The Face Before I Was Born: A Spiritual Autobiography [Paperback]

Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee (Author), Irina Tweedie (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1997

In this book Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee describes the intoxicating intensity of his own spiritual journey, which began when he was sixteen. Three years later he met his teacher and felt a sense of belonging beyond this world. The events that follow over the next twenty-two years tell of tremendous love, psychological breakdown, craziness, bliss, and the slow work of balancing the two worlds-the inner world of the spirit and the outer demands of everyday family life. This autobiography tells the ancient story of a spiritual transformation, one that took him into the terrifying depths and pushed him beyond every limit. As it made him vulnerable and empty, love showed him her hidden face.

Editorial Reviews

Review

In The Face Before I Was Born, Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee describes the intoxicating intensity of his own spiritual journey which began when he was sixteen. Three years later he met his teacher and felt a sense of belonging beyond this world. The events that followed over the next twenty-two years tell of tremendous love, psychological breakdown, craziness, bliss, and the slow work of balancing the two worlds -- the inner world of the spirit and the outer demands of everyday family life. This autobiography tells the ancient story of a spiritual transformation, one that took him into the terrifying depths and pushed him beyond every limit. As it made him vulnerable and empty, love showed him her hidden face. The Face Before I Was Born is a splendid autobiography, and will have special appeal for readers seeking their own spiritual perspective. -- Midwest Book Review

About the Author

Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee is a Sufi teacher. In recent years the focus of his writing and teaching has been on spiritual responsibility in our present time of transition, and the emerging global consciousness of oneness. He has also specialized in the area of dreamwork, integrating the ancient Sufi approach to dreams with the insights of modern psychology.

Product Details

• Paperback: 330 pages
• Publisher: The Golden Sufi Center; First Edition edition (July 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0963457497
• ISBN-13: 978-0963457493
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,098,256 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Ph.D., is a Sufi Teacher in the Naqshbandiyya-Mujadidiyya Sufi Order. Born in London in 1953, he has followed the Naqshbandi Sufi path since he was 19. In 1991 he moved to Northern California and became the successor of Irina Tweedie, author of "Chasm of Fire" and "Daughter of Fire." In recent years the focus of his writing and teaching has been on spiritual responsibility in our present time of transition, and the emerging global consciousness of oneness. He has also specialized in the area of dreamwork, integrating the ancient Sufi approach to dreams with the insights of modern psychology. Author of several books, Llewellyn lectures in the United States and Europe. For further information, please see: www.goldensufi.org and www.workingwithoneness.org.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Journey to the Heart, April 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Face Before I Was Born: A Spiritual Autobiography (Paperback)

Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee's autobiography is to me one of the most remarkable spiritual documents. Often spiritual masters do not talk about their experiences in public, and in the very way this book has been written, one feels almost as if the author would talk solely to each single one reader personally. So he can keep the intimacy of spiritual teaching. The author shows by his own example how life can lead to a surprising, profound and often shaking journey to one's own heart, to the depths and abyss of soul, mind, psyche. The author reveals with openess courage, honesty, humor and fearlessness gradually his own process to the reader in a subtle and impressive way. In this way reading this book itself might provide a deep spiritual and human experience. To me reading this book was thrilling and heart-touching, it has impressed me deeply and has given me inspiration and encouragment for my own life. I highly recommend this book to all spiritual seekers.

29 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Read for the Discerning Seeker, September 28, 2002

By 

Magdalena (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Face Before I Was Born: A Spiritual Autobiography (Paperback)

This autobiography, however well-meaning, is a vanity press publication by a young man who is intent on establishing his credability as a potential guru or Sufi master. The entire book is written from this perspective, and all the author's relaying of his spiritual experiences are honed to this end. To the uninitiated spiritual seeker, the book is very convincing and touching, if at times the author appears to be somewhat naive. It does seem that Vaughan Lee needs the reader to be convinced that he personally has an "inner cell-phone" line to a superior being, which makes him more 'special' than us lesser mortals. Again and again, by his own pen, he subtly seeks to make his story match some kind of blueprint of a trainee Sufi Master. There is no doubt that he is convinced by his own rhetoric, although to the discerning reader it would appear that he is treading on uncertain ground.

I found his personal conviction in his own 'specialness', and his obsession with 'suffering' as THE direct path to God psychologically unhealthy, personally revealing and, from a spiritual point of view, more than a little outdated in its patriarchial overtones and heirarchical approach. The sanctification of 'struggle' balanced by the occasional bout of 'bliss' until the 'lover' becomes exhausted and supposedly 'egoless' is very attractive and beguiling, but belies the truth that a realized sense of 'Oneness' with the 'Beloved' IS readily and effortlessly available to every human. Those who have comprehended and embraced this universal and ever-present state are generally people who have no need to justify themselves; to set up non-profits to fund themselves; nor to found their very own vanity publishing companies. In my experience they generally have little interest in collecting followers or becoming teachers, they live quietly and openly in the world, mostly unheeded, and are recognizeable by the very personal friendships they share with those they meet in life, by their simplicity and by the way they shine.

9 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Who were his teachers, inspirers, December 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Face Before I Was Born: A Spiritual Autobiography (Paperback)

I found that the author did not describe his interactions with other very interesting persons. I would like to have known more about people who helped him on his path.