The Awakening Human Being: A Guide to the Power of Mind

Title: The Awakening Human Being: A Guide to the Power of Mind

Author: Barbara Berger (with Tim Ray)

Classification: Nonfiction

Genre: Self-Help

ISBN: 978-1846948350

Year Published: 2011

Pages: 205

Edition: First

Publisher: John Hunt Publishing

Reviewer: Joyce Shafer ~ http://Self-PublishedAuthorsBookReviews.weebly.com

The author Barbara Berger (with Tim Ray) asks some important questions, including: Do you live your life, or do you live your interpretation of it? Do you look for happiness in all the wrong places? Do you know the right places to look? If you do look in the wrong places, it’s because that’s what you were taught to do. You can learn a better way, author Barbara Berger promises—and delivers!

Have you ever wondered, What is the key to personal power and the freedom that it brings? Or ever asked yourself, “…why isn’t this working for me? I’ve been so good and I’ve tried so hard, why don’t I experience the happiness I seek? What am I doing wrong? What’s wrong with me?” What if it isn’t that there’s anything wrong with you…just your beliefs, and perhaps your beliefs don’t work for you because they aren’t aligned with reality; and, what is reality, anyway? 

What will help you to answer the questions above, and more you may have, is to know the Mental Laws (“…a law is an impersonal sequence of events that is not dependent on the person or people involved in that sequence of events”). This book includes these Laws, which are: Thoughts Arising (what can you do about your thoughts?), Witnessing (what is the difference between the content and context of thoughts?), Naming (what are your labels and how do they influence you?), Cause and Effect (what is the cause? what is the effect?), Emotion (what comes before an emotion?), Focus (what are you growing in your life?), Free Will (do you have a choice?), Underlying Beliefs (do they in fact determine your experience?), Substitution (what can you change?), Mental Equivalents (what do you really desire to experience?), and Truth (what is actually true?). These Laws speak volumes about us and how we experience ourselves and life, and how we can have a better experience.

Berger also offers Bonus Tracks, which are humorous and revealing dialogues between her and the voice in her head that she named Bollum. These are worth a read because we all have similar conversations in our heads, but instead of falling victim to the voice, Barbara grabs Bollum by the bollocks. I dare you not to laugh or at least chuckle when you read this section; and I’m sure you’ll resonate with these inner conversations as Bollum goes after Berger about being productive, staring at a blank wall, making an impression, meeting people, making a plan for her life and future, being single, the financial crisis, making more money, finding a new relationship, and improving this moment.

The book is written in three parts: Part 1 – the Mental Laws and understanding the way the mind works (the Laws are worth knowing!); Part 2 – using the power of mind wisely; and Part 3 – putting it all into practice in your life. Berger does not sugarcoat or make the wisdom of her message fluffy. She’s candid and real, just as life is; and she shows you how to appreciate and make the most of this fact about life. She speaks about what-is, as well as reminds you that though there are things you have no control over and never will, there are things you can do about this like develop wisdom, understand cause and effect, aim at and work for change, and drop unrealistic expectations that cause you to suffer needlessly, as well as understand what the underlying cause of emotional suffering is. She explains what your happiness depends on and what it doesn’t depend on, and that when you understand this, you’re free. Knowing this is “worth the price of admission.”

Children of a Living Universe: Discovering Our Legacy Will Change Our Future

Title: Children of a Living Universe: Discovering Our Legacy Will Change Our Future

Author: Paul Von Ward

Classification: Nonfiction

Genre: Science/Cosmology and Philosophy/Metaphysics

ISBN: 978-1-57174-711-2

Year Published: 2014

Pages: 432

Edition: Revision of original book Our Solarian Legacy (April 1, 2014)

Publisher: Hampton Roads Publishing

Reviewer: Joyce Shafer ~ http://Self-PublishedAuthorsBookReviews.weebly.com

I found this an engaging read! Very compelling information!

Does the prevailing history of the Earth and human origins, and human capabilities, satisfy you? Or do you feel—or know—there’s more to the story, our story? “Desiring to stake out areas of specialized knowledge and control, we have suppressed the consciousness of our cosmos.” Not only is this a profound and profoundly accurate statement, but it’s a huge clue as to what you might anticipate will be included in this intelligent, rational, reasonable exposition about who we are and the nature of reality that is being denied to us (and by many of us—still) to our individual and shared detriment, while deterring the flourishing we might instead experience.

