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5.0 out of 5 stars
The best book on Enlightenment I have found yet, April 4, 2010
This review is from: Answers From Silence: Using Your Inner Guidance To Find Purpose, Fulfillment, and Enlightenment (Paperback)
I'm in love with Jeffrey Chappell. I'm in love with God. I can't tell where one begins and the other leaves off. And let's not forget to give a shout out to singing joy. Because this book strengthens my own God-connection, too. Wow!
But settle down, Reviewer Rose, and focus on the book. Plus what it can do to a reader like you or me.
What genre is ANSWERS FROM SILENCE anyway? One answer is that it's self-help, verging on how-to. Only in disguise. Mostly the author teaches by example. (Sure, Chappell supplies a how-to exercise all the way at the end of the book, but that's pallid, compared to the brilliance preceding it.)
The plot of this story is simple. For years, Jeffrey sought answers from God. And got them. And wrote them down. Along the way, he became spiritually Enlightened.
After some introductory chapters, the author simply presents some highlights of this evolutionary journey, grouped by categories like "Answers about Relationships" and "Answers about Career."
Reading these, you get into a groove, tasting an amazingly clear sound/feeling/inner vision/experience of truth. It feels so natural being in the presence of this Divine conversation, the example can help you have one of your own. If you're like me, you like those free samples at Costco. Here is something different to eat, a contagious taste of the Divine.
What a rare treat, even if arguably free! Jeffrey Chappell certainly made me break out in bliss, better far than chicken pox or a few sample chocolate chip cookies.
This author's consciousness creates this contact high, much as any particular words. Reading Answers from Silence creates a momentum: very personal, beyond inspiring.
His momentum brings consequences for readers like you and me. That is, mostly, why I am in love with this book.
But there's more. To some readers, Answers from Silence may be perfectly satisfying as a dip-in book, something to read like a bag of chips. When you're in the mood for a munch of wisdom, you simply dig in.
What could be easier than to snack on a quick sight-bite like this?
* Question from Jeffrey: Why did I have that episode where I felt so much physical pain?
* Answer from God: You collected much pain and felt it all in one moment to get it over with.
What's got me smiling, however, is something more. Answers from Silence is a kind of Enlightened Spiritual Autobiography, a rare type of book because, at this time, so few people or writers are truly Enlightened. Others that come to mind are OZ POWER by Bill Bauman and YOU ARE THE ANSWER by Michael Tamura.
How can you tell if someone is really Enlightened? You need energetic literacy, the ability to read auras in depth and detail. Then you can find the author photo, read its energies chakra by chakra, and decide for yourself.
Does the author have an energy field that is STUFF-free, sparkling, enormous, balanced, aglow with delight? With Jeffrey Chappell, the truth is right there on the author's photo the back of the book, ready to knock your socks off.
And his descriptions of living in Enlightenment are, simply, the best I have read anywhere. Far as I'm concerned, the twinkly-eyed jazz composer and concert pianist has found the best way to communicate spiritual connection I've ever read. Move over, BHAGAVAD-GITA. (Fortunately there's plenty of space on that blessed bookshelf.)
Thus, his ANSWERS FROM SILENCE is in the tradition of Autobiography of a Yogi. Paramahansa Yogananda's magnificent autobiography no longer stands quite alone on my bookcase shelf. Indirectly but substantially, Chappell has told us his life story - the parts that count: His petty jealousies and insecurities, the guilt and confusion and all the other milestones of his personal development. No holding back for him and, perhaps, consequently, less holding back for us.
Speaking of famous authors, I can just imagine a mainstream editor taking a look at this book, a profit-fixated editor for one of the big houses, like Hay House, HarperCollins, or Bantam-Doubleday-Dell. "Oh, that's been done," the editor might say. "Neale Donald Walsch has been there, done that. And there's only room for one such author. Who is this brand, Jeffrey Chappell?"
Sadly, many an editor today thinks that way, or even a book buyer. Come on, folks. Is there room for more than one mystery book or romance novel? How about publishing more than one sample of that gritty and (to me, disgusting) pleasure known as "true crime"? Sure, intelligent readers might be willing to entertain the notion of more than one author writing about a certain xyz. Readers might be downright entertained by Sue Grafton plus Robert Parker plus Dorothy Sayers -- plus what, about a jillion? -- other mystery writers.
Not only is there room enough in the world, and in the wallets of book buyers, for someone beside Neale Donald Walsch.
In case you don't have energetic literacy yet, let me break it to you. Walsh isn't anywhere near Enlightened spiritually. Hey, most of us aren't yet. I'm not.
At least I have energetic literacy, so I can pop into Walsch's chakras.
So I'm glad to report that he has a find intellect and a very analytical mind. He has brought the world wonderful freedom. Nonetheless, his conversations with God come through a mind-body-spirit container with definite limits, limits that you will not find in ANSWERS FROM SILENCE.
How intimidating would it be to bring Jeffrey Chappell, this fully Enlightened man, into your living room, or at least your kitchen bookshelf? I dare you. Just how serenely joyful are you willing to be?
Rose Rosetree
Author AURA READING THROUGH ALL YOUR SENSES
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