Helped the Author.  But ....  he seems to believe his experience is universal.  A caution!
581091
The book does flag Dantes Divine Comedy as a very worthwhile book to read.  Or reread.  I agree!

Nevertheless, the translation from he takes his quotes is not, in my humble opinion, the best translation to really get the gist of what Dante is about.  So...  use your kindle to check out other translations.  Or try a bookstore.  Find what suits you.  What makes sense to you.

Regarding this book, as a retired clinical psychologist, I find his view that somehow anyone would experience things exactly as he did - from a position of feeling lost to learning lessons from Dante, rather simplistic.  The Psyche (your inner psychology), in my long experience, does not work by simple rules or a set pattern for how ones inner life develops.

You may find the book helpful.  I find it simplistic.  But at the current price of 99 cents, you cant go wrong giving it a try!  Self-help can often help.  Try a diary!  Or talking to a mentor or helpful friend.  Both have been shown to work, maybe not as well as a very good therapist, but theres no harm in trying this first.  It may do the trick!

My greatest caution for anyone trying out this book is, first to find a good translation so that the excerpts the author gives you feel right for YOU.  Then, keep in mind that everybody is unique.  What happened for the author may not be what might happen for you.  Maybe some of it will.  And some of it wont.  So don't let yourself get discouraged if your experience does not accord with the route this author thinks is somehow true, universal, the same for every reader - whether of his book or of Dante.

Im retired now.  But in my work I was always coming up with a unique theory to fit each person I worked with.  Indeed, together we came up with theories about themselves.  Revising them as we went.

Use your own head.  Your own heart!  Find your unique path.  Using Dante, this book, mentors, diary writing.  Find what works for YOU!
3992390
It's hard to tell whether Rao's advice is something that you can really apply or something that falls into the New Age category of wishful thinking.  Rao, otherwise a mainline business professor, uses teachings from eastern mysticism to help people improve their lives.  At times, however, he steps into the realm of the incredulous with notions that are similar to the New Age nonsense of the Law of Attraction.  You can create miracles on a daily basis, he says, but he also tells us that we can only control the process but not the outcome.  These viewpoints are diametrically opposed.  How does he reconcile them?  He doesn't because he can't.

Some of the advice is good and supported by psychological studies.  For example, an "attitude of gratitude" does help people feel better because their attention is more focused on the good and less on the bad.  Being optimistic and believing that the universe is benevolent also tends, by virtue of your demeanor, to attract more pleasant situations - if you expect the waiter to be a jerk, you'll probably find something - anything - he did that was jerk-worthy; if you don't expect him to be a jerk, you'll probably have a pleasant dinner.  But there's nothing magical or mystical about this - it's human nature and relationships at play.

So what to make of this book?  It's basically a good guide for attitude adjustment -changing mental models, adopting a perspective of gratitude, etc.  It will help the reader to achieve a good level of equanimity but will it really create all these miracles he promises?  I'd like to see some feedback from readers who tried it and got what they sought.
800267
HI THERE, & PLS EXCUSE MY USE OF, NECESSARILY,  LG TYPE--THANKS!

HAVING JUST FINISHED THIS BOOK, I CAN HONESTLY SAY I WANT TO READ M2.  NOT BECAUSE I WASN'T FURIOUS WITH OUR MILITARY AND THE TALL WHITES; I WAS AND STILL AM.  BUT,  BECAUSE OF CHARLIE.  I ALSO BELIEVE THE HAPPENINGS WERE TRUE.

BTW,  YES,  THE BOOK IS REDUNDANT.  SEEMS AS IF HE WOULD WRITE FOR A BIT, STOP, THEN COME BACK IN A WEEK, OR SO, THEN WRITE SOME MORE.  I'M GLAD I READ "THE FORWARD," WHICH EXPLAINS A LOT!!

FOR ONE THING, CHARLIE COULDN'T BELIEVE, HIMSELF, WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN HIS LIFE.  SO, HE WOULD PRAY, SING, TELL HIMSELF HIS MIND WAS PLAYING TRICKS ON HIM, ETC--ALL IN AN EFFORT TO NOT LOSE HIS GRIP ON REALITY.  ALSO, IF U'VE EVER HAD A TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE, U'LL  RECOGNIZE THE FREE-FORM,  FREE-STYLE OVER AND OVER  RETELLING/REWRITING OF THE EXPERIENCE, MIXED IN WITH THE ORDINARY EVENTS HAPPENING IN HIS DAILY LIFE.

