Eyes Wide Open: Cultivating Discernment on the Spiritual Path [Paperback]

Mariana Caplan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2009

The spiritual path is like any other road-it's going to have its share of potholes. Perhaps the best way to avoid them is through discernment, the quality of open-eyed awareness and honest perception that helps us turn challenges into opportunity, lessons into growth. In Eyes Wide Open, Mariana Caplan invites readers to join her on a quest for truth along the often bumpy journey of the spiritual life. Building on the foundation she laid with her previous works Halfway Up the Mountain (Hohm, 1999) and Do You Need a Guru? (Thorsons, 2002), Caplan challenges us to take full responsibility for our lives, as we investigate: What is spirituality anyway? Feeding the hungry heart in contemporary Western culture "Spiritually transmitted diseases"-the common traps of modern spirituality, and how to avoid them The universal theme of the Healing Crisis-and how discernment provides a "life raft" for such times Fully integrated spirituality-balancing body, psyche, and spirit for potent transformation We evolve spiritually by cultivating discernment that is powerful enough to pierce through confusion on every level of our experience, explains Mariana Caplan. To help us along the way, this fellow traveler now offers Eyes Wide Open.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mariana Caplan, PhD, has spent over two decades researching and practicing many of the world's great mystical traditions. She is a professor of yogic and transpersonal psychologies and has authored seven books in the fields of psychology and spirituality.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Sounds True, Incorporated (October 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591797322
• ISBN-13: 978-1591797326
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #440,853 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sobering, eye-opening look at spiritual development, October 20, 2009

By 

Jed Shlackman (Miami, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Eyes Wide Open: Cultivating Discernment on the Spiritual Path (Paperback)

(What's this?)

This book offers an impressive look at what spiritual aspirants encounter as their spirituality matures through the lessons of human experience. There are many ways we can be misled or mislead ourselves as we pursue spiritual endeavors and "enlightenment." Caplan cautions us about these pitfalls and encourages us to confront our shadow material and our ego so that we can become more integrated. Spiritual materialism, and using spiritual practice to bypass facing our unresolved issues and human intimacy are some of the examples of how people can misuse spirituality.

This book also helps bridge the duality and non-duality perspectives and draws on transpersonal psychology, shadow work, Buddhist philosophy, developmental psychology, and other sources to help bring together psychology and spirituality to support integrative approaches to spiritual development.

Fans of Ken Wilber may appreciate the integral approach of Caplan, as there is a depth to this exploration that is lacking in a lot of "new age" spirituality and popular spiritual and psychological approaches. This is not to condemn those other approaches - they are certainly valuable and can assist spiritual growth, yet they are incomplete and lack the balance needed to guide aspirants even further along their spiritual journey. It's easy to get a false sense of mastery or enlightenment at various stages of our spiritual path - Caplan's book gives us cautions and insights to help us maintain our commitment to continued self-examination and discernment.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Caplan at her best!, October 30, 2009

By 

Angela Earle (Sun Valley, ID USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Eyes Wide Open: Cultivating Discernment on the Spiritual Path (Paperback)

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While at one point in my life I would give praise to any book that made me feel good or validated my New Age point of view, or that of my "teachers," I am now a much more discerning, and wary, reader.....and person. After much disgust over the last few years at the market saturation of anything that sounds even remotely spiritual and satisfies the western desire to get-rich-or enlightened-quick mentality, I decided to give Caplan a read. I wasn't a huge fan of Halfway Up the Mountain, but it had so much good information and ideas in it, and fell into my hands at a critical time in my life.

Halfway through the book she references herself in relation to Halfway Up the Mountain, stating that after she wrote - and taught - on the concepts in that book, she could still see herself doing all of the things that she warns against in that book. While I'm not into the whole idea that enlightenment, awakening, of self-development is some never-ending process that is all about the journey not the destination, I really do appreciate a person who is open and mature enough to see themselves as they truly are. A very real person.

While many spiritual dogmas tell us to deny, wage a war against, or squelch our egos, Caplan takes a much different approach that is more in line with how we actually function as humans, a non-essentialist view of the ego itself, and a very illuminating analysis of the current state of western spirituality.

A great resource and absolutely perfect for anyone who feels called to explore all of their dimensions but who has been turned off by old and new age spiritual leaders, movements, and practices. I don't want to put words in Jed McKenna's mouth (if said mouth actually does exist :), but I would say this book would fit as a good guide for the person who wants to really be a mature adult and is ready to open their eyes.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a much needed spiritual resource, July 22, 2010

By 

happydogpotatohead "happydogpotatohead" (New Orleans, LA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Eyes Wide Open: Cultivating Discernment on the Spiritual Path (Paperback)

(What's this?)

If you've ever wondered why some people who seem spiritual fall into terrible errors, or if you've ever wondered why some spiritual teachers can talk the talk better than they can walk the walk, or if you're personally trying to follow a spiritual path and have those days where you catch yourself doing something that makes you feel like a complete hypocrite - you probably need this book.

Ms. Kaplan works with the reader to illuminate how we can stop dichotomizing our spirituality and our humanity, and how we can tell when a spiritual teacher has gone off track due to that dichotomy. Her focus on discernment is tempered with compassion. The only criticism I would have is that the writing can be a little didactic at times, but the subject matter and the focus is such that this is only a minor complaint. The book is definitely worthwhile for anyone who wants to seriously follow any spiritual path.