 AUGUST, 2001 |
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Carla Wills-Brandon, Ph.D., a licensed marriage and family therapist specializing in trauma resolution, spiritual well-being and grief, has long been on a vital quest for answers about a possible afterlife and the experiences of those left behind. Her extensive research is now a gratifying collection of information and anecdotes that will make the reader more comfortable with one of life's great mysteries. In ONE LAST HUG BEFORE I GO, Carla's warm personality shines in her commentary, which includes her own encounters and those of numerous other experiencers throughout the ages. The subtitle, The Mystery and Meaning of Deathbed Visions, is a quickie foretaste of chapters on Afterlife -- An Ancient Concept Revisited, Family Reunions, Visitations from Special Friends, Journeys to the Beyond, The Many Consequences of Spiritual Encounters, and others. Invigorating discussions about dreams, deathbed visions (universally common to the dying), the meaning of often-reported "death-bed stare" and conversations of the dying with unseen people join other topics. A bonus before each chapter are the last words of many well-known people . . . pointing up the ease with which they looked forward to their imminent, eminent, journey. (Softcover, 292 pages, $12.95, Health Communications, Inc.)
*****
GRACEFUL PASSAGES: A Companion for Living and Dying -- with CDs nestled into the front and back covers of a 56-page CD-book -- is such a gift to those who are in need of inspiration, comfort, or "just" to feel like themselves again, that I feel like offering it with both hands. Although Graceful Passages is introduced as a resource for people who are facing
the prospect of dying, its circle of influence will be much greater.
The passages referred to are the spoken word, with musical background, from people of compassion such as Lew Epstein,
Tu Weiming, Jyoti, Thich Nhat Hanh and Ram Dass. Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, M.D. are two more of the mentors and guides from different traditions whose words are additionally printed between Sam Keen's Foreword and Kathleen Dowling Singh's Epilogue. Familiar words and those not as commonly known are presented here. The little book, a treasure of layout, graphic art and fine paper, is a pleasure to look at and hold.
One CD contains both words and music; the other is the musical accompaniment without the words. The shining music is an offering of two praised musicians: Michael Stillwater, a songwriter and healing music artist whose pioneering work providing intuitive songs for patients, caregivers and medical staff facing end-of-life issues led to the creation of this recording; and Gary Remal Malkin, an award-wining composer, producer and performer who has sought throughout his career to touch the human heart. A six-time ASCAP Film and Television award-winner, he has also received six Emmys acknowledging his work in television. Graceful Passages is the embodiment of a lifelong dream to combine music, healing and service.
This CD-book is from the Wisdom of the WorldTM series, a Companion Arts Production, and is available at local bookstores for $27.95 and online at gracefulpassages.com for a discount of 10%.
If you wish to share Graceful Passages with family, friends, associates or clients, Companion Arts Production offers bulk discounts to make it easier to give. And if you are a retail establishment or an organization interested in using it as an appreciation gift or fundraiser, contact Companion Arts regarding wholesale purchase (888/242-6608).
*****
Here's an offering that can serve you well, no matter what stage of living you're immersed in. Know this: it should come with a warning on its jacket. If you're completely satisfied with your current outlook on life, do not touch. You'll emerge from your reading having discovered that many prevailing, lived-by paradigms ain't worth a nickel. THE POWER OF NOW by Eckhart Tolle has received reviewers' high plaudits, and since 1999 has spent considerable time on best-seller lists. If you've somehow rushed past, it's time to slow down and discover a valuable prize. Now in its tenth printing, it looks like The Power of Now is going to keep rolling through glad recognition of the reading public for a long time to come.
Dan Millman (author of Everyday Enlightenment and The Laws of Spirit) hails the book as "a practical mystic's modern gospel that offers transcendent truths that set us free." I think you'll find it to be so. Even though you may have been reared on teachings now commonly known as New Thought, Tolle's restatement of them make them so immediate that you'll be carried even deeper into these truths that through the ages were so well hidden.
This powerful book points out that the way out of pain is all around us, and shows us how to open our eyes to the keys to freedom. Don't Seek Yourself in the Mind; End the Delusion of Time; Your Link with the Unmanifested are only three of the hey-I-gotta-turn-to-this-right-now sections. It is in "Now, the present moment where problems do not exist" that the sought-for enlightenment exists, modern mystic Tolle writes, and makes the point that the path through its portals can lie in what sometimes is our biggest obstacle: relationships, especially intimate ones. Here lies an opportunity to enter new territory, to be aware of making real change in our deepest responses. Transformation, this is called, and with the combination of your intention and Tolle's counsel, I promise you it can come about.
A friend who is reading The Power of Now told me that arguments from the teens in his family have taken on a completely new tone. During encounters, he sees that he can meet each situation freshly, from the moment, instead of harking back to his feelings about past indiscretions. The outcome, he says, is gratifyingly positive.
Even though there are many exciting books now that show you the road to freedom, Tolle's is an uncommon one. (Hardcover, about 191 pages, $21.95, New World Library.)
June Rouse is a published author and poet, free lance editor and rewriter, writing class and workshop facilitator, and the editor of The Monthly Aspectarian.
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