Transcendental (but not the Emerson type)
588336
Roy Maynard ought to be commended for aiding us in reading Spenser. Personally, I think Spenser tells a better yarn than Shakespeare, with all due respect to the Bard.  This book was written by a Christian, with powerful Christian overtones, and Christians will benefit the most from it.  The language is archaic, the story is...well...schockingly relevant.
I said in the title that the book is transcendental.  What I mean is the book, in certain sections, touches areas that strikes the reader to the core.  No, the hero is not perfect.  Yes, he fails over and over again.  But the battles he fights!  The nature of forgiveness, pain, guilt, ecstatic joy--Spenser pulld no punches.  And to point out another irony of historical revisionism prevalent in the public schools:  Spenser has sexual allusions (fear not, for they are used to show, in the words of CS Lewis, "the fierceness of Chastity" and the bloody fight that its worth); even more shocking is that Spenser is a proto-Puritan, thus debunking the whole Puritan "prude" myth.  By the way, the true hero in the book is King Arthur, not Redcrosse; you will see why later in the book.
Yes, the book is hard to read, even with Maynard's annotations.  But oddly enough, it is easy to follow, by and large.  I will end with a quote from CS Lewis, "...to read Spenser is to grow in mental health."
2191579
The author did well in translating the short ("Perfect Wisdom: The Short Prajnaparamita Texts"), mid-length ("The Perfection of Wisdom (in 8000 lines)," & this long text.  They address Emptiness (Dependent Arising) in which no thing (dharma) has inherent or own-being (self-existence).  Scholars now believe the mid-size version was the first, followed by condensed versions (including the Diamond & Heart Sutras) & lengthier versions (integrated into this work).  Versions range from c. 100 BCE to c. 900 CE.  Historically, they sought to establish the new Mahayana vehicle as superior to the older Theravada or Hinayana (a pejorative term invented by the Mahayanists) path.  Just as Theravada included much Hindu mythology-relegating it to a lower level (realms of the gods such as Brahma), Mahayana included the Hinayana by relegating it to a lower level of enlightenment; later, Tibetans relegated the Mahayana to a lower path than Vajrayana by emphasizing (faster) Tantra over Sutra.  Despite Conze's valuable introduction, these texts are difficult reading due to their erudite concepts & philosophy, terminology, writing style, anachronisms, monotonous repetition (e.g. several renditions of the same conversation), subtlety, poor grammar, questionable choices of English word equivalents, & the basic unevenness of the text (developed over centuries)~the Zohar.  They address the profundity of physical/conventional & metaphysical/ultimate reality & their relationship to a Bodhisattva pursuing the Perfection of Wisdom (PoW ) towards full enlightenment (Buddhahood).  I particularly liked Chapter 15 describing types of concentrations, 63--Q&A, & 83--clearing up enigmas.  "Numerical lists" at the end add clarity, but a precise glossary would have been extremely helpful.  Profound highlights-the PoW is much greater than Buddha's relics etc.; p. 366: the giver/gift/recipient are the same = the conventional world is transitive (has an object) but the ultimate is intransitive (has no object); per psychology--p. 8: "Nirvana...is signless, procedureless, without complexes, the stopping of complexes, by means of cognition;" per Vajrayana--pp. 9-10: "The idea that the thought of the Absolute...is `transparent luminosity' (pra-bhsvara)...`thought in its substance is luminous through & through, but has become defiled by adventitious taints;'" ~the Sepher Yetzirah--p. 21: "A mystical alphabet...in some Buddhist circles;" p. 144 note 4: "Emptiness is not a property...it is mere medicine, a means of escape from all fixed convictions.  It is taught so that we may overcome attachment, & it would be a pity if we were to become attached to it;" p. 173: "[Bodhisattva] should not take refuge in Buddha, Dharma, & Samgha;" per Dzogchen--p. 211: "Those who learn the doctrine...should wish to be like a magical illusion , to be like a magical creation.  In consequence they hear just nothing, study nothing, realize nothing;" intransitive motivation-- p. 513: "For the sake of what, then, does [the Bodhisattva] course in perfect wisdom?  The Lord: For the sake of nothing whatever;" p. 594: ~Shamatha--"Feeling does not come from anyplace & does not go anywhere;" ~Judaism--p. 669: "8 precepts on the Sabbath;" "mere rule & ritual" are included in the p. 667 "4 bonds (grantha) [also religious fanaticism]," "4 graspings (updna)," & p. 669: "10 fetters (samyojana);" & mindfulness is only one of the p. 668: "7 limbs of enlightenment."  While there is value in reading different (even repetitive) versions of something, the knowledge density of the mid-size version greatly exceeds this one.  Thus, readers with limited time are advised to read that version before attempting this one.
1093590
At the end of the last chapter (before the epilogue) Raymo writes that the "ideal of humans living in harmony with tamed nature ... is a sturdy old myth, and in it we might still hope to combine the Enlightenment, with its confidence in the power of the human mind to make sense of the world, and romanticism, with its belief that all of life is a miracle."

