Customer Reviews

The Great Secret: Life's Meaning as Revealed Through Ancient, Hidden Traditions

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The Belgian poet, dramatist, and essayist Count Maurice Maeterlinck was an extraordinarily interesting person, who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1911. Sometimes called the "Belgian Shakespeare," he was a member of a group of scientific and literary figures who were preoccupied with man's inner life and spiritual mystery.

This book, first published in French in 1921, has been a staple of spiritual seekers ever since. The author spent years exploring the world's hidden mysteries before stumbling upon a startling insight. This spiritual insight is revealed quite early on in the book. What then follows is a complete history of what arose from that foundation and how the Secret was carried to other ancient cultures around the world and has been held by a select few into modern times. ?
For some time it was quite difficult to obtain copies of the book in English, and I know of at least one major spiritual teacher who therefore suggested to his English students that it would do them good to read it in French!

People often mistake the metaphors of quantum mechanics with the reality. Really grasping quantum mechanics entails seismic perceptual and conceptual shifts of which few people are yet capable. Similarly with the Secret: it is not difficult to read, but it cannot be grasped in any simple way: it needs an inner shift to "get it."

And as this book shows, even one of the great writers of the twentieth century, who know this material extremely well, was still limited in how much he could communicate with the written word. Part of the Great Secret is also a great paradox: that there must be a Mystery, and that there is a world to explore that can only be found beyond words or concepts, in the realm of the spiritual intuition and guidance.

Though the book cannot spell out the Secret, it can still - and does - point us in the right direction. And it does so with brilliance and mastery.

This is a wonderful book to read, for it takes you to the brink of what can be known with words. And if you have reached a certain point in your own development, this might be just the helping hand that you need to take another step on your Path.

Highly recommended.