FINALLY, AS FOR "THE BRAGGING":  SINCE THE MILITARY,  TERRIFIED OF THE TW's,  HAD ALREADY,  IN AN EFFORT TO PLS THEM,  THROWN 59 OTHER AIRMEN UNDER THE BUS,  I BET THEY SAID EVERY BIT OF THAT STUFF.  AND AGAIN,  REMEMBER,  SOME OF THE STORIES WERE RETELLINGS....
1716084
I liked the author's style and allegory of his connection with his "higher self" or "holy guardian angel" or "Higher Intelligence".

The Shaolin Secret was a visualization technique of breathing light into your hara (or lower Dan Tian, or the sea of chi, or the intersection of the 2nd and 3rd chakra), building it there, then mentally (WITHOUT MUSCLE STRAIN) guiding it to your arm/ other body part, then fixing "rigidity" in your mind only, having someone else try to bend your arm/ force it to move.

What he failed to say (or I failed to read) was that it takes at least 2 years of daily meditation and tai chi-like exercise to be able to consistently pull that off. (I speak from experience.)

The rest of the book (at least as far as I read, about 65%) was a record and commentary on the HGA experience he had.

Descriptive and entertaining (which got him the 3 stars), but not "fresh" (which kept him from getting 5 stars), it's worth a read.
2635592
I dislike authors approach that "we," (meaning narcissists including himself) do this and intend that.  While is gifted in helping people understand and work with Narcissistic Personality Disorders  He is just one person, having his own unique mix of characteristics, his own developmental history. Other narcissists have their own unique combination of characteristics. And each has a unique developmental journey. I believe the author simplifies a complex area. His books certainly break the ice, which has been very needed. However, his work (and I am certainly no expert, just one of his "we.")  Readers should be told empathetically that the disorder(s) are very complex. Maybe he has somewhere, but I have missed it.

We?  No, only in broad brush strokes are the "we" similar. While similarities do assist in diagnostic analysis, to lump everyone into "we" is basically seeing only the forest, but none of  the trees.  (And human beings are magnitudes more complex and differeent from each other than any stand of trees.)

I am not expert. Just my opinion. Maybe that is the point.
245874
I am writing as a very open-minded agnostic. I originally heard Dr. Alexander's story on Through the Wormhole and decided to give his book a read. Overall, I think that hard skeptics will remain hard skeptics, believers will be comforted, and open-minded agnostics will remain the same, although perhaps the latter will think the likelihood of an afterlife is very slightly higher than the likelihood they previously assigned.

Dr. Alexander is an intelligent neurosurgeon who seems to truly believe what he wrote. With that in mind, I think that it is fantastic that he shared his story. In reading through this book, I was primarily looking for 2 things: 1) evidence of an afterlife; and 2) details regarding what the afterlife actually entails. The book is definitely worth reading on both points, but it certainly comes up short of "proof." I finished reading with a number of questions that, based on what Dr. Alexander claimed he witnessed, could have probably been answered in the book: Is there a hell? Many of the religions have their own facts and doctrines - which is right? (Are they all right?) Does it matter what I do in this life? What were those pieces of evil sprinkled throughout the universe? How far away are other intelligent life forms? What do humans "do" in the future? Was Dr. Alexander aware that he was from Earth? (Etc.) Some illustrations may have been interesting. These questions notwithstanding, we did get a pretty good idea of what Dr. Alexander's heaven is like - and it was interesting.

Dr. Alexander does provide evidence for an afterlife if you take him at face value. But, based on objective fact-checking from several neuroscientists, I do not believe it is a medical certainty that his neocortex was in such a paralyzed state that none of this could be possible (perhaps his brain could have been working post-surgery). (Dr. Wade, his doctor during his coma, did not give that assessment). I also think that some of the writing, especially in the early chapters, was a bit sensationalist.

So, what evidence could Dr. Alexander have given? I think conclusive proof would have been to make a bold prediction regarding a testable, unknown fact. Maybe tell us what dark matter or dark energy really is, for instance. Just about any testable prediction would be great. (If he has done so outside of the book, someone please inform me!)

As a last point, the book seemed to be focused on the lay person, rather than an academic or well-educated individual. Dr. Alexander has a broad array of academic publications in well-respected journals, so I think this was intentional, but I was dissatisfied with the writing.
4079696
It's an interesting book and a good read if your mind is open to such possibilities. I personally believe much of what David Morehouse mentions in his book - because of my own personal experiences in this area some 2 and half decades ago. Some areas which caused me to wonder, though stems from his "bullet" to the head. If anything it seems to me this might of been the source of some mental instabilities\trauma in his life - not doubting that David Morehouse actually experienced what he did while employed by the military for remote viewing, but if anything, at least from the story he gives, he appeared to become more emotional, sentimental, and or instabilities which could be the hair-line signs of mental problems. But even if the bullet to the head didn't cause the problems with the nightmares, I'd almost think his experience with religion from his past might of offered some answers and direction with the things he should of known. A religion not practiced daily, will cause you to loose the precepts of what you once believed, especially where vows and oaths would of been made in the Manti Temple. It kind of almost explains why he was left to such opposing powers of darkness in his dreams for so many years. And the last-bit with the Angle thing..well...it seems more like something psychologists have reported from "ufo" abductees or other such people who are psychically able to communicate with the UFOs where in all cases they have been chosen\tasked to deliver some message to the world - but it's never any message you can find in christian scriptures or about Christ. Where's the burnings and glory - so go figure, maybe it was something else from his dreams pretending to be an angle.

