Andrew Harvey

• Andrew Harvey (Wikipedia)
• 10 Ways to Become a Sacred Activist...by Andrew Harvey
• The Direct Path: Creating a Personal Journey to the Divine Using the World's Spiritual Traditions...by Andrew Harvey
  This splendid book is written with the brilliance, insight and passion that we have come to expect from Andrew Harvey, whose own path has not been an easy one.
  Of Anglo-Indian descent, he first came to notice when at the age of only 21, he became the youngest person ever to become a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. Yet he gave up what promised to be a glittering academic career to return to India and follow a spiritual path. In some thirty books he has described an emerging view in which spiritual practice leads to an in increasing "divinization" of earthly life. He believes that this is a solution to prejudice, separation and ecological destruction.
  In this book he describes the trauma of breaking with his Indian guru, but how this shattering of his faith led him to have a direct relationship with the Divine. This book is a largely successful attempt to provide a map for the Direct Path to God or the Higher Self. Because he has studied many traditions in extraordinary depth, you will find exercises and techniques culled from a variety of religious and philosophical traditions.
  The principle of the Direct Path is the truth that we all contain sparks of the Divine, and that they also manifest in those around us. This is one of the few books that recognize that not all spiritual teachers live in temples, caves or monasteries. In fact some of the most profound initiates and teachers live largely anonymous lives. In this book Harvey mentions, amongst others, a Tibetan beer seller and a realtor who is also a Kabbalist, apart from some of the more traditional spiritual teachers.
  I am more and more convinced that Andrew Harvey is quite right in saying that we no longer have the time for religious intermediaries, that the days of contemplative withdrawal from society are over, and that the Direct Path is the only viable method for social transformation. One of his most quotable sentences: "Our coma of denial of the sacredness of the world.... Is destroying the planet."
  It is becoming ever more doubtful that the future well-being of our descendents can be assured by technological innovation alone. Unless enough people heed his call to re-claim their Divinity and to act from it, we may have a very rocky road ahead of us.
  This is a rare, reasoned, passionate and enlightened book. Albert Einstein once said that: "You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother." On that criterion alone, this book passes with flying colors. I think that anybody interested in improving themselves and the world about them, will be amazed at how well Harvey communicates even quite sophisticated concepts, and takes the time to do so. Sure signs of a true teacher and true master of his subject.
  Is he himself always a paragon of sprititual virtue? I don't know him, but the answer is "probably not." But that should not detract from his message.
  Highly recommended.
  review by Dr. Richard G. Petty

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