, Become the Person You Want to Be
Hardcover: 282 pages
Publisher: Collins; 1st ed edition (January 9, 2001).
I just Finished reading this Hardcover Book Today. The Review Title :Tough Love Principles!!! refers to Part I Chapters 1-5 on Success and Satisfaction. It was hard for me to read these Chapters since I did not like the Author's Tone and Approach on these Subjects!! She is a very Successful Person right now and She Let's you Know it in these Five Chapters!!! The Author implies that anyone who isn't Successful "Simply Lacks Drive and Ambition!!!" This is where some of my 4 Star Rating is Referencing the Book Content Area.
It is only discussed by the Author in later Chapters that "Success does not happen over Night and may take Years, but you need to be very Persistent with your Goals." I love her First Book "From Panic to Power" and gave the Review a 5 Star Rating!!! Please check my Review on that Book "From Panic to Power" for more information on my reasoning regarding this review. Yes, I have read both Books Completely!!!
Part II of the Book was about "Fears, Worry, Positive Power Thinking, Difficult Past,Intution and Divine Signs and Miracles, Prayer, and Faith." Chapters 6-11 covered these Topics. Some of these Chapters were pulling ideas and information and examples from the First Book "From Panic to Power" This is where the two books overlapped each other with information.
On a Positive Note!! I just learned this approach(Positive Replacement)from reading this Book. Chapters 6-11 went deeper into the Examples of Information presented and explained Ideas in more detail allowing this Book to be more enjoyable reading through Chapters 6 - 11. The Author's Tone was more Understanding(Same Author's Tone used in Book One, "From Panic to Power") compared to the Part I Chapters 1-5 of this 2nd Book!!
A Special Mention for Difficult Past,Intution and Divine Signs Part II, Chapters 9 & 10 that were insightful to read and enjoyed learning.
Overall, Good Second Book when compared to Author's First Book!! I will be waiting for Her Third Book to See what New Directions and Developments are available Today!!!
Get Both Books or just Book One, Both Books apply to Everyone's Human Nature and Emotional Levels ranging from Mild thru Severe Levels. But you must read Book 1 First to understand and Discover what the Authors reasoning of the Why's and How's regarding "Defining and Clarifying the Fulfillment of your Opportunities!!!"
Outstanding!.......2007-03-19
I thought this book was outstanding. It gives you real ideas on how to change your thought process which is the first step to changing. I think anyone who has a problem with this book is not willing to do the work to change. There is no magic pill. This book gives you the tools, but you must use the tools to make a change.
good information but her program is better.......2007-01-09
good information but her program is better; a better buy for people suffering from anxiety difficulties/anxiety attacks
Getting solid from jello with Lucinda Bassett.......2005-06-13
It's always best to take great advice from someone who has been there and taken their own advice. Bassett provides a step-by-step overview of basic life skills to turn anxiety around. Taking command of one's emotions if fundamental to emotional sobriety and Bassett's program gives infinite tools on how to do just that. Whatever state of panic you find yourself in ... practising the tools to become solid in your skin is essential to gorwing beyond fear. Bassett is a wonderful resource for healing the supressed fears that manifest as panic. Not only is she someone who healed herself as an example but her results back up her technique. This is a woman who understands panic attacks and anxiety at its core.
This book is a life saver!.......2004-07-01
This book has helped me to gain hope and courage to cope with all my fears and worries. Lucinda writes with such a great understanding and compassion. She herself had problems with panic and worry. Her positive thinking tips are easy to follow, I don't get lost in alot of psycho babble. It's as if she's holding your hand sitting right beside you cheering you on! I believe I can do anything I set my mind to after reading this book. I plan to buy copies for all my friends. God bless Lucinda for writing this book!
Book Description
The Simplest Path, Step One: Free Your Mind delineates, in one slim volume, a complete system for achieving personal spiritual awakening, along with a straightforward, no-nonsense plan individuals and groups so enlightened can follow to awaken Humanity en masse and positively transform the world. This book contains keys to awakening. Awakening from our personal dream shatters the solid "box" of limitation memes have built around our lives, and frees us to fluidly craft our personalities, environments, relationships, careers, etc. as an artist paints a landscape or a sculptor teases form from formless clay. All of us awakening together from the shared dream of the planet will mark the birth of our species out of our current global nightmare of decline into a limitless future literally beyond our present ability to imagine, even in our "wildest dreams," indeed.