Still a very good read from David Morehouse prospective with remote viewing, the Military, and some of the amazing things that can be done with it and the places one can go here and out of this world.
3149146
I sort of believe the thesis that the author's are working under, and I think a reader should come to this book with a preconceived belief that the authors at least *could* be right.

A lot of people might see the "future thinking" the authors discuss as basic coincidence, and I'm not going to argue it one way or the other. But I liked how this book gave lots of examples and tried to provide a strategy, such that it is, to pay attention to subtle signs that *might* be a clue of an upcoming event, good or bad.

Again, just like with anything, it's easy to use hindsight with anything and say "oh, that was a sign!" I don't think this book will convince anybody brand new. But I do have a little belief in these signs popping up, or semi-precognition like you're thinking of a song and suddenly you hear it on the radio. But, how can we predict and harness this slight precog ability? I certainly don't know! (and I'm not arguing I'm 'special,' just that this precog idea exists).

It's an interesting book for those who already accept the thesis. It's not a book you'll sit and read straight through, but I had a good time flipping back and forth between different examples and experiences. I'm not sure it will 'help' me behave differently in any way, but it was still neat!
2204087
Well, I downloaded this on Kindle Unlimited so it was free.  It seems the author has a good heart and is happily sharing the knowledge he has received.  Having taken many various kinds of energy classes myself, including several Jin Shin Jyutsu weekend hands-on presentations, I was familiar with the material he presented, although we called the "middle line", the "main central vertical flow" or "central meridian sequence".  I only glanced briefly at the remainder of the information.  The main problem I had with this book is the broken English.  This is particularly obvious in at least the first third of the book, in which he attempts to describe how easy the method is to use and how one cannot be harmed by it.  These ideas are repeated numerous times.  Sometimes the words are just copied and pasted on again, perhaps to make the 47 pages seem longer.  His one main idea, that everyone can and should treat themselves, is close to my heart so I do appreciate his efforts to bring this information online to others for free.  For more in depth information written in easier to understand English download Alice Burmeister's "The Touch of Healing" or for a more Christian based, but very similar method, the King Institute.  Or just follow Vlad's book (if you can understand it).  It does work!
840237
Whether pro or con; whether in partial or total agreement; one cannot but help seeing the compassion and kindness of the author and his plea to just please think the decision through; please understand that there are options one can explore. He presents his views in an unthreatening manner. The author does an excellent job at educating and is simply asking one to think, feel and explore the options before making a decision... a life altering decision at that; Of course he has his opinion, and certainly hopes one can see his view, but one will see his non-judgemental view toward others shine through... he is trying to educate and provide insights that indeed one may be quite surprised of.. I won't let you know exactly how it impacted my view, but it certainly DID modify it...

This is an easy to read, non-threatening view that I whole heartedly suggest, WHATEVER your view, to read.
1275814
Eben does a good job telling his story about his NDE, but may have left out necessary details.  For instance, his coma was not directly caused by the bacteria, but was medically induced.  You may want to look up the interview where the Dalai Lama speaks with Eben and points out the importance of truthfulness and background of the story teller when one describes phenomena outside of our regular realm of perception.  Much of his story is compelling, but the articles which point out parts of his story to be skeptical of also need to be taken into consideration.  What's the take home?  Validate his experience for yourself.  Go forth, find a practice to discover higher realms of perception (not drug induced but meditation induced) and find it out for yourself.
1019937
What drew me to this book was the promise of accounts of "firsthand experience of revival around the world." By nature a skeptic, I want to believe more than anything! I want to see God's face. One of my favorite verses in scripture is Mark 9:24, when a boy says, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" I sometimes feel overburdened with knowledge about God and lacking (and craving) intimacy with God but not always knowing how to get that. Che Ahn does provide personal stories about encounters with God, but ultimately, I think he misses the mark by focusing - I think - wrongly on what he calls the Glory of God.