If you’re curious enough to explore other options about our origins and the nature of reality (or even if you have done), you’ll appreciate this book based on research by independent scholars and the critical, cumulative thinking of the author, Paul Von Ward, who states: “I describe a provisional, but realistic picture of the human legacy by synthesizing the ideas of countless others who are willing to test alternative perceptions of reality. I also evaluate solid material dismissed as unscientific by institutional gate-keepers or ignored because of its source.” He continues with, “Included are studies on improperly labeled ‘paranormal’ phenomena, reports of intelligent nonhuman beings, tangible evidence of forgotten advanced civilizations, compelling findings of frontier science, and wisdom germinated in some cosmic seedbed that springs from deep intuition.” If you typically skip the Preface and Introduction when you read, I advise that these two sections are must-reads!

As the author explains, some of our beliefs about our human and planetary history have caused us to reach a crossroads of either taking responsibility for constructing a better world (and earning our place in the cosmos) or taking responsibility for destroying our world—or allowing it to be destroyed through our complacency. Are we being led by those in authority (religious, educational, political) who may be wearing blinders or are guided solely by their personal beliefs (or agendas) rather than by facts or right questions? The author asks if we can truly create a better future (and present) if we don’t first fill in the gaps about our history; and there are more gaps than facts. He has a point. If you watch any programs about ancient monoliths and structures—creations we’d be hard-pressed to recreate today—and believe that it was a more “primitive” form of us who accomplished these feats, then you’d have to also agree that even with our modern technologies, in some ways, we’ve devolved. Or, you’d have to wonder what else was going on, perhaps that mainstream doesn’t want us to even consider as our history, which begs the question: why not? Von Ward’s purpose is not to prove, but to engender healthy skepticism about what we’re told the facts are versus what the evidence about our history and who we really are demonstrates—or doesn’t.

The book has three parts. Part 1 offers three perspectives on reality.  Part 2 covers how consciousness manifests itself. Part 3 describes what has to happen for humans to be and behave as Solarians, meaning to operate using all of our potential and currently recognized abilities, as well as letting go of what no longer serves us as individuals or as a collective—or never has, and to embrace what we might currently consider the “unknown” to be about us and the cosmos as opportunities to expand into the fullness of who we can be, or meant to be.

Von Ward posits that an intelligent assessment is needed now as to how misinformation, disinformation, and wrong information has been “guiding” us, or misleading us, in many significant instances, along the path our human history has followed. That the absence of such assessment has affected how we evolve intellectually, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, and cosmically. I appreciate the author’s premise for writing this book, which is to have candid conversations among the various disciplines about what we categorically do not know as fact and what we do know as fact. “Any action ‘to set the story straight’ is worthwhile just for the sake of truth, but there are also more urgent reasons. It will expose arbitrary sources of political, economic, military and religious power. It will democratize esoteric knowledge not yet available to all. It will empower individuals to take more responsibility for our own actions and the future of the planet. And it will facilitate much-needed reform in economic, medical, educations, and political institutions.”

This book, which examines areas of science, cosmology, philosophy, psychology, and metaphysics, is by no means light reading, but it is engaging on many levels to those who practice critical thinking and or have inquisitive minds. Some may also find some of the information or proposals controversial, but this may be a result of conditioned thinking and fear of leaving the safety net such thinking is believed to guarantee. There is a great deal of material covered, and it is organized well. Some of the content is complex because of its scientific nature (depending on your familiarity with such information), but the author gets you through it and leaves you with greater understanding on many levels, or at least asking yourself some darn good questions. I particularly appreciate the application of the Hermetic Principles to a variety of scientific and other scenarios, which creates a different consideration and comprehension about what goes on all around, which we take for granted.

This book reminds us that although right answers matter, right questions matter as much. Considering the precipice humans, as well as our planet, seem to be teetering on, I’d say this is a good time to read this book and give sincere consideration to what the author presents as a way through and beyond such times and into the future that can be.