Customer Reviews:
Way Beyond "Socrates Revisited".......2007-08-22
After reading the commentary attached to the one star rating given by the young man from Texas, I feel compelled to step forward in defense of this very fine book. With only one exception, every point made in that negative review is simply wrong. Just not factually correct. The reviewer identifies himself as a young man (... "to my young mind"), and since all of his other Amazon reviews are of TV episodes on DVD, video games and rock music CDs I take him at his word. Well, I am an "old man," closing in on my sixty-third birthday, and I came to Mr. Casspriano's book after six decades of life experience, the last three of those decades a zealous practitioner of Zen Buddhism. I say this not to "brag," but simply to qualify myself as a reviewer before beginning.
I'll start where the one star reviewer closed his argument, with his statement that the simplest path reduces to two Socratic concepts: "Admit that you don't know anything" and "know yourself."
The first part is nominally true (the exception). Like Zen Buddhism, a central tenet of the simplest path is working to release the false notion we all hold that we know ourselves, other people, the world around us. But identifying and releasing our attachments to our illusions is a life's work, not some brash "I don't know nothin'!" as the young Texan seems to imply. Under normal circumstances, we go about our daily lives with no idea we are deluded about anything, as Maya (the illusion of the phenomenal world around and even inside us) is so convincing that most of us never even think to question its validity. Casspriano did not invent the notion of human beings being trapped in illusion, as this truth was known to the timeless authors of the Hindu Vedas and is central to all schools of Buddhism (not just Zen). But his scientific/spiritual exploration of the mechanism by which Maya ensnares our minds and can, with effort, be overcome is among the best "plain English" explanations of this process I have read. There is no "inscrutable mystery" in the simplest path (a criticism that has been accurately leveled toward Zen Buddhism, as a lot of Eastern thought truly does come off as "inscrutable" when translated into English and/or the metaphors of Western culture). Casspriano lays out in no-nonsense American English exactly what our brains are doing when they create the illusion we mistake for reality, then shows the reader in the same clear terms how to train his or her brain to break free of illusion and taste reality as-it-is. In just 216 pages, that is no mean feat. After thirty years of Zen practice and numerous kensho experiences (of varying depths and intensities), I can say from personal experience that Casspriano is correct. Enlightenment comes as the fruit of a long, incremental process of retraining the mind to touch reality in a new way, and the process described in the simplest path is the same as that followed in Zen practice, especially Rienzi Zen koan study (I'll have more to say about this in a later paragraph). Casspriano's approach and language is very different from traditional Zen (more "scientific," and no sitting meditation is required), which I think would appeal to Americans and other Westerners seeking to experience "awakening" without necessarily committing themselves to a religion like Buddhism, but the internal mental/spiritual process and final destination are the same.
"Know yourself," on the other hand, is not in this book at all, at least not in the way the young reviewer, or Socrates for that matter, uses the phrase. As in Buddhism, Casspriano takes pains to demonstrate that "self" is as much of an illusion as our misapprehension of the phenomenal world, and is a byproduct of exactly the same mind process that creates outer Maya. A core teaching of Buddhism is that our "self," our personality/ego, is nothing more than an aggregation of outside influences that cluster together in our minds like shiny stones gathered into a pile, and which we mistake not only for something "real," but tragically, for our essential selves. Yet this "pile" has nothing really to do with who we are at all. Buddhism teaches "no-self." Belief in the illusion of a unique and independent "self" is our greatest obstacle to enlightenment. Wasting time and energy getting to "know yourself" in the Western sense is foreign to Eastern thought. Casspriano again does a great job of translating the Buddhist concept of "no-self" into Western scientific/spiritual terminology. He shows the process by which our ego/personality aggregate "piles up," as well as how to take the pile down, stone by stone. Enlightenment is what the pile was covering up, and so it naturally appears as soon as the pile is removed - but oh how we cling to our personal pile of stones! "Self" is what we must trade for enlightenment, what must be surrendered, and Casspriano returns to this truth many times in the simplest path. My point is that the one star reviewer's reduction of the simplest path to "know yourself" has no basis at all in the actual book.
