Kashmir Shaivism, Muktananda Style

January 20, 2015

[Note: This is my January 19th Amazon.com book review, of “Consciousness is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism” by Swami Shankarananda.]

From my perspective as a long-time student and teacher of Kashmir Shaivism (KS), this is a very accessible, but less than steller, text. The author, Swami Shankarananda, has impressive academic credentials (Pullitzer scholar at Columbia, professor of English literature at Indiana), has read all the books on Kashmir Shaivism, and spent years studying and practicing Kashmir Shaivism under the direct tutelage of renowned guru Swami Muktananda (1908-1982), but still has produced a book that reveals him as Shaivism-challenged.

I have given this book four stars because it is perhaps the most accessible KS book for beginners, but if you are more than a beginner, then look elsewhere for further enlightenment on the subject. And even for studious beginners, I recommend the more challenging “The Philosophy of Sadhana” (see my five-star review) over this text.… Read the full article

The Skinnerian Robot’s Guide To Conditioned Behavior

January 14, 2015

[Note: This is a book review of Sam Harris's "Free Will," which I also posted at Amazon.com and my Facebook group page, Electrical-Hermetic Christianity.]

I used to think that Ken Wilber (see my two-star review of “The Fourth Turning” and three-star reviews of “Integral Psychology” and “A Brief History of Everything”) was the most overrated living philosopher, but I was wrong. Very wrong. Sam Harris, not Ken Wilber, is hands-down, the king of the hill in the very lucrative field of pseudo-punditry. Truly, I can’t imagine a dimmer bulb than Harris attempting to enlighten the masses about reality (see my two-star review of Harris’s “Waking Up”).

Thank God (yes, I’m not an atheist), or at least my lucky stars (yes, I’m an ex-professional astrologer), that I received this pseudo-book (which I read in about twenty minutes) for free, because it is an utterely worthless piece of philosophical pabulum that a college sophomore could write.… Read the full article

Review of Paul Case Foster’s “Esoteric Secrets of Meditation and Magic”

January 5, 2015
This is the second Paul Foster Case book I have read and reviewed (see my two-star Amazon review of “The Tarot: A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages”), and before I begin the actual review, I want to make a statement about the quality of the writing: Paul Foster Case is one of the best nonfiction writers I have read. His prose is exemplary: clear and concise, elegant and inspiring.

Case is also erudite, teeming with occult knowledge – but to my mind, some of his knowledge is faulty, and much of the information he presents is beside the point for those seeking true Wisdom.

As I see it, Case is a “victim” of his times and background. Most of his information (at least in this book, written in 1924) derives from just a few sources – the great occultist Eliphas Levy (1810-1875), the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, old Rosicrucian teachings, and Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. I’m familiar with these teachings (I learned astrology through the Rosicrucian Fellowship), and because they are all flawed or limited, so are Case’s teachings.

The book is a collection of lessons Case wrote for associate members of the Builders of the Adytum (B.O.T.A.),… Read the full article

New Year Announcements

December 26, 2014
First, I want to invite those of you interested in Christian Hermeticism and Electrical Christianity to join my just-started (12/25/2015) Facebook group, Electrical-Hermetic Christianity (a.k.a. Radical Christian Hermeticism). My first articles will be posted by 12/26, and, of course, more will continually be added.

Within a few months, I also hope to add another Facebook group that focuses on Eckhart Tolle’s teachings and the Power of Now. It promises to be a lively group, because the Tolle acolytes are sure to support their man, while I, of course, criticize him. A bud of mine who does documentaries will shoot a couple videos of me answering questions about Tolle’s Dharma, and the videos will be posted here and at YouTube. I also plan to write a brief text on “Power of Now meditation” before the end of 2015. In fact, I’ve already started the text.

The big news for me in 2015 will be my novel “Kill Jesus” hitting the marketplace. The bad news will be that my other books will stop selling after people read it. I’ll be stereotyped as a “dirty old man,” and live in shame and infamy for my remaining days.… Read the full article

Cosmic CON-Fusion: The Muddled Mysticism of Mantak Chia

December 23, 2014
A fan of my Amazon reviews sent me not one, but six Mantak Chia books. The fan appreciates my deep and detailed reviews, but opined that I needed to consider the Light or Rainbow Body (held out to be the Summum Bonum of spiritual evolution by some Tibetan Buddhists and Taoists). In the fan’s opinion, while the Tibetans are “unclear about techniques” that enable a yogi to attain a Light or Rainbow Body, renowned Taoist master Mantak Chia has (finally, after decades of teaching) “made these techniques public.” While the fan appreciates the (Ramana-Maharshi-inspired) emphasis I place on the “cutting of the Heart-knot” (as the doorway to full En-Light-ennment) in my reviews, he maintains that the cutting of this knot “is not the final level,” but merely a prelude to getting a Light or Rainbow body, which enables a yogi’s physical body to dematerialize into pure energy.

The timing of his email and books could not have been better. I had just finished my (two-star) review of the “The Natural Bliss of Being,” wherein the author (Jackson Peterson) and I, along with a few others, had engaged in a spirited debate (over the course of 250 + comments) regarding the importance of attaining a Light or Rainbow Body and other related matters.… Read the full article

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