Pushing Ultimates: Fundamentals of Authentic Self-Knowledge [Paperback]

Lew Paz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2006

"The road to authentic self-knowledge is probably the most challenging and worthwhile journey that a human being will ever explore ... It is so very tempting to take the easy path, to believe someone else's truth as our own, or to seek comfort in beliefs that we've never really questioned. Pushing Ultimates takes a candid look at the most common obstacles to authentic self-knowledge. Probably the biggest challenge in this process is beginning a line of questioning and really trying to find the answers ... Pushing Ultimates reminds us that despite out intense need to fit in and to go with the crowd, if we as individuals truly want authentic self-knowledge, we have to dig a lot deeper than that. We have to be willing to question anything and everything. We also have to be willing to listen to the answers." Dr. Tami Brady / TCM Reviews

Editorial Reviews

Review

Lew Paz draws upon many years of his personal spiritual, philosophical, and metaphysical quest to understand human nature in general, and himself in particular. Pushing Ultimates incorporates what Paz has discovered through philosophy, science, psychology, theology, mysticism, the history of religion, and the writings of such original thinkers and scholars as Jung, Aurobindo, Heidegger, Einstein, Godel, Gurdjieff and others. Highly recommended reading, the 397-page text of Pushing Ultimates (enhanced with several pages of chapter notes) is eminently accessible for the non- specialist general reader seeking an in-depth, sophisticated, erudite, sometimes iconoclastic approach to the acquisition of genuine self-knowledge. Pushing Ultimates is "must" reading for dedicated students of philosophy, metaphysics, and those committed to the seeking of self-enlightenment in a clamoring and all-too-superficial world. --James Cox Editor in Chief Midwest Book Review

I regard this book as a scholarly achievement of formidable scope and considerable merit, a worthwhile read for any truth seeker… a valuable stepping stone to a deep and learned awareness… Lew Paz has a rare, bright, daring, and inquisitive mind that has yielded a harvest of philosophical insights that promise to be of invaluable nourishment for people who seek to reach new heights of spiritual awareness. --Laurent Grenier, author of A Reason For Living

Pushing Ultimates has the look of a text I'm going to want to read and ponder several times again, concept rich and deeply researched as it is... For a conscious pilgrim, this book is indispensable. --Ken Gatlin Northern California Mensa

About the Author

During a childhood fatefully balanced between normal American boyhood and occasions in orphanage and reform school, Lew Paz became uniquely attentive to the quality of his experiences, all the while reading extensively through the classics. At seventeen he joined the Air Force, again always balancing pursuit of knowledge with worldly experience. At the age of 20 he hitchhiked about the country for a year or so, and then re-enlisted in the military. After two years as an infantry aratrooper, Paz became one of the first anti-war protesters during the build up of the Vietnam War. He spent a year in military prison, which he and a select group of other inmates used as a kind of monastery for the pursuit of significant knowledge. From there, after establishing a career, at the age of 29 he walked away from a life of lucrative success in the social arena to once again seek an existence on the edge, blending Zorba the Greek adventure with Socratic questioning of all things. His journey entailed years of hard road travel, working at every kind of labor, a year here, a semester there at varied colleges and universities, shamanistic explorations with drugs, plants and fungi, and countless sunup to sunset days in libraries great and small over half the earth, deeply delving into the quest for truth and wisdom. Paz first learned meditation from the direct tutelage of Zen Master Shunryo Suzuki, and over the past thirty years merged Zen teachings with Hatha and Jana Yoga, the psychological insights of Carl Jung, and the mental and spiritual disciplines of Aurobindo and Gurdjieff. This rich background has given him the ability to transfer scholarly and esoteric spiritual text into comprehensible terms for the layman.

Product Details

• Paperback: 397 pages
• Publisher: PlumBell Publishing; 1st edition (March 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0977373398
• ISBN-13: 978-0977373390
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #851,808 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Rosette Stone for the Spiritual Journey, December 4, 2007

By 

W. H. McDonald Jr. "The American Author Assoc... (Elk Grove, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pushing Ultimates: Fundamentals of Authentic Self-Knowledge (Paperback)

Author Lew Paz has certainly taken on a universe of self-knowledge and inner discovery in his most profound book "Pushing Ultimates: Fundamentals of Authentic Self-Knowledge". This book sets out to help all truth seekers along their inner journey. The author has done a tremendous amount of personal research, reading and actual living and has boiled down the basics of what he found. Paz points out that in his search he has lived and been to almost every kind of environment from large cities around the world to smaller villages, universities, libraries, churches, temples, the military service and even jails. He has learned much in his travels and studies and observations.

I felt a certain kinship with the author as I read his book; however, I was not expecting the depth of insightful observations and basic wisdoms that he shares with the reader. Paz culls the real wisdom he has absorbed through his life long pursuit for the truth- for some this may save them a lifetime of study while for others they could gain several lifetime's worth of spiritual evolution.

The book is not easy to read for several reasons - one of which is that it is not written for the average reader with 8th grade reading and learning skills but is gaged more for a college level understanding. The second issue is that the book cannot (and should not) be read quickly from cover to cover but assimilated slowly and savored within. This is one of those books that is best read over a long period of time. I would think that reading a page or two and then sitting and letting that understanding grow within might be the better way to read this book.

The author hits some very major issues as he tries to move the reader along a path of learning and refection. Some people will be offended who do not have open minds in the truest sense. He questions everything including all religions and ideas that most just take for granted. He has a valuable book here if one can invest the time and have the willingness to purse the truth no matter where that might take them.

My only disappointment was that the author did not reveal more details about his own personal life journey. But then, that would have been a much different book. Paz has given us a rich treasure trove of spiritual gems - what more can we ask of any writer.

The book is one book that could change your outlook - make that "your inner-look" at life. The author will push the reader to ask questions of him/herself and that is good. He will also force you to look at your beliefs and to reexamine what you thought was the truth. The book is one of the best inner maps to self-knowledge that you can wrap your hands around. I highly recommend this book.