As to the book being "gimmicky": Yes, the words "The Simplest Path" recur frequently throughout the book, but not in reference to the book itself (at least that's not how I took it), but rather to the system of understanding the mind and working toward "awakening" Casspriano is describing - and it is a complete system that deserves to be considered as a whole, on its own. At times the repetition does have a feel of "branding" in the commercial sense, so I understand where the reviewer may have taken his impression. But the simplest path, while resonant with Zen Buddhism (and apparently, according to Casspriano, with the Toltec philosophy espoused by Carlos Castaneda, of which I have no personal knowledge, so I'll have to take the author's word for that) is far enough different that it needs its own "name" to set it apart from other schools of similar but not identical thought. The reviewer's criticism is like saying that every use of the term "Zen" in a book called "Zen Buddhism" should be taken as a reference to the book, and not to the larger practice of Zen Buddhism as a spiritual discipline that the book is describing. Casspriano's point in repeatedly linking The Simplest Path, Zen Buddhism and Toltec Shamanism throughout the book, at least as I understood it, is to highlight these three spiritual practices as related reliable paths through a dark forest of illusion, a forest in which many apparent (and more popular) paths, including most (all?) religious beliefs, actively vie to mislead travelers toward deeper ensnarement in the dream, rather than leading them toward "awakening."
I want to say a word about koan study in Rienzi Zen and how it relates to the simplest path. Koans are those quirky Zen sayings and stories like "what is the sound of one hand clapping?" or "what was your original face before you (or your parents) were born?" that have no rational answer, and which Zen students turn and turn in their minds like the tumblers of a combination lock until their imprisoned psyches "explode" in a "super-rational" experience of reality beyond the illusion ("irrational" would be the wrong term, as that implies "nonsense"). That "super-rational" vision of reality is called "kensho." I have experienced it myself, more than once in my lifetime. I have come to think of Casspriano's "Key Questions" in the second half of the simplest path, especially the later seven of the ten, as "cultural koans" designed to trigger "collective kensho" for the whole human race at once. Like "what is the sound of one hand clapping?", unflinching consideration of the value of human life, of how our beliefs about the future shape the present, of the true origin and destiny of life on Earth, etc., especially as seen through the lens of Casspriano's "Key Question Technique," reveals that none of these questions have rational answers, yet all require our active and immediate response. Successful resolution of these larger riddles that impact everyone will require us all to eventually "explode" into reality, together, in a "super-rational" way. We'll have to break through the illusion and wake up together, as one (which has been the goal of Mahayana Buddhism, of which Zen is a sect, since around 200 BCE). That is the "Planetary Awakening" addressed in this book, and I believe Casspriano's "Key Questions" are a concrete step in that direction. I'm glad I spent my fifteen dollars.
This is my "old man" take on the simplest path, having encountered it after 30 years of Zen Buddhist practice (I'm not veering off my chosen path here, just bowing respectfully in passing toward Casspriano's). From a Buddhist perspective, the simplest path is true Dharma, though I do not get the impression from reading his book that Vincent Casspriano is himself a Buddhist or a follower of any religion. That to my mind makes his book all the more interesting.
True, but gimmicky.......2007-08-09
Casspriano's book is scientifically and philosophically sound as best as my young mind can tell, but I don't recommend this book. Its scattered with numerous pages of advertising about how his "program" works and how it compares to other religions and spiritual movements. Why must this author physically write out "The Simplest Path" in reference to his book every other page, and talk about his second volume? Perhaps because he's not out for pure truth, but for our money.
All this book comes down to after you strip away the nonsense is two things. First, admit that you don't truly know anything. Second, know yourself. Do those two things (they essentially both mean to question EVERYTHING), and you'll have Casspriano's "Planetary Awakening," with 15 bucks still in your pocket. And you'll be following the fundamental truths already said by Socrates.. so do yourself a favor and pick up Plato's "Apology" and read up on the Socratic dialogue on how to live a good life. And don't stop there, because you can't be sure he's right.
And I have 10 bucks that says these other couple of reviews were written by the book publisher. In any case, ignore the hype.
