Customer Reviews

Infinite Grace: Where the Worlds of Science and Spiritual Healing Meet

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I met Diane Goldner briefly when she was researching this book. We were both attending an Energy Healing workshop for the Jaffe School of Energy Mastery. So when I saw a friend carrying the book, I had to get it.

What I got was more than I expected. I am very impressed with Infinite Grace. I rarely read non-fiction books cover-to-cover but I have found this book fascinating. The combination of case studies, research, personal experiences and discussions with healers is completely engaging. I have met most of the healers she mentions and have had some similar impressions. Diane's writing style is very clear and easy to read.

I was disappointed that she didn't include several other energy schools in her book (like the Jaffe School which is twice the size of S.O.S) or include a discussion of Reiki (probably the most popular and widespread form of energy healing these days).

Still, this book serves an important role in leading the world towards a broader understanding of alternative healing. I highly recommend it.

Infinite Grace is just the most remarkable book! Diane Goldner not only investigates "where the worlds of science and spiritual healing meet," but also demonstrates convincingly that what unifies them is "intention, love, and consciousness" (page 280).

The book is divided into five numbered parts, each of which contains three chapters sharing a common theme. Two of these five parts deserve special mention.

"Part Three" consists of in-depth, not-uncritical discussions of the lives and works of three contemporary spiritual healers and the institutions that each founded: Rosalyn Bruyere and the Healing Light Center Church, Barbara Brennan and the Barbara Brennan School of Healing, as well as Jason Shulman and the Society of Souls. (Amy Skezas and the RoseLight work are appraised in a separate chapter in "Part Five.")

"Part Four" considers three of our most-pressing contemporary maladies: heart disease, cancer, and AIDS. Two things distinguish these three chapters from the usual discussions of same. First, they integrate empirical data with interview excerpts from both clinicians and clients. And second, they explore the spiritual, mental, and emotional antecedents of physical disease.

With regard to the latter point, the author writes that "Ultimately, healers find that the root causes of illness are not in a chakra or an organ, but in relationships that create loneliness, beliefs of unworthiness, and a lack of love for one's self or others. Narcissism, abandonment, rage, jealousy - these are the precipitating factors of disease. . . . Beyond all such human issues lies our deep sense of separation from God, Source, the 'All That Is'" (page 66).

In my view, these three chapters are the most practical and useful for the typical reader; so, too, they are the "proof of the pudding" vis-a-vis the efficacy of spiritual healing.

Ms. Goldner - a professional journalist and Barnard College graduate - spent over four years researching and composing this book. It was time well spent because the result is a landmark work that is thoroughly researched, reads easily, and deftly captures the evanescent essence of spiritual healing or energy work.

In accessible, almost lyrical prose - influenced, no doubt, by her own direct experiences with subtle energies - she writes that "Now I see how my thoughts, feelings, and intentions affect myself, other people, and my environment. Your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and intentions also affect everything and everyone around you, including you and the cells of your body. We are helping to create the world in each moment. We have a choice: to be in fear, anger, or numbness. Or in love" (page 295).

Elsewhere, Ms. Goldner maintains that the key is "holding the intention for the highest good. This is the real lesson of spiritual healing" (page 306). "It is not the techniques per se. It is the healer and the clarity of intention" (page 179). "The highest healing comes from holding the highest and purest intention towards all being and all events at all times" (page 304).

The principal point - in both disease and healing - concerns our intentionality. Citing results generated at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Laboratory, Ms. Goldner demonstrates that our intentions transcend time and space - and that every intention counts. The bottom line is that all of us help to bring into being not only states of disease, but also states of healing, wellness, and communion with God. Unfortunately, most of our intentions - to include our beliefs and desires, wishes and willings - emerge almost unconsciously. The not-so-subtle message is to become more intentional about our intentions: just like in fairy tales, whatever you wish for will come true - sooner or later!

In a review about an unrelated book, Fran Shaw proposes that we can "distinguish between writing which informs us about spiritual matters and writing which affects the spirit" ("Parabola," Summer 1999, page 98). Infinite Grace integrates both of these genres: it informs us about and affects our spirits.

Very highly recommended; a "MUST READ" for contemporary healers!

Miss Goldner did a great service to humanity by addressing this subject of spiritual healing and linking it with the scientific studies of the various institutes and universities. Never before to my knowledge has a book been written which puts science and spiritual healing together. Bravo, it was long overdue. In the past scientific studies in this field have often been ignored. She also addressed the 4 most popular healing schools in an honest way leaving it up to the reader and possible future student to decide which is best for them. They all seem to have their strengths and weaknesses - all of which are normal human traits. Thank you Miss Goldner for a job well done. I highly recommend this book to all who want to know more about this subect and the scientific aspects of it.

I was first exposed to the idea that there might be another way to get my health back, when my doctor introduced me to someone who had "healed" despite medical science's lack of an effective treatment.

She told me that modern medicine may be able to help in a crisis, but my illness was progressive and would probably get worse. The only option, she said, was to harness "other powers" and to realign my energies to help my body become whole again. It was with a great sense of disbelief that I agreed to allow myself to become healed. That was in 1992, and I had no reference books that were factually based to help me overcome my doubts.

Now, in much better health, I often look at the New Age / Holistic shelves to see what new books there are on the subject. This was how I came upon Infinite Grace.

As I read the book, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the book was written from a journalistic point of view. Ms. Goldner takes the position that this subject should be explored from an unbiased point of view, and I believe she has done that. I did feel, however, that she became more spiritually aware as the book progressed, and that her investigations helped her grow.

