November 2003
 
Stillness Speaks
Eckhart Tolle
Hardcover, $17 Our Price: $11.90
New World Library
The way to
read this book, says bestselling author and spiritual
teacher Eckhart Tolle, is “by putting it
down often.” It’s a book you’ll want to sit
with and to open to any page, and just let yourself be steeped
in the words—or not so much in the words but in the peace
that they gently impart.
You don’t have to work hard to get Tolle’s concepts.
Everything in this book you already know at some level, and he
tells you so in his first paragraph. Stillness Speaks does the
work; it reaches into you. Like sutras, each brief passage gleams
with deep meaning, and as you progress through the chapters you
begin to notice that the book is not so much written as it is
orchestrated. Tolle leads you to attune more and more fully to
the silence around you— which is there even in the midst
of noise, as he says. In that moment you enter the stillness,
and though you are aware you are not thinking; in that moment
of freedom from thought you experience your true being. As one
passage in the book states: “When you become aware of silence,
immediately there is that state of inner still alertness. You
have stepped out of thousands of years of collective human conditioning.” Tolle
himself has known the transcendence of conditioned thinking,
and in this quiet book he guides you into a realm where you know
it, too.
— Kathy Juline
www.joelgoldsmith.com
www.theunofficialinfiniteway.com
Mysticism is any teaching that teaches
the ability to have direct communion with God.” It is this kind of cut-to-the-chase,
unequivocal statement that has so endeared millions of followers
to Joel Goldsmith. Best known for his classic book, The Infinite
Way, published in 1947, Goldsmith seldom minced words. As he
wrote in one of his monthly publications: “In living the
mystical life...we must first of all take away the mystery connected
with that word ‘mysticism.’”
The first site (www.joelgoldsmith.
com)
lists some fifty-four books containing Goldsmith’s writings,
as well as a number of pamphlets and booklets. In addition,
tapes, CDs, a monthly
newsletter, and study courses are available through the site.
An excellent meditation exercise can also be found there.
The second site (www.theunofficialinfiniteway.
com), though not as extensive as the first one, has several
valuable features
for Goldsmith’s followers.
It contains extensive excerpts of Goldsmith’s talks, and it also lists
nearly a dozen links to sites directly or indirectly associated with Goldsmith.
Both deserve attention if you wish to learn more about a remarkable spiritual
teacher of this modern age. —Cliff
Johnson
Wisdom From a Gentle Brother
White Eagle Readings
by Ylana Hayward
CD, $17.95
White Eagle Publishing Trust
Happiness is a religion,” says
White Eagle. Not what passes for happiness; but the pursuit
of true happiness is itself the
search for God.
This is the central theme of this spoken-word
CD. Fourteen readings, each separated by gentle music, fill
the listener’s ears
with spiritual wisdom and truth. Narrated by Ylana Hayward, this
CD features selected readings from White Eagle’s work,
including “The healing balm of love,” “In the
light, you are no longer confused,” and “The silent
power within.”
In “God created you to be happy,” White Eagle reminds
us that, though God did indeed create us to be happy, that “happiness
must necessarily be shared: man cannot be happy to himself…to
be wholly happy, he must be sharing heaven.”
Another reading, “Resign all to God,” concerning
the path of service, tells us that “when you are ready,
the way will open for you. Be sure that your karma and dharma
will bring, at the right time, the opportunity that you have
earned.”
Hayward’s deep, soft English voice permeates the readings
with a quiet resonance, which grows on you. Wisdom From a Gentle
Brother would be a welcome gift; for others, or for one’s
own collection.
— Jan Suzukawa
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