A Unique and Inspiring Wake-up Call.......2007-05-15
This is one of the most clear-headed books I've read in years on the subject of real, nitty gritty, get your hands dirty spiritual development (as opposed to the fru fru New Age variety). So much of what passes for "spirituality" in our time amounts to some author, celebrity, priest, philosopher or self-appointed guru telling us what to "believe," sight unseen, if we want to reach heaven, attain enlightenment, achieve "ascension," etc. Casspriano takes an at times startling opposite approach. For Casspriano, such unquestioned/unquestionable beliefs are not only NOT the path to spiritual awakening, they represent the chief obstacle blocking our realization of higher consciousness. And it's not just religious beliefs ("faith") he's talking about, but all our beliefs about reality, especially those that enclose our thinking in "boxes" that limit our freedom to find solutions to real-world threats like Peak Oil, overpopulation, Global Warming, etc. Though much of the book focuses on individual enlightenment, for Casspriano, these larger planetary issues are "spiritual," as well. Whether the issue is our personal inability to find happiness or Humanity's collective rush toward physical extinction, the cause is the same - our wrong-headed beliefs about what's real. The solution is the same, as well - continuous, deep questioning. Using Richard Dawkins' concept of "memes" as a central metaphor, Casspriano first breaks down the basic process of belief, showing the mechanism in our brains by which beliefs misdirect and control our psyches, then he walks the reader through an exploration of a series of ten "anti-meme questions" aimed at breaking down the walls of our mental "boxes" and setting our minds free. With each question, he supplies an exercise designed to allow the reader to attain a personal taste of reality "beyond the box," especially as flavored by that chapter's "Key Question." For the most part, this formula works very well (with a few rare moments of over-exuberance on the author's part, as already described in other reviews, though as a card carrying vegan environmentalist, I can't say I particularly minded), delivering a cumulative series of death-blows to some of the most basic "pillars" of our present human consensus reality. Beyond the walls those pillars supported lies real reality, where we are all interconnected and interdependent, and, in Casspriano's view, mutually destined for greatness, if we can just wake up and grab the reins of our runaway culture in time. This is not a book for spiritual "feel gooders" seeking soft assurances that they're perfect just they way they are and everything's going to be all right, no matter what. This is a wake up call, a tool kit and a concrete action plan for becoming individually enlightened and collectively saving the world, all rolled up into one. That, I think, is a cause well-worthy of exuberance.
Challenge Consensus Reality!.......2007-05-10
This is a thoughtful book that addresses how we may go about developing a process to question our everyday consensus reality. I suppose if I have learned anything in 49 years of life, it is that all personal and social problems stem from our fundamental views on the nature of reality itself. Vincent Casspriano uses the concept of a "meme" as a fundamental unit of ideas, assumptions, etc. that often block our understanding of reality itself. One such meme, for example, may be that we have to "fight for our freedom" or the world's a "fearful" place and hence, we have to be ready to kill to protect ourselves. I suppose you could also use the word "paradigm" here as well, but the essential point of this book is that we "unconsciously" function in our life with many limited points of view that block our ability to solve problems on both a personal and a social basis.
While Vince Casspriano is to be congradulated for producing a book that presents both a methodology and a motivation for personal transformation, there are a few pitfalls here that the potential reader should be aware of before tackling this material. The author has some rather strong views on fossil fuel consumption, meet consumption, and the role of humans in the cycle of procreation. While I generally agree with his analysis on fossil fuel consumtion and meat consumption (as I have viewed large tracks of deforrested grazing land in developing countries), these viewpoints can distract the reader from the essential point here which is to rigourously question consensus reality. Since I am single, and have no motivation to have children, I definitely disagree with his views on the necessity of human procreation on this planet, but here again, it is important to extract the essential meaning rather than get caught in the specific political/social debates that these issues may spawn.
If you are serious about personal transformation with the potential for changing our global consciousness, than this book can be an invaluable tool. I do agree with the Author that a world population of "high functioning" people can resolve every planetary problem we face today. As we systematically question our consensus reality, we will see our problems in new ways, and with this new perspective, problems can often be quickly resolved or transcended.
A Simple Cure For What's "Eating Us".......2006-11-13
I considered titling this review, "Stop Whining, Wake Up and Get Busy Saving the World," but decided "Eating Us" would be more attention-grabbing - which matters because I believe Vincent Casspriano, Jr.'s "The Simplest Path, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND" is an important book, and I want to do whatever I can to draw your attention to it. Pick the title you like best. Both very fittingly describe what you will find within the pages of this remarkable new release from New Paradigm Press.