Ahn's thesis is that we can invite God's Glory (yes, capitalized) and in so doing invite supernatural healing, interaction, and intimacy. I found, however, that his evidence was anecdotal at best. On pages 62 - 68 he gives several stories of healing and even raising someone from the dead. But in none of these instances is there any detailed proof or evidence other than Che Ahn's word. It isn't that I think he is lying, but if this book was written to those who do not already agree with him - those like me who are seeking intimacy - then he failed as those who do not already agree with him are too skeptical to change their minds based upon the word of an author they don't personally know. In fact, in one situation that really stuck with me was where he prayed for a person injured and looking dead from a car accident. Ahn admits that the man was not dead but does nothing to dissuade onlookers from thinking that when the man moved he was raised from the dead! It is that kind of trickery that I am disillusioned with.

Overall, an interesting look through the eyes of a very charismatic preacher into the world as he sees it, but not anything that brought me closer to intimacy with God. Ultimately, I believe the book failed to live up to its promise to show me how I could experience the Glory of God.

This book was provided as a review copy from the publisher.
536782
Just calling out and summarizing a few good points made by other reviewers already. The key points are (I think)
(a) There is a HUGE discrepancy between the 2nd-hand stories told & heard (about Mr. Chang, Mr. Liao his teacher, and others) and the events and powers actually witnessed on-site by Mr. Kosta personally. It is a gigantic chasm, and Mr. Kosta does not seem to be particularly aware of it.
(b) There is  discrepancy in the stated motivations - one the one hand, it is so important and vital to get this material into the public sphere, it might help save the world, realign our values, reconcile mysticism and science, and so forth. In fact however, there are NO specifics given of the actual practices, nor, after having "read everything published in English about Nei-Gong and Taosim" does Mr. Kosta actually give us a point-by-point comparison and evaluation of the actual practices he was taught. This is important information, because he also states that Mr. Chang is in effect a rare genius, a statistical fluke of pure natural ability, on par with a gold medal Olympian. So, we are left unsure - was this super-human result due to a perfect unique marriage of unbelievably rare raw talent and exceptional effective (hitherto secret) method ? Or was one element predominant ? Would somebody of Mr. Chang's raw talent have done as well practicing Yoga or TM ? Or, would just about anybody be able to get to the levels needed to "save the world" one invidual at a time, by following the special secret method of Mo-Pai ? We'd need a much better comparison of Mo-Pai training methods in view of the thousands of other systems and practices that are much more widely described and available. I don't believe that Mr. Kosta's 2nd book has filled this need very specifically either.
(c) Why, if the motivation is to spread the word on the exceptionaly effecive Mo-Pai practices, to help save the Earth, etc. is there no course of instruction mentioned, no way to find a school or a teacher, no way to begin training.
(d) I wish there had been more discussion and justification of the idea of the 72 levels. I find it hard to credit that such an individualized and mysterious realm of human endeavor (energy, awareness, and mind) can be so neatly characterized. I note that even at level 40 or 50 or so, as I believe Mr. Chang is claimed to be, he still needs money, water, food, transportation, and basically participates in life in the same mildly destructive ways that we all do. How that can be a formula or model for a values revolution that will save the Earth is not made clear. If it just an example of a simple, spiritual life we need to steer us onto the higher road, wouldn't the life of Ghandhi (much better documented) or other simple, sprititual people be more ready-to-hand and accessible for that job ? So it is not made clear exactly how, even if everybody in the world suddenly rushed to study Mo-Pai, that would entail an Earth-saving values shift, anymore than if they all started working on TM or Zen or simple prayer anything else. I suppose being able to ignite newspapers without a match is supposed to be more of an incentive to value-shift oneself than the simple presence and words of better known spiritual/inspirational figures ?
Overall, the presentation is SO MUCH like Castenada that, having plowed through about 15 other Don Juan "localized" versions (Don Juan in - China, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Middle East, Berkeley, etc.) I just can't help but feel the presentation is formulaic.
At least, however, we are certain of the bare fact that a kung fu teacher of John Chang's name and general description does exist and has been photographed. In that prosaic sense, Mr. Kosta has delivered more than the usual "Don Juan franchise" formula. Beyond those skeletal facts, however, we know nothing.
4179713
I heard the author share his story and this inspired me to read his book.. Challenging to put into practise...and also not plausible for everyone.  I admire their commitment to following their call.
1222203
While I generally found this book helpful and informative, I thought it spent way too much time on author's personal hype.  Has some valuable insights.
1066641
Pretty good. He's a little egocentric, though, alot of the text is just him talking about how he took his photographs. However, there's alot of handy information to be gleaned from listening to an experienced photographer gloat. ~_^
3771655
Good for a real newbie,  but then maybe that was  more the people he was he was truely writing for, otherwise you probably have already discovered these tips.