28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Life changing wisdom!, February 11, 2001
By A Customer
I consider my self a serious student of life, always out of deep curiosity and many times out of a need to survive. I started thirty years ago talking to the best therepists and my wisest friends to find my way to good health and happiness. The process included writing down dreams as well as making time to think and talk about the messages my unconsious was sending me. Getting regular exersize, eating right, and maintaining friendships were the rest of the formula.
Along the way I have read a number of books to guide me. "Living in the light" is, by far, the best book I've found on the subject. It is filled with insight and wisdom and is written in a clear, simple style that makes it easy to read in a couple of evenings. The author's instructions on how to tap your intuitive skills and the energy of the universe are powerful and breathtaking. Short chapters on the male and female aspects in all of us could help save a marriage. A must read for all students of life.
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37 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
It's OK...for what it was, October 1, 2004
As a classic, this book effectively introduces the beginner to New Age Thought. The mirror principle, issues regarding one's "shadow", cultivating one's inner female/male, and the benefits of trusting your intuition are presented here in clear and readable detail. But I have two real problems with this book.
One: while reading, you sense the book's datedness. While all of Living/Light's ideas were revolutionary in the mid-80s, they were presented as a sentimental mishmash of popular New Age platitudes. To make the presentation worse, with no "human" examples to support these platitudes, Ms. Gawain is reduced to sermonizing them. Since the first edition of Living/Light, some of these concepts have been humanized and vitalized in other more recent New Age texts. (AND AS A SIDENOTE: The mismash problem may also be perceived in most of Carolyn Myss's books, which I find are generally superficial New Age/Christian surveys cobbled together to support a catchy but unproven hypothesis.)
Two: the author only speaks from HER perspective (i.e., white western female in the U.S.), but the universality of this book would force her to generalize for everybody, thereby producing guesswork not truth on how the human psyche works. For example, when she postulates that one's inner male is to surrender to his or her inner female (who's ALWAYS right!) to achieve spiritual wholeness, I get the impression that she's taking the position of a feminist, presenting men in a limiting old-world perspective. Also, when she tries to explain the inner motivations of gay people, and in particular, with male-male relationships, I find myself openly disagreeing with her arguments.
Still, what she offers BASED ON HER EXPERIENCES is valid enough for me to keep this book in my library. I'm glad she wrote the book at a time when New Age books were relegated to the specialty bookstore! I would hope however that in the THIRD edition, she'd hire a male, gay co-author to clean up the murkier portions currently in the second edition. My two cents.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good handbook for those starting their deeper spiritual journey, January 21, 2006
One of the best introductions to Eastern thought, LIVING IN THE LIGHT is well written and easy to understand. Shakti explains our role as channels of energy. This energy is from God, and our job is to allow this energy to flow freely through us into the world for positive change. She demonstrates how problems can result from blocking this flow, and shows how dissolving blockages through meditation and other methods can heal and empower us. The book is divided into background theory and practical application. A good handbook for those starting their deeper spiritual journey.
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