I have selected three short quotations to explore in this review that I think best summarize Casspriano's overall message:
From Chapter One, "The Boxes We Dream In":
"Right now, this very moment, you are asleep... Even if you are reading these words in broad daylight - sitting at your desk or beside the kitchen table, your feet firmly planted on the floor, eyes open, senses alert, feeling the weight of this book in your hands as sounds of life rise and fall rhythmically around you - you are deeply asleep, and dreaming furiously"
Now, the idea that Humans are sleeping, and must therefore "awaken," is by no means unique to Casspriano's "Simplest Path" spiritual system, being the root observation underlying pretty much all Eastern religion, and a lot of Western Occultism and New Age metaphysics, as well. In fairness, Casspriano makes no claim to this as an original insight, openly supporting his assessment of the human predicament with quotations taken from Animism, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. He then flows seamlessly into a list of complementary illustrations from the secular realms of Quantum Physics, brain/consciousness research, and most to-the-point, the study of memes and memetics, ala Evolutionary Biologist and world's best-known cheerleader for scientific atheism, Richard Dawkins.
If you've never heard of memes or memetics, a quick Google of those terms will reveal hundreds of serious, information-rich websites devoted to this now thirty-year old science. In a nutshell, a "meme" is a sort of contagious thought-form that spreads between people by way of imitation. Obvious memes in our environment include advertising jingles, fads and fashions, etc. Casspriano somewhat radically extends the concept to include just about everything that makes up the contents of our individual brains and shared human culture. While he resists redefining the word "meme" wholesale, he decidedly expands its definition to make memes and "memeplexes" (what you get when a number of memes band together into an organic, relational unit, like a religion or cultural or political movement) the basic, fundamental building blocks of everything we habitually label "real..."
And then he demonstrates, in at times excruciating detail, the complete emptiness of the "apparent-reality" that is a byproduct of memetic activity in our brains. What we call "real" is not real at all. It's an illusion spun up by our memes. And our memes are not original to us. They are "viral invaders" assailing our minds from without. Worse - and, while even this thought is not wholly unique to Casspriano, he certainly gives it his own very effective spin - memes are by no means mere passive beliefs or simple "harmless ideas." They are, Casspriano believes, actively predatory psychic parasites whose survival depends on our buying into the illusions they create in our minds. Think of illusion (Samsara, Maya, etc.) as a web we're caught in. Memes are the spider. We are the fly. Gotcha.
One thing I like very much about Casspriano's book is that he never asks us to take anything on faith, least of all this rather ugly depiction of the human psychic/spiritual condition. He not only challenges readers to test his hypothesis firsthand in order to experience what is real and true for ourselves, he spends a large chunk of the book outlining specific exercises anyone can do to escape memetic interference and personally experience reality as-it-is. The exercises in Part II of the book are powerful medicine... But this is a digression, so let me return to the point.
Memes are the spider, and we are the fly. A better metaphor might be that memes are the farmer, and we are the cow. Domesticated and docile, we allow memes to milk us daily, to extract from our minds the potent human psychic energy which, if reclaimed by us and put to proper human use, would quickly and positively transform our lives and our world. This transformation is awakening, ascension, enlightenment, metanoia, the Buddha-like change of consciousness most religions and spiritual systems on Earth hint at, but few ever actually deliver to followers. In this analysis, Casspriano's "Simplest Path" is very much in line with Gurdjieff's "Fourth Way," Carlos Castaneda's Toltec sorcery, and a few other well known spiritual practices inhabiting a somewhat darker, though perhaps more realistic corner of the New Age. But unlike most of those other systems, Casspriano's prescription for escaping illusion and awakening to reality is remarkably, well... simple.
From Chapter Three, "Waking Up":
"The simple truth is that we are sleeping because we lack sufficient energy to wake up."
And later in the same chapter:
"The real work that brings about awakening, rather than merely granting the external appearance of "being spiritual," while actually embroiling us ever more deeply in the dream, is a rigorous, daily commitment to the identification and elimination of every self-serving belief from which our personal dream-lives are constructed."
