The Uncommon Path of Awakening Authentic Joy

It was a surprise to find the maxims of La Rochefoucauld appearing at the head of each chapter of this book, not having read them for over 30 years. The book takes a conversational format, with what the author calls brief evolutionary pointers in text boxes. Thus it can be read at two levels. All the same, at 440 pages, I did feel it a little overwhelming. It draws on the work of Ken Wilber and is based on four central insights: renounce conditioned motives, reclaim your consciousness, recall your origin of oneness and relate as your full potential. The themes are interspersed with illustrated personal stories and there is a useful set of exercises on aligning values with the awakened life. The overall direction is going beyond the ego and reintegrating into real sense of oneness and a call to conscious service. The scope of the book is personal and interpersonal rather than social, focusing on individual transformation, which is only part of the picture, albeit an important one.