Customer Reviews

Observing Spirit

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Having searched through and struggled with Western and Eastern religions, as well as current teachers such as Eckhart Tolle, it seems all (especially Christian mystic Meister Eckhart and Von Durcheim, American teacher Vernon Howard, Hindu Vedanta teachers like Ramana Marharshi, and Gnostic/Eastern Orthodox authors like Yves Le-Loup,point to the state of Witnessing as a core practice toward enlightenment. Peter Rhodes makes that state accessible and welcoming with his brilliant book "Observing Spirit." He provides a path from the lower lelf to the Higher Self (Atman, Christ Self, Holy Spirit, whatever name It is called by), from personality to Essence, through his thorough and enlightening teachings on Gurdijeff (as well as Maurice Nicol)and his study and experience of the expansive work of Emanuel Swedenborg. For those of us who feel yearning for True Christianity as related to us by Swedenborg, this combination of Swedenborg's teachings on spirituality and "The Work" practice of Witnessing clears up so much confusion and brings the core of both works to light. In a gentle, caring manner Peter Rhodes words sink past our resistence to the Truth. His writing style and obvious commitment to Truth causes all the treasures in this book to be easily accessible. This is brilliant book of Light for those of us who have been lost in the darkness of our own lower self. It leads us to the Light.For me, it brings a clarity to all the discordant notes on the surface of so many teachings and touches the "core" within them all. It is brilliant synthesis of the Truth found in Swedenborg and Gurdijeff. Thank you Mr. Rhodes for offering this "gift to the world."

The deep thought of Swedenborg and the practical ideas of Gurdjieff combine to show how our inner life creates our world. Change the inner and you change the outer. But how? Peter Rhodes gives some of the "hows" in this clearly written guide to ruling ourselves.

This book would be valuable simply for the coverage of Swedenborg and the Gurdjieff work, which intially seems like an unlikely combination. Peter Rhodes provides a seamless integration of these two approaches, and the book serves as a useful introduction to both. However, the strength of the book is the valuable presentation of a practical approach to spirituality in everyday life. In particular, this book emphasizes waking up to our present experience out of the sleep of habitual patterns, using self-remembering to transcend negativity, and staying focused on our spiritual aim in order to use everyday experience to grow spiritually. Rhodes provides clear theoretical understanding along with useful practical exercises.

Our local spiritual transformation "Work" group used this text as a practice guide for study in 2006-2007. It is a synthesis of the work of Gurdjieff/Nicoll, and Immanuel Swedenborg. Rhodes presents his lessons in very easy to read and practice manner.
I found this guide book for a group Spiritual Practice to be of great worth and help.