For "belief" in the quotation above, read "meme/memeplex." Casspriano certainly does, treating the terms as largely interchangeable. In the end, this genuinely simple - at least in the sense of being uncomplicated and pragmatic - spiritual practice amounts to discovering reality as-it-actually-is less by searching for a glimpse beyond the illusion, than by systematically withdrawing our participation in, and identification with, the dream. When we disentangle our psyches from memetic illusion, only reality remains. We don't have to chase it; to a meme-free mind, reality just appears. This is "Satori" in Zen Buddhism. This is "stopping the world" in the Toltec sorcery of Castaneda and others. Casspriano's genius lies in his talent for exposing the core mechanism behind such complex and often inscrutable spiritual systems, and for putting into plain language clear instructions for unraveling the dream and achieving personal awakening. The virus-like process by which memes take over and control our human minds, as described by Casspriano is, to my mind, very complicated (but well worth struggling through). What is genuinely simple about "The Simplest Path," however, is Casspriano's prescription for breaking those bonds, once you've made the effort to understand how they are created and maintained. For Casspriano, remaining a victim of spiritual sleep and energetic exploitation by memes is a complex activity in which we unconsciously invest enormous amounts of psychic energy every day of our lives. Awakening is the product of a simple act of withdrawing that investment, which automatically re-energizes of our minds and lives. Or as Casspriano cleverly phrases it when closing Chapter Three, "Waking Up":
"Unweave the tapestry of the dream, and awakening happens."
Anyone can do this. Spiritual awakening, in Casspriano's view, may be hard work, but it is not complicated work. The path to enlightenment is really rather shockingly simple. Fall out of love with the dream. Reclaim your psychic energy. Wake up to reality.
The ten "Key Questions" Casspriano explores in the second section of the book are designed to put the theory laid out in Part I to practical and immediate use. Essentially, I think Casspriano sees these ten issues - why we treat enlightenment as an "airy-fairy" ideal instead of a measurable transformation of brain functioning, the excuses we make for avoiding personal responsibility and integrity along the lines of Castaneda's "impeccability," the fallacy of belief in a "separate self," etc. - as pillars of both our personal and collective human dreams. They are by no means an exhaustive listing of the memes twisting our minds. But they are primary keystones on which layers upon layers of the grand illusion are built. Topple these ten baseline pillars and the larger structure crumbles.
Casspriano explores some "Keys" more successfully than others. One downside to the book is that, especially in the "Keys," Casspriano's own memetic prejudices shine at times rather glaringly through, as when, in his discussion of the American "What Would Jesus Do?" religious fad, he characterizes the Evangelical Christian purveyors of WWJD as, "ultra-conservative, right wing ideologues." Even should the reader personally agree with such pronouncements, its hard to resist thinking, "Hey Vince! Your memes are showing!" But where he nails his point, Casspriano's prose can be downright inspiring, as with the "Key" cosmological study "Is Earth the Center of the Universe?," which explores the gap between what we know, scientifically, about the Universe and what our daily choices and behavior says we really believe, about the cosmos and about ourselves. His closing "Key" "Are We Alone?" so poetically frames the true stakes of our global human predicament - species survival VS extinction - that its hard to imagine anyone keeping their gaze glued squarely to their own self-involved navel in the wake of reading it. Of course we are not alone. There are six and a half billion of us on Planet Earth, and whether we awaken to what's best in us or follow our darkest drives over History's cliff into oblivion, we do so as one. One planet, one fate.
This notion of "oneness" and of a common, intertwined human spiritual and biological destiny is a core theme in The Simplest Path, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND that sets it apart from any spiritual book in recent memory. My final quotation from the book returns us to the opening lines of Chapter One, "The Boxes We Dream In":
"We are all aware of the challenges facing us as we enter together into the 21st Century:
· World oil supplies are running out.
· Global warming is transforming the Earth into a steamy greenhouse.
· Even as our technology connects the world, ideological extremism, terrorism and militarism divide us as never before.
· Headlines bombard us with news of war, famine, pestilence and death until we feel overwhelmed and unable to respond.
· Time is running out..."
Vincent Casspriano, Jr.'s "The Simplest Path to Personal and Planetary Transformation, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND" does not offer easy escape from these very pressing real-world human ills, but rather, a down to Earth, workable prescription for their cure. Yes, we must awaken as individuals, and, rest assured, "The Simplest Path" shows spiritual seekers exactly how to do that. But a prime message of "The Simplest Path" is that, for personal awakening to have meaning, it must occur within the context of a complete re-visioning of global culture, and a mass wrenching away of the wheel of History from the control of viral memes, that we might create a common cosmic human destiny worthy of our highest potential as a species.
Now that's a meme worth feeding.
