Living Within Samsara

I bought Deepak Chopra’s book entitled The Book of Secrets a several while’s ago. But I’m a little book worm, book reviewer, and general purveyor of all things sanctified - and that is always a book on spiritual growth!

I have only begun reading The Book of Secrets not so many weeks ago and because I am using it as my morning or evening meditation book I am not far into it - at least, not as far into as I would be had I began reading this as a “self-help” book.

My opinion on this book: I want to say that I think this book is not for beginner’s. Not to discourage anyone from reading or eventually reading this book, I just want to say that had this been the first book on my path of self-realization, awareness, or escape into freedom, I am not sure I would have felt comfortable enough continuing.

As wonderful and as succinct this read is, it’s a toughie if you’re still operating from the point of view I think most people operate from. There were concepts and ideas in here that, had I not pre-learned them before tackling this book, I may have been purely baffled. And when I become baffled with a book, I put it down and hardly return. That would be a shame for anyone to do that with this one.

I may be wrong - and I hope I am, but if you’re anything like me, as I started my path I still clutched to ideas like “should have’s” and “ought to’s” and “having pain means I need to just get over it” and “every woman for herself cause this is hell” and “life is hell and I am a victim so when I die I can finally be free.” Today, these former beliefs of mine are gone and since they are gone, it’s easier to understand this book.

If you do consider yourself new to *the way* would you please drop a comment on your opinion as to the readability of this book in order that it may enable a better or more accurate perspectve than mine? My perspective is coming from someone who is not “new to the way” and is, therefore, based in a different foundation.

The first book I read in my quest for freedom - not knowing this is what I would eventually start craving - was Don Miguel Ruiz’ The Four Agreements. Because this was my first read as a “new quester,” I do remain loyal to the idea of beginning with this book as a new seeker.

This book set the foundation for my life. As I read and began practicing the simple concepts - the four agreements - that this book sets forth as a matter of practical understanding in personal freedom, I grew. I grew from a new seeker with old ideas and concepts that no longer worked into a free human being. By becoming free in releasing ideas that no longer worked, I was able to pick up and adopt other concepts and ideas that were easy to embrace.

It seemed that because The Four Agreements was so common sense based and practical is why I could easily make the spiritual transition from bondaged to free. Being a now free person, on a different path, I was open to the ideas presented in The Book of Secrets.

Both books are a guide for living. The Four Agreements, for me, was acting almost as if the bulldozer…to clear away the junk within my human condition to allow for deeper truths; those such presented in The Book of Secrets. I am a believer in the “more will be revealed” concept when we start our path and that the ideas or new freedoms we will embrace tomorrow may not even have a seed yet ingrained. I am also a believer in seeds and that they will not take root until the soil is ready. God prepares this soil through your life. (Or if you have something against the term “God” let’s not let prejudice color you and instead call this power Jesus/Higher Power/Universal Spirit/Consciousness or your intuitive voice or higher self. )

To summarize my thoughts, I want to reiterate that my personal soil - I am of the opinion - was not yet ready for The Book of Secrets when I embarked my maiden voyage. Yours may be. Maybe your daily living is already such that your soil is tilled and ready for this new planting. If not, and you want to begin to prepare your soil, it’s my hope to offer you a direction in beginning with The Four Agreements, as that is what helped mine.

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