Average Rating: 
Rating:  - I AM INDEBTED TO THIS BOOK
I found this book two years ago accidentally in a local bookstore that I wouldn't expect to sell something quite like it. And this book is a gate to the whole multitude of new exciting experiences of intellectual as well as spiritual awakening to me, something that I am very much indebted to Tony Schwartz. His journey toward wisdom that precipitated this book has also lead me to the path, revived my own long dormant tradition of meditation, introduced me to the mind land of Ken Wilber and indirectly to a throng of other geniuses in the field, gave me a taste of many different spiritual traditions, awakened me to the things called performance technology, accelerated learning, and Enneagram, ignited my interests in Eastern mysticism -and even Physics and Science- as well as provide me with new insights on the world of right/left brain. This book gave a fresh perspective of meditation, something not so unfamiliar for someone with a Buddhist upbringing like me but unfortunately with little comprehension of its efficacy from a scientific standpoint. Because of this book, I began meditating regularly again and now am even helping others to meditate. This book leads me to a personal quest that consists of an exciting array of other books on the subject of psychology, accelerated learning and philosophy. I now write lots of articles on spirituality that are very well accepted and help people to see the world in a different perspective. And on top of everything else, currently I am doing the final editing of my own first "serious" book on spirituality, something I could never have thought of two years ago.In short this book is a good start for anyone perturbed with the classic question of what really matters in life because it has in it all traditions, conventional or contemporary/scientific, that one needs to know. And they are all written with a touching dedication and journalistic scepticism. This book changed my life in the most significant way. Thanks, Tony.
Rating:  - An engaging but Pollyanna review of new age thinkers
I bet that if I met Tony Schwartz I would really like him. He comes across in this deeply personal book, as a decent, heartfelt and loving person. The book is the story of his five-year quest at the start of the 1990s to find wisdom and insight in the "new age" movement in America. Though at times a bit solipsistic, Schwartz generally does an entertaining job of conveying the ups and downs of the various experiences he goes through on this quest.The first three chapters of the book introduce us to some of the key figures in creating what has become the "new age" movement in America. The first chapter introduces us to Ram Dass, who was part of the original LSD experimentation with Timothy Leary. The next chapter tells the story of Michael Murphy and the founding of Esalen, and the third chapter covers Elmer Green and the biofeedback movement. For me this section was a wonderful introduction to how these institutions and practices got started in America in the Sixties (ignoring, of course, the historical connections back to American transcendentalism and the like). The middle section of the book covers some of the powerful tools that were developed and refined as part of the "new age" approach. Chapter Four covers Betty Edwards and her tools to improve "seeing" and so drawing; Chapter Five reviews the insights about how the mind effects and interacts with our health; Chapter Six details tools that have been developed to help people achieve peak performance; and Chapter Seven explores the use of "new age" tools in exploring the meaning of our dreams. These chapters capture well the some of the clear gains from the "new age" movement - a set of practical tools that people now use to live healthier and more complete lives. The final section discusses several thinkers who have tried to develop more integrative views of human nature. Schwartz reviews the thinking of Jack Kronfield, Joseph Goldstein, Ken Wilber, Helen Palmer and Hameed Ali. Schwartz finds much to appreciate in each of these thinkers, but at this point, for this reader, it becomes clear that Schwartz has started to partake in much "covering over" of the negatives associated with the "new age" approaches. For one thing Schwartz has decided to only write about his experiences with those who he felt were truly enlightened and decent people. As for the many potentially detrimental components of this movement, Schwartz spends only one sentence: "I have spent much of my time detouring around New Age popularizers, self-promoting hucksters, and charismatic demagogues posing as enlightened teachers." While I respect Schwartz desire to focus on the positive, the result is clearly not an objective review of the movement. Another question that runs through the book is whether psychotherapy may not be a more powerful and reliable tool for addressing individual needs. Only at the end, does Schwartz reveal that this was a critical tool in his growth. To highlight only the best of the "new age" experiences and to minimize the potential benefits of psychotherapy, as Schwartz has done, is to create a Pollyanna view of the "new age" world that ignores much of the damage and difficulty that should be part of the full picture.
Rating: - Inner roadtrip.
"The road to wisdom is often an obstacle course," journalist Tony Schwartz writes (p. 430). "Looking deeply within challenges people to engage their own feelings of emptiness, dissatisfaction and despair. Most people instinctively avoid such pain at any cost, and the culture provides us with endless ways to anesthetize ourselves" (p. 425). Schwartz spent four years travelling the country, "seeking out people who had made the search for meaning primary in their lives" (p. 9), interviewing psychologists, philosophers, physicians, mystics, psychics, teachers, and scientists. He writes, "I spent four years looking for answers to the straightforward, age-old questions Who am I? and Why am I here? The wisest people I met offered very different answers" (p. 14).In his book, Schwartz introduces us to a few of those people who reveal that a "richer, deeper, more meaningful life is within reach" for each of us (p. 431). For instance, in Chapter One we meet Ram Dass, who tell us "the spiritual journey is a journey of continually falling on your face . . . you take a step, which you think is wise, and you blow it and you fall on your face" (p. 60). In Chapter Two we meet Michael Murphy, the 1962 cofounder of Esalen, in Chapter Four we meet right-brainer Betty Edwards, and in Chapter Eight we meet Buddhist vipassana teachers, Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein. In Chapter Nine, transpersonal psychology's leading theorist (p. 346), Ken Wilber, says: "It's hard work. The truth is that transforming oneself is a long, laborious, painful process" (p. 364); "The point is that each of us has to take the actual journey, in our own way, in our own time, at our own pace" (p. 374). Although this book covers a lot of ground, that ground is always deep and fertile. In the final pages of his book, Schwartz arrives at a number of personal conclusions, each of which rings with universal truth. "To live a complete life requires drawing deeply on all one's potentials--mind, body, heart, soul, and spirit" (p. 423). "The planet's survival--and evolution--depends on our collective capacity to look within more honestly, and to act more consciously and less defensively in every spere of our lives" (p. 422). Schwartz concludes his spiritual roadtrip with an impressive, nine-page bibliography sure to appeal to the seeker in each of us. G. Merritt
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