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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
85 of 102 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
No satanic plots here, just a paradigm shift,
By
This review is from: Aquarian Conspiracy (Hardcover)
How ironic, that the Christian fundamentalist reviewers here have taken the title of this book so LITERALLY, as referring to some kind of sinster plot. Then again, fundamentalists take everything literally, so what's new? The "conspiracy" is a metaphor: As Marilyn Ferguson herself explains in the book, the word "conspire" literally means "to breath together" (con="with" as in "congregate," + "spire" as in "respiration") which is more like a reference to yoga than to some secret cabal. As for the silly claim that the "satanic" number 666 is somehow encoded in the logo on the cover, it takes a big stretch of the imagination to see it. (I should clarify that, as a Jew, I don't even believe in the 666 stuff, which comes out of Christianity, but, for the sake of discussion, I address it here.) What the logo reminds ME of is a triple Moebius strip -- that's a single-sided surface that every mathematician is familiar with. The strange thing about a Moebius strip is that you can start drawing a line on what you think is one of two sides, only to find out that your line meets itself without ever lifting your pencil from the paper. This -- not 666 -- is the symbol for what Ferguson was talking about. The "conspiracy" is a shift to a more holistic worldview, where "us and them" is replaced by groups of humanity working and "breathing" together. Now granted, much of the book is outdated (it was published over 20 years ago) but there are many areas where Ferguson was right on target. Workplaces have shifted away from the hierarchical "boss" mode to group teamwork. Holistic views of health care are now accepted by the general public and some branches of the medical profession. (Very lucky for me, since my chiropractor has literally kept me out of a wheelchair). "Whole brain learning" -- using both the left and right halves of the brain -- has greatly enriched the curriculum. Intercultural understanding has increased, so that "white Christian Europe" is no longer seen as the only way for a human being to be "civilized." And most religions -- with perhaps the exception of the fundamentalists noted above -- have recognized that people need inner spirituality as well as outward ritual forms. Whether this is really a "new age" or simply a re-discovery of old principles is debatable. Native American tribes were working in circular groups and thinking "nonlinear" long before Ferguson suggested the idea. My own religion, Judaism, has had a mystical side for thousands of years. The Chinese were using acupuncture and herbal medicine when the Europeans were still in the Dark Ages. Perhaps the real "conspiracy" has been the sharing of all this knowledge, made possible for the first time through global communications such as the Internet, where you are now reading this review. In my opinion, all this sharing has benefited humanity -- and if that's "satanic," I'll eat my yarmulke.
24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
More Relevant Now Than When First Written,
By Bugs "Patrick" (Los Angeles, Ca.) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and Social Transformation in Our Time (Paperback)
A quick word about the effects of the title to this fine book before the review. As can be seen by a few negative reviews amongst the mostly glowing ones, the title is misleading and there is no "conspiracy" within the pages of this most uplifting and informing book.
For those folks preoccupied with discovering where the devil lurks instead of seeking knowledge of God and truth, you will be disappointed because the devil ain't here. You would be well informed to ignore the title and dive in to the content. If your concern for life is such that you seek answers to some of the most confounding problems facing humanity, however, you will be delighted. No offense to Ms Ferguson or her publisher, but the title was poorly chosen and does not fit the beautiful content, but that's water under the bridge now. The assessment of the human condition along with the positive answers for unification of the human family with the rest of life is inspiring! That said, this beautiful book exploded on the scene in 1980 and described where humanity was at in it's perception of reality, social structure, economics, politics and environment. It also clearly delineated where we should be headed for a more inclusive, rewarding and healthy future and almost every chapter concludes with a comparison list to show where a "Paradigm Shift" or change, is needed in our collective perception of reality on a broad range of topics. The information and resources are as relevant today as when the book was first published- only more urgent because a good number of the changes needed then have not occurred and time marches on waiting for no one. Written as a "Why" and "How-to" guide for personal and societal transformation, it has an appendix full of network groups that offer guidance for change- all that list needs now is e-mail and website updates not available in 1980. To point out the relevancy of this work in today's world, we can take a look at a subject heading: "The Way Of Avoidance" (p 74). Consider all of the big ticket issues that are intentionally being swept aside and ignored by society and government alike such as global warming, population pressure, pollution, disparity of wealth, etc., and we have: "At the level of ordinary consciousness, we deny pain and paradox. We doctor them with Valium, dull them with alcohol, or distract them with television. Denial is a way of life. More accurately, it is a way of diminishing life, of making it seem more manageable. Denial is the alternative to transformation." "Personal denial, mutual denial, collective denial. Denial of facts and feelings. Denial of experience, a deliberate forgetting what we see and hear. Denial of our capacities. Politicians deny problems, parents deny their vulnerability, teachers deny their biases, children deny their intentions. Most of all, we deny what we know in our bones." "We are caught between two different evolutionary mechanisms: denial and transformation." And this is the essence of this fine book: to point out the current states of denial and to offer realistic, immediate alternatives for a positive transformation to an existence that we would rather have and can obtain with a little effort. This book is a predecessor and now a fine companion to Duane Elgin's books, "Awakening Earth" "Voluntary Simplicity" and "Promise Ahead" where the need for "Paradigm Shifts" in thinking and relating to our world are expertly and thoroughly expounded upon. I also recommend Theodore Roszak's, "The Voice of the Earth". These are potent books with immediate, practical answers to uplift humanity.
23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good book, not great, lots of interesting points,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and Social Transformation in Our Time (Paperback)
Originally published in 1980, this tome is a celebration of new ways of thinking about vocation, spirituality, and society in general. It is similar to Roszak's "Making of a Counter- Culture" in that it takes a broadly-defined movement and claims to present its principles and possibilities. Not fluff, and full of quotes and examples, but not too dry to be interesting. Ferguson's idea was that the children of the '60's would introduce new ways of relating to different issues, challenging the old heirarchies of work, church, and home life. This would come about as the result of a kind of accidental conspiracy - different people in different walks of life individually pursuing the same philosophies. The result would be a new age defined by 'Transpersonal philosophy' and 'holism'. While there have indeed been many social changes in the past 20 years none of them are historically revolutionary, and the old heirarchies remain, together with some new ones! I'd also say there's been an aggressive counter - counter-cultural movement! Not a work of prophecy, maybe, but a book with its finger on the pulse of something that is still alive.
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