Book Description
Love Without Limit's fresh interpretations of scripture reveal God's unlimited love, which not only saves everyone eventually, but also gives the best advice for living now, as illustrated by analysis of Christ's Sermon on the Mount. Written by a Princeton-trained minister and newspaper columnist who majored in psychology, psychological insights show how to overcome anger, insults and condemnnation and even benefit from criticism, while learning to love and accept yourself and others. The wisdom about living and explanations about how to achieve a better life make this book valuable for secular, as well as religious, readers.
Customer Reviews:
Life Changing Viewpoint .......2005-10-08
When I first saw the book I laughed at the proposition, That God Loves everyone so much that He would save everyone. I said to myself, "There is no way. The Bible is to clear about the idea that not all people will be saved." Then God started speaking to me. I asked myself, "What If?" My curiosity had been set. I had to read the book. A paradigm shift started taking place inside of me as I was reading the book. Scriptural proof in the book helped me to see that the Bible does lay forth the possiblity that everyone will be saved. A more loving God than I was raised to believe in started to reveal Himself to me. I was a changed man. God's love is so amazing! The author not only presents the concept of universal salvation but He always presents the implication of it in our day to day life. The author expounds upon the beattidues in a fresh way. The author's method for dealing with anger is life changing. The book is a must read. GOD'S LOVE IS TRUELY WITHOUT LIMIT!
Customer Reviews:
This Book NEEDS to be read and REPUBLISHED........1999-01-30
I Really wish we could reach more people with the wisdom in this book. It made me realize I was worth losing weight, loving myself and totally accepting a new self image with understanding beyond what I ever thought!! I only have a copy of this on loan, I would love my own book.
Average customer rating:
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Life Without Limits
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Seven Things That Steal Your Joy : Overcoming the Obstacles to Your Happiness (Meyer, Joyce)
ASIN: B000MLQSJ4 |
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It is God's will for us to feel good physically, think clearly and creatively, enjoy stability, and experience peace and unspeakable joy in our lives. After this teaching you won't be satisfied with anything less than God's very best! On a 4-compact disc set.
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- I have had this book for years
- Admitted to child sexual abuse
- Awesome Book
- What Is Life For - For You?
- Completely not what I expected, but in the BEST way possible
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Unconditional Love: Love Without Limits
John Joseph Powell
Manufacturer: Thomas More Association
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Why Am I Afraid to Tell You Who I Am? Insights into Personal Growth
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Why Am I Afraid to Love?: Overcoming Rejection and Indifference
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The Secret of Staying in Love
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Happiness Is an Inside Job
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Fully Human Fully Alive: A New Life Through a New Vision
ASIN: 0883473127 |
Customer Reviews:
I have had this book for years.......2007-08-12
since John lectured at Loyola. It changed my life and when I got divorced, I realized that I loved my wife and if she needed to go to be happy, I needed to support her. I lost my son a few years back and haven't felt anything since until I met a new woman in my life. I recognized almost immediately that I love her totally, and unconditionally. We have some things to work on but this book reminds me of what unconditional love is and isn't. Boundaries and strength and openess and honesty. I am alive agian.
Admitted to child sexual abuse.......2007-07-30
November 17, 2005 - A settlement has been reached in connection with a Roman Catholic priest accused of sexual abuse. At least six adults claimed father John Powell abused them in the late 60's and 70's. No criminal charges were filed against Powell but the priest has admitted to the abuse.
--ABC News
Two of the former Chicago Jesuit priest John Powell's victims spoke out Thursday. Patrice Regnier says Father Powell -- a former Loyola University professor -- started abusing her when she was 12 years old. She just received a settlement.
"The idea people found from me speaking the truth that they could come out themselves and speak the truth is a good thing," said Patrice Regnier, victim of sexual abuse.
Diane Ruhl says she was abused at 17 years old by Father Powell on the Loyola campus when she was a student. She confronted him 30 years later by writing him. He responded and admitted to the abuse in his letters.
Awesome Book.......2007-05-16
The Christian author portrays unconditional love in a beautiful and refreshing way. In a world of self-help books and broken marriages, this book epitomizes what real love should be like without making it impossibly idealistic.
What Is Life For - For You?.......2003-02-10
No matter how many times you have answered this question, in your life, to focus upon this question, is to love yourself.
And don't worry about the answers that come to mind. Whatever answers you arrive at, really represent part of your one life principle, which is what you filter all of your decisions through.
Mine is "Serene Samurai," or, "Creative Self-Expression."
Both terms come down to unconditional love.
And both come down to John Powell's message, "True self-esteem and a true sense of identity can be found only in the reflected appraisal of those whom we have loved."