That neatly sums up the main themes of this book, that describes the author's daily walk through the woods to work. The author wanders the path and all the thoughts and associations it provokes, seeking both ends: to make sense of the world, and to celebrate that life is a miracle.

The book does indeed wander. Under T in the index (unusual to find such a good index in a small book), for example, you can find Tao (Way); Technology; Thales of Miletus; Third World; Thoreau, Henry David; Thousand-monkey metaphor; Tibetan Plateau; Timber, harvesting; ...

In part they are connected by Raymo's story of how everything _is_ connected, and how in the particular we can find the universal. That is what he shows as he wanders the path from start to end. He starts with the particular - the names of streets, local history - and ranges in his genial, learned way - through the amazing journey of monarch butterflies, the DNA that shapes and is shaped by life - to the universal - the laws of nature, the mystery that so much is explicable, yet not entirely.

That is where the story touches on its deeper themes. Though he quotes Oscar Wilde, that "the true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible," he warns that "our senses are dulled by the tedium of the commonplace" and tries to remind us, and show us, vividly "that the ordinary is not ordinary at all, that the commonplace is miraculous."

Then The Path is at its best (and best read, not reviewed).
3213513
Being less structured than the Dhammapada or the Bagavahad-Gita makes the Upanishads something you can delve into a bit like the Tao Te Ching. There a pearls scattered here that are both affecting as you read them, but further on reflection and meditation. And Easwaran's notes are simple and profound. Splendid
2715487
The title of my review comes from the structure of the book itself, in which Heidegger himself says that in philosophy one circles around a question in order to explore it in depth, not go at it head on for a superficial answer.

The book begins with Heidegger doing his standard pulling-apart of the question itself - such as exploring the word "metaphysics" in its original, then subsequent meaning.

For the first half of the book, Heidegger explores the attunement to profound boredom ona personal level (It is boring for one) he characterizes as the state of modern mankind (following Kierkegaard), which as a fundamental attunement nonetheless serves to reveal Being. The move from various forms of boredom, such as that of waiting at a train station having misread the schedule or attending a party that didn't at first seem boring, to that of profound boredom is actually very interesting.

We then move to the thesis that Man is world-forming, while the animal is poor in world. The animal being does not experience beings as beings, or being qua being, but as reactions to the world.

From there Heidegger moves on to examine the propositional statement, the logos apophantikos, in considerable detail, mainly with reference to Aristotle and Kant. The inner structure of the logos as revealing and concealing truth and falsity (aletheia and pseudos) by a pointing out (apophantikos) that is either pointing to (kataphasis) or pointing away (apophasis), from within the inner structure of synthesis and diairesis, is the real meat of the work, and wonderful even when I disagree with it or need to explore further. And it is a bit alien and tricky when one is not immersed in this stuff.

And once this has been accomplished, the reintroduction of world-formation and profound boredom reappear to complete the circle around the question.

Finitude and solitude barely rate an explicit mention - but if one is paying attention they are always there implicitly, particularly in the sections on the logos apophantikos as something that is arrived at in agreement, not in isolation ala Protagoras, in a relation. Being is relational in its inmost essence as Being.

Heidegger also points out his limited concept of logos in Being and Time, where only one aspect was considered.

I found this lecture series much more engaging and readable than Being and Time - and much more accurate and profound to my way of thinking. It has certainly inspired me to read more Heidegger - and Aristotle. Attributing Relativism to Heidegger may be more problematic than I had been led to believe. I would recommend reading Heidegger without the Parisian School in mind.
2416944
This is a great album, rewarding listening. Really a "concept album" for late romantic / modern classical music, traces the threads of transcendentalism in works you wouldn't ordinarily think of together. The John Cage on here fits nicely with the Scriabin and makes for a really interesting playlist. Highly recommended.
1029637
I have been reading a lot about mysticism over the past year or two.  Living in Thailand, it's hard to avoid the Buddhist tradition of attaining Nirvana through meditation.

