Practical Work on Self [Paperback]

E. J. Gold (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 25, 1991

A programme of exercises to be carried out during daily life, 'the big 24'. These practices build upon one another to produce a wealth of data for awakening and to stimulate the inner essence.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Gateways Books & Tapes; 2nd edition (April 25, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0895560569
• ISBN-13: 978-0895560568
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,421,214 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars E.J. Gold breaks 4th way tradition & gives "real" exercises, December 15, 1997

By 

Ann Victoria Hopcroft, Esq. "Attorney & Artist" (Oscoda, Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Practical Work on Self (Paperback)

Practical Work on Self.

You used to have to seek, seek, seek, to find any concrete answers about work on self or practical aspects of the Fourth Way. You'd have to make an impossibly huge donation, or climb an unclimbable mountain, or join an organization with rigorously stringent membership qualifications -- just in order to get into a position to maybe possibly ask someone -- if they even knew -- for an exercise to "work on self." Or, if you were able to find a book, then you'd probably have to pass a qualifying test to be allowed to read it.

Now, with no questions asked, with no prerequisite donation or mountain-climbing experience, you can order -- and even get FedEx delivery on -- from amazon.com -- your own private, paperback technical manual of what insiders know to be "The Big 24" exercises, E.J. Gold's Practical Work on Self. (A very fine tool, IMHO :-). )

Before the publication of this book, "the Big 24" exercises were only available in restricted publications and in workshops.

E.J. Gold is bold. In Practical Work on Self, he radically lays out real-life exercises to leverage your attention to be able to observe that elusive human biological machine -- the one, Gold says, that is responsible for keeping us from the waking state of consciousness -- and, if all goes well, also the one that eventually becomes our partner in transformation.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have on the road of Self - Knowledge, July 20, 2002

By 

Fred M. Schill (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Practical Work on Self (Paperback)

I have had this book for almost a decade. Originally schooled in various 4th Way communities, I found this book struck me as too obvious...what I mean is that its exercises seemed to me to be so obvious, so to the point, that if one actually used them, rather than read about them, something would happen.

And something does happen. Using the 24 exercises, I have confronted myself in various ways...and for me, simply seeing myself, is a beautiful thing...not in the artistic sense, but in the mystery of self...I am on the surface a complicated & complex human...but once I see past the overly contrived & elaborate personality...past the fear of self discovery...reality becomes a little more real.

This book is not for the hobbiests...meaning, it actually gives you something to do, not just something to think about...

I use this text along with THE HUMAN BIOLOGICAL MACHINE in an on-line self-awareness/transformation workshop. I can only give this book my higest recommendation...working actively with it for 5 years has made "knowing thy self" seem plausible and real.

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strategies for awakening, March 14, 2000

By 

Julia Glasse (Sierra Foothills) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Practical Work on Self (Paperback)

This book is quite exciting. Besides offering some ideas and theories about the conundrum of having a being in a body, it offers practical exercises to fine tune that unique and astonishing relationship.

It outlines some strategies for the ever challenging project of how to awaken the machine. The exercise are practical and inspiring. Well, okay, some of them are a less than obvious, but what fun would it be without having to work for it a little bit?

The exercises can be viewed as a course, so you can follow an organized structure. I like to do one exercise every week. Then start all over again. It is even better the third and fourth time around.

A must for anyone serious about developing attention and presence.