I especially enjoy reading these 2 messages, in "Unconditional Love:
"There may be days when disagreements and disturbing emotions may come between us. There may be times when psychological or physical miles may lie between us. But I have given you the word of my commitment. I have set my life on a course. I will not go back on my word to you. So feel free to be yourself, to tell me of your negative and positive reactions, of your warm and cold feelings. I cannot always predict my reactions or guarantee my strength, but one thing I do know and I do want you to know: I will not reject you! I am committed to your growth and happiness. I will always love you."
"To choose to love as a life principle means that my basic mind-set or question must be: What is the loving thing to be, to do, to say?"
This wonderful book is a continuation of the ideas in "Why am I Afraid to Tell You Who I Am;" also by John Powell, S.J.
Completely not what I expected, but in the BEST way possible.......2002-04-01
I picked this book up on what I figured was a fluke. I was at a used book store and the title seemed exactly what I was looking for. I had no idea how true that was! I definitely believe that this was God's plan, and boy am I glad I listened! :)
This book has completely changed my life, and I am thrilled to recommend it to everyone I know! Just ask my friends... LOL I had no idea what I was getting myself into! I have always had a close relationship with my Father in Heaven, but have struggled with self-esteem my whole life because of abuse issues as a child.
This book is SUCH an incredible view into the souls of those who have suffered any kind of abuse -- or for any reason have low self-worth. I could not put it down, and learned SO much about myself!
Thank you SO much for writing such a wonderful book! My life will never be the same again... isn't it great! :)
JL
Book Description
Overcome Your Fear of Bridges, Balconies, Elevators, and More--You Can Do It!
The second-most common specific phobia, acrophobia, the fear of heights, is a very disturbing and disruptive condition. It's hard for anyone to go about his or her day without crossing a bridge, scaling a ladder, or ascending an exterior stair case. Fear of heights can make air travel difficult or impossible; even a ride in an elevator can be a challenging and disruptive experience for people with this conditon.
Fortunately, specific phobias are among the easiest psychological problems to treat, with fear of heights being very treatable. With a safe and effective exposure-based cognitive-behavioral program to work with, most sufferers will experience relief from their fear after only a few sessions. This book distills the most effective treatments for acrophobia into an easy-to-follow, effective program for overcoming fears for good. It walks you through simple steps to evaluating fearful thinking and making changes that can make those thoughts a memory. The book also covers ways to avoid relapse and emergency strategies for panicky moments.
Customer Reviews:
Height phobics, this is a must.......2007-07-30
As a psychologist specializing in treating phobias, this book is excellent. The author is a world renowned expert in the area of anxiety and phobias. He has also found a niche market because from my knowledge, no other book exists which is written in simple terms for the general public and just covers height phobia or acrophobia. Antony's books are always a safe bet for reliability in that they are grounded in the latest cutting edge research. In other words, what he says actually works. This is very reasurring for someone with a phobia, as to face one's phobia is terrifying and something a non-phobic person can not appreciate. I previously successfully beat my phobia of medical procedures and it is such a freeing experience. If you're considering dealing with your height phobia then I highly recommend this book. Speaking both from experience and as a professional, I can say that the avoidance is much more painful than actually facing your phobia. Good luck.
Anthony Gunn, psychologist and author of Fear Is Power: Turn Your Fears Into Success
Books:
- Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money--That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!
- Rise and Shine: A Novel
- Run With the Bulls Without Getting Trampled: The Qualities You Need to Stay Out of Harm's Way and Thrive at Work
- Scrawny to Brawny: The Complete Guide to Building Muscle the Natural Way
- Secrets of an Irresistible Woman: Smart Rules for Capturing His Heart
- Sign Babies ASL Flash Cards, Set Three: Animals (Sign Babies Asl Flash Cards)
- Skeletal Muscle Mechanics: From Mechanisms to Function
- Social Determinants of Health
- Spiritual Connections: How to Find Spirituality Throughout All the Relationships in Your Life
- Stop Negotiating With Your Teen: Strategies for Parenting Your Angry, Manipulative, Moody, or Depressed Adolescent
Books Index
Books Home
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The Great Investment: Balancing. Faith, Family and Finance to Build a Rich Spiritual Life
Overcoming the Enemy: The Spiritual Warfare of the Believer (Six Pillars From Ephesians)
