Customer Reviews

The Light Inside the Dark: Zen, Soul, and the Spiritual Life

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4 star:		(1)
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2 star:		(2)
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Tarrant's book is a masterwork. For those experiencing loss, depression, despair, or just plain frustration by the uncertainty, confusion or slowness of their spiritual search, Tarrant's book is sure to bring hope and new understanding. He is sure to remind you, as he did me, that the experience of living life, whatever happens, is the reason we are here. THIS IS WHERE THE ACTION IS. While we may be pulled upward to the Creator, we've also got things to learn here and passing through the dark is the great teacher of how to find Spirit and evolve. Learning to control your attention is the key. But this book will do more than make you UNDERSTAND that; it will make you FEEL it right down to your toenails! Tarrant speaks from his heart here! His prose sparkles like poetry and fine, aged wine. In his foreward, Tarrant reports dreaming that this book was a large fish. If you read it, his big fish will swallow you whole, like Jonah, and you will come out a different man or woman.

It doesn't get much better than this. i read a paragraph or 2 a day -- that's all i needed to get a wonderful hit of Zen/Jung. Took months. If you could articulately elaborate as a Zen master on Jung's quote "Enlightenment is not imagining figures of light but making the darkness conscious;" and as a Jungian analyst on Kornfield's quote "Enlightenment is intimacy with all things," it would sound like Tarrant (imho). Reading this book moved my thorough practice to an entirely different level. Caveat: i don't consider it a beginner's book; _A Gradual Awakening_ or _Seeking the Heart of Wisdom_ would be better starters. Then after 5 years of practice, _The Light Inside the Darkness_ would probably act as a rap on the shoulder with bamboo or Rinzai shout. i think the discipline of the practice needs attention first (a la _Breath by Breath_ by Larry Rosenberg (discipline w/ a sense of humor) or _The Heart of Buddhist Meditation_ by Nyanaponika Thera (detailed, serious read), later comes the poetry.

The modern world has marginalized and anesthetized the deep, dark, inward turning process of the Dark Night of the Soul. John Tarrant revitalizes the descent into the underworld as the sacred journey that it is. Top notch writing.

The Light Inside the Dark is an astonishing book. It should be read with patience and an open ,ready mind, or perhaps not at all. Like a poem, it is not an attempt to explain, or argue, or discuss, but to evoke. In a rich mixture of images, metaphors, myths, and stories, it probes every crack and crevice of the psyche, looking for enough purchase so that it may break open a gaping hole-- not so that it may swoop in, but that it might liberate a torrent of emotion and insight trapped within. Perhaps its most important service is to show by example, rather plead by treatise, that the solution to our suffering lies not in running away or building all manner of psychic and material fortresses, but in plunging into the darkness and learning that we have the strength to survive, and even to flourish. I am thankful for this gift.

I would expect that this book is heavy going to many readers. Tarrant's blend of Eastern and Western myths, depth psychology, and religeon make this one of the most dense, thought provoking, and awakening books I've ever read.

With literary flair, Tarrant maps out the path of the Hero and the Everyman toward a more evolved self.

This is one of the most poetic, thoughtful and deeply soulful books I have read in many, many years. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Mr. Tarrant interweaves Zen Buddhism with the traditions of depth psychology into a pattern that is breath-taking. I have read this book numerous times, and I find myself turning to it again and again.
Thank you, Mr. Tarrant.

John Tarrant offers us a gentle guide through the convolutions of the human mind/soul/spirit. I found his insights to be illuminating without being preachy. He brings together the wisdom of both east and west, of religion and humanism in a most cohesive way.

Between Eastern and Western spirituality. I enjoyed reading the book, simply because of the authors' tone. In the past I have read another of Tarrant's books and enjoyed it; this effort did not let me down.

This is an excellent attempt to bridge the gap between the emotional journey one encounters in daily life with spiritual journey through meditation. He does an excellent job trying to weave together some spiritual themes with the deeper realizations one encounters on the journey inside.

I have read it a couple of times and did notice more on the second try. I suspect that starting fresh on the book without all of the other books clouding my mind would probably make it even a better experience.

This book is beautifully written, and provides support for the hardest times of our lives and those we love. It is the spiritual book I most often recommend to others, and I have purchased and given away numerous copies. Highly recommended.

I'll add that although John Tarrant is a Zen teacher, I am not a practitioner of Zen nor a Buddhist and have enjoyed the book greatly.

This is a thoughtful and refreshing addition to the great oxymoronic body of "Zen inspired" literature. This book will appeal to almost anyone with an interest in either Western or Eastern philosophy or with an appreciation for the many dimensions of our experienced reality. Simple, yet permitting the reader to discover many nuances according to their own experinces, clarity and disposition. Read it once quickly or return to it and savor its depth again and again for years.