But, surprisingly, that "old tradition" has been recently brought into question by the well-known Thai forest monk, Buddhadasa, who points out that in the original stories of the Buddha, many people broke through to Enlightenment simply through hearing the truth.

In any case, it seems clear to me that there is a world-wide tradition of religious contemplation or meditation which may lead to an ecstatic union with God.  Except for Buddhism, where it does NOT lead to any such thing, but to a rather undefined state called "Nirvana."

From this presumed fact, the editor of this anthology makes a Great Leap --- and he's not the first one to do it --- and claims that this proves that all religions are the same.

I would suggest that this anthology only demonstrates that, for a very small number of people, intense contemplation results in a feeling of ecstasy.  Whether this is, in fact, a "union with God" is something that involves a leap of faith.  It is reported, for example, that many epileptics have such religious experiences just before they fall into a fit.

This is very far from demonstrating that all religions are the same.

And here the editor fails, sometimes egregiously.  His very brief introduction to Islamic mysticism manages to introduce a Muhammad who (somehow) was not a murderer and a brigand, and who did not marry a great number of wives, one of whom was under ten years old.  The Muhammad in this book is a peaceful, profoundly religious man.  To which I can only reply: read the Qur'an.

The author's biases are also clearly on display in his introduction, where some decent scholarly summary suddenly gives way to preaching right out of Savanarola: if there is not a universal human religious revolution very soon, we will die from environmental disaster. (!) Putting aside the extremely unlikely revolution in religious consciousness, and the equally unlikely environmental disaster, this tirade has absolutely nothing to do with the texts selected by the editor.

For example, Saint Francis' beautiful prayer which invokes the beauty of the sun, the moon, the stars, the earth, etc.  says nothing about the need for a grand "revolution" to protect them; it speaks only of adoring them.

------- updated review --------
The more time I spend with this book, the more I dislike it.  Why?

In the section on Buddhism, the editor frankly admits that he does not like some of the key tenets of Buddhism, and so he selectively edits the Buddhist passages based on his own jejune prejudices.

The section on the Greeks, which is badly titled "The Way of Beauty" --- "The Way of The Good" would have been much better --- he includes some weird "Hymn to Gaia" which is attributed to a book written by contemporary feminists who imagine they are poets.  PLEASE, could we limit the selections to things written by actual Greeks?  Or do we see the editor again bending the Greek reality to suit his own jejune tastes, just as he bent the Buddhist reality to suit himself?

I'm afraid this book is going in the trash.
866671
Homo Sapiens seems to come preloaded with any number of Pythagorean susceptibilities: logic, music and maths. I wonder whether the horn should be added to that number. Who among us can defy its allure? It addresses something primordial in our collective archive.

Karajan's 1975 account of the Romantic Symphony is no repeat of his earlier recording for EMI. In some ways it is less successful: the acoustics of the Philharmonie, which were being re-calibrated at the time, denude the finale's coda of mystery. Moreover, Bruckner never authorised the use of a cymbal in the opening fortissimo of the finale: Schalks 1, Karajan 0.  The two inner movements do not vary greatly from the EMI performance - perhaps they are more clinical in the drier acoustic. The raison d'tre of this recording comes in the first movement.

Karajan's cult of beauty was never more acute than in the opening bars of the symphony. The horn signal, underpinned by the lucent strings of the Berlin Philharmonic, is ravishingly played. It is a summons to eternalize.

But wait.

The mosaic of Christ Pantocrator - Lord of the Universe - in the Byzantine monastery at Daphni is but a pale imitation of the Great Chorale that occurs at 9'30" - it's like Bruckner has momentarily lassoed . . . something. The timpani that crowns its conclusion might be inauthentic (it was omitted from the EMI recording - I find it elsewhere only in the Knappertsbusch `44) but it imparts majesty to this numinous encounter. To my ears, Karajan was never more magisterial in Bruckner than in this "thirty seconds over God". Some things in life can only be experienced and not explained - this is one of them: befall it. The movement comes to an end with the braying of the horns.

