Defy Gravity

Subtitled 'healing beyond the bounds of reason', this book takes the reader into the depths of human experience, suffering and development as people die and are reborn in the cycles of their lives. We cannot always find rational reasons for what happens to us, and often have to plunge into the mystery in order to live into a new breakthrough. Mystics are used to living with paradox, and Caroline recounts many experiences of this kind. The structure of the book addresses five truths about healing: the fact that you cannot reason with illness, crisis or God, the need to connect with meaning and purpose, how to navigate in a courageous fashion the dark night of the soul, the need to rely on the power of Graces, and how we can ultimately defy gravity and learn to reason like a mystic.

The book contains many moving stories that pose questions about simplistic interpretations of illness and healing. The reader is invited to consider these issues in a more personal way by relating the stories to their own experience. An important theme is connection with one's feelings about a situation or illness as a way of penetrating into the underlying meaning or pattern that it represents. We are also invited to examine the consistency between our values and our conduct. The heart of the crisis brings people into the dark night of the soul as part of the healing journey. Here Caroline connects St John of the Cross and St Teresa of Avila through their own mystical writings. She goes through the seven almost inescapable passions/vices of pride, avarice, luxury, anger, gluttony, envy and sloth. It is here that grace provides an essential release beyond a superficial self-reliance: reverence, purity, understanding, fortitude, counsel, knowledge and wisdom; there is advice about how to connect with these principles and prayers for their realisation. There is also a brilliant articulation of the essential principles of oneness, forgiveness, truth and thought; I was struck by the observation that all experience is impersonal, and that it is our interpretation that personalises it. At the end of the book, Caroline lists five mystical laws: there is only now, forgiveness is essential, all is illusion, trust in paradox, irony and synchronicity, and maintain spiritual congruency. In summary, this profound and perceptive book is about the development of depth through profound reflection on our experience of the human condition.