Her style of writing made me feel that I was there with her as she explored the different methods that the healers used. I especially liked the interviews with the doctors and scientists. This book is not a textbook. Instead it is written for the layperson that may be skeptical and wants to find out more, and the student or professional who needs to be exposed to other techniques.

The best part of the book is the reference section at the end. It demonstrated the depth of research that Ms. Goldner went into to prepare and write this book. It gives it a credibility that is lacking in many others by providing a huge list of books, articles, and papers to read, that let you realize that what is presented is real.

I have no problem in recommending this book to anybody who wants to learn about healing, or who has doubts that it is for real. Ms. Goldner shows that healing and modern science are related, and that they are not mutually exclusive. I would love to hear her speak at a lecture so she could tell more stories about meeting the healers and could answer questions from the audience.

Journalist Diane Goldner has woven the scientific evidence from numerous studies and her own experiences of 4 years of investigating spiritual healing into a compelling narrative. The greatest strength of this book is also its greatest weakness: Goldner's personal impressions of leading figures in the spiritual healing movement. They provide the reader with interesting insights into the more mundane aspects of the 'franchise', such as the petty, almost sectarian in-fighting between different schools of healing - in which the author takes sides. Goldner makes every attempt to not appear too partisan, but the reader is left with a clear impression that Rosalyn Bruyere is the best there is. Oddly enough, the most popular system of spiritual healing - Reiki - is not only not covered, but not even mentioned.

Since Goldner makes it clear in her foreword to the reader that she was not aiming for completeness, these flaws are forgivable. All in all a very informative work that is refreshingly different from similar titles.

At first glance, this book promised to be one of the best looks at the field of Energy Healing to date. Heck, when I read the PR on the flap, I decided to purchase it on "spec." even at the hardcover prices. I have a practice in Energy Healing, and am always looking out for a book about the field I can recommend. So, I took the book away on a working vacation, looking forward to an enjoyable experience.

As I began to read the book, I was dismayed - no stunned beyond belief might be more accurate. "Infinite Grace," to any who know the players involved is a travesty... Goldner misreports on and misrepresents all sorts of things, and insults some of the finest people and institutions in the field. Not only is this book extremely flawed by factual inaccuracies, but startlingly so by Goldner's own personal process. To anyone who is familiar with the healers and schools involved, as the book unfolds it becomes clear that the author is a dyed-in-the-wool devotee of healer Rosalyn Bruyere. This in and of itself is no big surprise, as Bruyere most definitely inculcates this mind set in her students, deftly instilling in them the belief that she is better than the rest (I have personally witnessed this). However, the book stumbles and ultimately loses its footing when it tries to minimize the work of other powerful healers and important teachers. A number of times I sat there aghast, wondering what would motivate someone to so carefully weave this kind of stuff into the fabric of a book.

This book left me puzzled, and was a great disappointment; I have studied with all of the major teachers in this book, and personally know, have met or spoken with many of the healers who are quoted, mentioned or described therein. Many of Goldner's characterizations just are not accurate, sometimes glaringly so, such that the book left a bad taste in my mouth. I often found myself wondering why she felt such a strong need to repeatedly rave on and on about Rosalyn Bruyere, even to the point of hyperbole, all the while trying so artfully to make the reader feel that Shulman, Brennan and others just don't stand up to Bruyere in comparison.

So, after reading this book, my advice is... "borrow it, don't buy it" (sorry Amazon!).

Diane Goldner has completed an exhaustive amount of research in compiling the information for Infinite Grace. Never has the world of spiritual healing been documented so thoroughly and clearly. Ms. Goldner has also presented the material with a personal point of view, reflecting her own emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual healing experiences. All that and a great read, too. Buy it.

As a practitioner of energy work I was familiar with most of the concepts presented with so much clarity by Diane Goldner, yet it was new and very hopeful to read how much validating research already has been done in the scientific community. I hope this book will bring the two worlds even closer.

Infinite Grace is an inspiring look into the healing and psychic worlds. Goldner's blending of research that's been done in various fields with her first hand experience with pioneers in the world of healing makes for excellent reading. The book challenges the reader to question the true nature of this amazing Universe we live in. I highly recommend this book.

If you have already been involved with healing yourself,
as a student or practitioner, you may find this a good book
to recommend to friends, family, and new students to give
them insight . It is an overview , in a sense, of some of
the attempts of the spiritual healing community to meet
and try to work with scientists. You will notice that the
scientific community , and the medical community in general,
has quite an agenda to ignore spiritual healing, and fail
to research it. That should really come as no surprise, as
allopathic medicine is basically a disease "management"
business- find and using the keys to true healing, including
"physical" forms such as naturopathy, would put them out of
business. The author interviews a few key healers
and a few key scientists for her work- but be aware that
there is a huge underground of healers and others, employing
spiritual healing in their lives who do not feel the need
to seek "legitimacy" from the medical profession, for
spiritual healing work, any more than fine chefs seek
legitimacy from butchers. Enjoy the insights of this book
with the caution that alternative healing is doing just
fine, thankyou, on its own, and does not need credibility
from scientists. It already receives that from the patients
themselves. Still, the information on this process of
social and cultural change is enlightening, and this book,
alng with others like it, ("Green Pharmacy" by Barbara Griggs,
"Vibrational Medicine"by Richard Gerber,
and "Infinite Mind" by Valerie Hunt)
will be helpful to social historians in the future, as well
as helping current readers make better choices about their
health and well being.