Now back in the mid-1990s, DG released this recording on Galleria.  While the notes were opaque, I could have sworn that the sound was better. Either way, we await a 24-bit remastering, but Hell might turn Methodist before DG arises from its slumber.
1366712
Is a helpful book in relating the transcendental in the particular circumstances of our lives,often in ones that seem far from hopeful. It sets one on a good trajectory. Also it is easy to read.
274730
I've heard alot of readings of Ives's 4th, and each has it's merits.  I personally prefer Ozawa's account over the Michael Tilson Thomas release.  ALthough I enjoy MTT's version very much (and it is a reference recording no doubt) I also feel MTT is alittle too controlling or too articulated for Ives...his account is more "user friendly" than other accounts.

Ozawa, on the other hand, is a more mystical reading.  With Ozawa, Ives is more than "americana"...Ives is a transcendentalist above all and this recording reflects this aspect of Ives more than other accounts.
2039819
Thoreau sought the seclusion of the pond to write *this* book, not _Walden_. In 19th-century terms, this treatise is a modified travelogue based on a 13-day boat trip that Henry and his brother John took in 1839. By today's standards, contemporary editors and many an English teacher would decorate this manuscript with red ink and admonish the author that he strays too often and too far from the main subject. Bill Bryson's essays wander too, but he doesn't usually reach back and quote the Bhagavad-Gita, Homer, Chaucer, or Shakespeare. But whenever Henry takes in his surroundings, he is reminded of something else, and before you know it a serious discourse is off and running, and it has nothing to do with floating upstream or down. He expresses his opinions or offers his knowledge about fish, mythology, religion, poetry, reading, writing, history, government, traveling, waterfalls, friendship, love, life, nature, art, dreams, and science. He reminisces about a previous trip to the Berkshires and a sail down the Connecticut River. He breaks into poetry at whim -- sometimes his own words, more often someone else's. Along the way, the brothers paddle from Concord, Massachusetts, to the area around Concord, New Hampshire, and then turn around and go home. We meet some of the people they encounter along the way and get a glimpse of New England life during that time period. In some respects, the people and the land haven't changed much at all. We can see Thoreau's environmentalism when he talks about dams and their effects on the habits and habitats of fish -- concerns that are still with us today. We can laugh at his puns and enjoy his wordplay (i.e., "The shallowest still water is unfathomable" and Man needs "not only to be spiritualized, but *naturalized*, on the soil of earth.") Above all, we can explore these rivers and shorelines during a time period that we will never see personally, with the aid of a native naturalist who's in the habit of sharing his observations and thoughts.
Read _Walden_ first. And if you find you enjoy Henry's take on nature and civilization and life and living, pick up _A Week_. There are a few gems lurking in here that you might connect with.
326863
Unfortunately I found much of the playing on this disc rather monotone.  Everything is played at a mezzo-forte: no variation, no ebb and flow of tempo and dynamic.  Especially in the many passages of motivic modulation one finds in Bach, Hahn and company rather thoughtlessly repeat the motives, offering no inflection, no direction, no interpretive contribution.  Furthermore the rhythmic momentum and forward-motion so essential to the Baroque style is missing here.  It may be repeated, then: especially when listening to this entire album in one sitting, one comes away with an impression not unlike that of sitting through a monotone classroom lecture for an hour.  The subject matter might be highly interesting, but you find yourself getting restless and impatient even so.

Still, the disk has its points.  Hahn's sound is gorgeous and her earnestness is rather touching.  And I don't say she's always monotone: there are pleasant, thoughtful passages here.  Furthermore this is Bach, a composer whose music, more than almost any other's, retains a great deal of its effectiveness even in less-than-great performances.  So the disc is still enjoyable, even if not my favorite in this repertoire.

Hahn's playing reminds me of the classical albums that trumpeter Wynton Marsalis recorded in the early 80's.  Like Marsalis', Hahn's readings are technically polished and impressive, but in the end they miss some of the heart and spirit of the music.
4760446
In my recent (four-star) review of Aldous Huxley's "The Perennial Philosophy," I opined that Huxley's "Perennial vision" had been "flattened" due to the influence of Swami Prabhavananda's Vedanta philosophy. This reminded me that the only translation of Shankara's Crest Jewel of Wisdom (or Discrimination) I had read was Prabhavananda's, which I no longer have and hadn't read for decades. With this in mind, I decided to procure another version (this one) and review it.

This version had received all five-star reviews, and one reviewer who has read multiple translations of the text averred, "This version of the Crest Jewel of Wisdom is by far the most accurate and esoteric translation, in my humble opinion." The price was right for the Kindle edition--$3.99-- and after I downloaded it, I zipped through the short text in about an hour.

The first thing that hit me was the writing style of this 1895 translation:  lots of thees, thines, thous, and whences couched within old-fashioned nineteenth-century syntax. I seriously doubt if Shankara's original version read like this Theosophical Society translation. I didn't vibe with the style.

Shankara's Dharma, while ground-breaking at the time it was written, is unremarkable by today's spiritual standards. If this text were written by a contemporary Advaita Vedanta guru, it would be dismissed as unnoteworthy. Beyond describing the wonders of Self-realization and enjoining yogis to seek the Self by discerning between It and the non-self, there is little esoteric elaboration in the treatise.

Shankara, in a couple of places, differentiates between the individual Self and the universal Self, but he fails to elaborate on the distinction between the two or on how one can realize the latter after realizing the former. Here's an excerpt from the text that illustrates this:

"The binding is untied by perfect knowledge, not otherwise; the discerning of the Oneness of the Eternal and the Self is held by the scripture to be perfect knowledge. And this is accomplished by perfectly discerning between Self and not-self; thereafter discernment is to be gained between individual and universal Self."

Shankara's description of the bliss sheath, the final barrier to Self-realization, is unimpressive. Here's what he says:

"The principle sphere of the bliss-formed veil is in dreamless sleep; in dreaming and waking it is part manifest when blissful objects are beheld.

"Nor is this bliss-formed veil the higher Self. It is a form of objective nature; it is an effect caused by good acts accumulated in this changeful form."

I hate to say it, but I don't think Shankara groks the bliss sheath. The bliss sheath is simply the Energy, or Shakti, of the Self objectified. When this Energy is no longer objectified, then the plenary, or universal Self--Siva-Shakti-- is realized.

Whereas contemporary Advaita Vedantans and neo-Advaita Vedantans seem allergic to the quasi-dualistic term "union," Shankara repeatedly enjoins us to attain union with the Self; but again, he doesn't clarify how union with the individual Self [Atman] differs from union with the universal Self [Brahman].

I'm sure there are better translations of Shankara's Crest Jewel of Wisdom than this one, but I'm not motivated to sift through numerous versions to find the best one(s). Just as students of Buddhism should read Gautama, students of Advaita Vedanta should read Shankara. But I recommend finding a more refined and extensive translation of/commentary on his writings than what this version offers.
1738972
Barely tolerable.  Modernism isn't about nihilism for nihilism's sake, cynicism for cynicism's sake.  Not even a clever postmodern move here, like quoting a measure from Bach.  Like all of the music of this genre, it really enjoys itself and speaks to an anemic attempt to 'overcome' the tradition.  So why 4 stars?  Beautifully recorded, committed performances--this is a perfect specimen of what orchestral music struggles against and survives.  Don't get me wrong--I love Stockhausen's Gruppen and most of Ligeti's explorations--I'm not a tonal nostalgist.  But getting through Norgard's expressionism without feeling a sense of nausea and boredom is nearly impossible.
639971
This latest edition of the distinguished series of "Short Breviaries" ( a sort of oxymoron if you think of it) by St. John's Abbey is in some ways an answer to a need. The need for clerics, religious, and liturgically-interested laity to have at last an English language breviary with good English and a repect for Catholic and monastic tradition. Not here do we find that godawful "Morning; Mid-Morning; Noon; Afternoon;Evening;Night Prayers" but the traditional and already acceptably "Englished" Lauds;Terce;Sext;None;Vespers and Compline. We also find decent and pleasing translations of the actual liturgical hymns in the "Liturgia Horarum" NOT the gleanings of the 70's vintage LH which is still the only official English LH in the US. The Collects are also freshly translated in a more literal and beautiful English than we currently find in the official liturgical books. (On this, more anon.)

In short, is this the ( in my opinion) long-awaited death-blow to ICEL and its monopoly?

The book itself is literally and figuratively "handsome": it is pleasant to look at and fits rather nicely in one's hand.

It is in my view amazing for the richness of content that it manages to pack into one volume in comparison with the cumbersome and bulky 4-volume LH.

However...

For those (like your servant here writing) of a more traditional RC bent there are the occasional shocks. The new Grail Psalter with its "horizontal inclusive" language can almost make one laugh with its dextrous acrobatics to avoid at all costs the use of the dreaded word "man" ( a fault shared in other places in the Book); the "litanies" of the ferial office composed by members of the Abbey community that ( in my opinion) are at times a little too psychological and individualistic for a liturgical book; not to mention political ( are "we" REALLY fostering intolerance and violence? ); and the occasional "howler" of a Collect. A prime example is the Collect for the Feast of the Transfiguration, August 6th, which is more more about Hiroshima than Tabor.

There is also of course the question (forthrightly addressed in the introduction) of its non-canonical status for RC clerics and religious bound to the recitation of the Liturgy of the Hours.

So, why do I use it, as dubious as I am?

Well, I suppose, just the sheer joy of finding an English Breviary that I can hold in my hand, can pray and not be ashamed of; with none of the sadly time-worn gimmicks and dishonesties of the 70's ICEL 4-volume "jumbos". Also, the traditional Compline, the daily use of the Gradual Psalms in the "little hours"; and reasonably sized readings in "Vigils".

I make up the defects for myself from the Latin LH and the "old Breviary" ( the "Preces feriales" cover all the territory nicely) when necessary; and leave the question of my "obligation to say the Office" to God and my confessor.

Since I got this Book I've almost never missed a day; more than I could say before.
1123017
Several years ago, when I first began to investigate Jewish mysticism (after having devoted decades to studying, practicing, and teaching various Hindu and Buddhist traditions), I purchased this small book to sample the Zohar. I enjoyed the foreword by Andrew Harvey, but felt no affinity for the Zohar itself. And I'm a guy who usually enjoys reading  mystical literature, especially if it's Kashmir Shaivism, Tibetan Buddhism, Christian Hermeticism, Daism (the teachings of Adi Da), or Ramana Maharshi  (a great Advaita Vedanta guru).  I put the Zohar in storage with my other books, and headed out of the country.

A few weeks ago, I received most of my storage books, and I decided to have another go at the Zohar. Well, it's the same as before: I simply do not find the book particularly accessible, interesting, or enlightening. I'll take the Bhagavad Gita, the Tao Teh Ching, and the Buddha's Dharma over the Zohar, and none these teachings are favorites of mine. It's hard for me to accept that the Zohar is the canonical text of Jewish mysticism. From my perspective, this reflects the weakness of the Jewish mystical tradition. I'm a Jew, but I've got to call a spade a spade and admit that Hindu and Buddhist mysticism beats what Judaism offers.

In addition to Andrew Harvey's fine foreword, this book has helpful facing page annotations and explanations, which make for a smoother, easier read.  Even though I don't care for this book, I give it three stars because it's nicely designed and the Zohar is, after all, canonical. However, as a writer of mystical literature, I will not include it in the Recommended Reading List in my books.
4418387
The greatest, most supreme magick, is the ability to abide in perfect happiness, untainted bliss in every moment. Subsequently It is also the hardest to attain. Only infinte power can touch it.
If infinite power is ones focus, then this book is an early step in that direction(lessness). But it is not a direct path to it, it is more of a dead end side street. A worthy experince nonetheless, before one rejoins the main path again.
If the pure happiness that is brought about by enlightenment is an equivalent of a PhD then this book would be studied somewhere around junior school.  And necessarily so, as the sense of an `I am' precedes that of an `I am not'.

The book in question is a course in the attempted mastery of duality, it's fundamental teaching requires and revolves around a `doer'. As the `doer' or `ego' advances it steadily accrues `power' in order to exercise `powerlessness'.  This is akin to asking a child to sit all day long next to a candy bar without eating it.
It's job is to bring up a battle within oneself, the battle over right and wrong, good and bad etc, etc. Franz Bardon relates his own experience of this in `Frabato The Magician' where he recounts his life and death battle with a powerful `black lodge'.  Now, remember it takes two to play at duality, the author is clearly unable to detach himself from it, unable to master it. The 'good'is trying to wipe out the 'bad' and vice versa. except that both sides see themselves as 'good' and the other as 'bad'.
If the level of goodies and baddies appeals to you, and one sees themself as a potentially powerful goody; then this book is for you and it will be of great help.

However if you are looking to exit the up's and down's of duality and your primary goal is to find peace and happiness one will need to move on to becoming powerless from a  powerless place.