Customer Reviews

Reality, Spirituality and Modern Man

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
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`Reality Spirituality and Modern Man' would seem to be David R. Hawkins' contribution to the Great Books of the Western World, and to the great conversation which arises from those books and their readers.

To the epochal crisis in faith and trust that extends through politics, academia, religion, and family life, Hawkins serenely suggests a series of counterbalances, resolutions, recontextualizations, and clarifications. The book builds piece by piece a new context by which to understand reality, but more of that in a moment.

His matter of fact style is heavily referenced, with occasional brilliant rhetorical flourishes, and a rich stock of wit in words and images. The references are a feast of interesting leads to new and substantial fields of knowledge, and Hawkins has considerately put comments to the bibliographic references that let you know something of their significance, and thus whether you might wish to follow them up or not. These notes have led me to many rich discoveries.

This is by far the most erudite of Doctor David R. Hawkins' books, and that factor sometimes makes it seem as if one cannot see the forest for the trees. It is a complex book, but many important books are complex and yet rewarded persistent readers greatly.

Much of the book would seem to be a series of contrasts between true and false, essence and appearance, the world as it is and the world as it appears to be. These sophisticated chapters taken on their own are powerful challenges to the reader to examine his own presumptions and preconceptions about society, science, religion, spirituality, and basic epistemology (how we know what we know). But as I said, the chapters are cumulative in their effect, and the overarching vision the book presents is beyond my words to represent.

The culminating chapters of the book present the world as an artefact of human collective perception and with striking clarity reveals the simply unreality of much of the prevailing conceptions about the nature of the world we live in. The stark simplicity and purity of the concluding view is beautiful, authoritative, and noble.

I believe that a new `Great Book of the Western World' has passed unheralded into publication in Dr David R. Hawkins' `Reality, Spirituality and Modern Man'.

This book takes Dr. Hawkins most recent teachings and places them in the context of current society and the recent past. He explains the discernment of essence from perception at length, issues of paradigm and worldview, and cites historical examples. Included are Dr. Hawkins detailed explanations of Ramana Maharshi's radical instructions regarding "Saving the world," The relationship of the Scopes Monkey trial to our current societies conflicting worldviews, and how harmful influences use the cover of secular and religious appearance to manipulate all aspects of society, including, especially the media. Included are the illumination of spiritual paths for those questioning the traditional teachings of our culture or the existence of God. A Great Book, full of clarity, bound to be controversial, eye opening and for some paradigm changing. Thank You Dr. Hawkins for the power and directness of your teachings.

It seems, that in this era, man has mastered the art of appearing intelligent. This and also convincing others that they are intelligent. All of this, without earning the internal merit of personal responsibility. That's the hallmark of the truly intelligent. Who would've guessed?

In the days of the Greeks they were called sophists. I'd been afflicted with this dysfunction - and indeed it is a dysfunction. The effect is the "king baby" who can so eloquently malign another person who disagrees with what they believe. Simultaneously, they gain favor from those who are in denial of similar short-comings. Cleverly, the insult may even infer, pointed at the person being scapegoated, as being immature and arrogant. The smug and snickering mob then concedes and basks in the instant gratification of their sedation. This is the socio-political climate of our times. Hate is in vogue, being honest is called arrogant and being humble is called idiocy.

This work, to me, has pointed out the self-serving motives underneath my own positions. The positions themselves have been nothing but hypnotic limitations; a fools' gold. Reflecting on the Truth, delivered as such is not always a walk in the park. And yet I am eternally grateful.

Reality, Spirituality and Modern Man is an invaluable tool for reflection and self-examination for those willing to be radically honest with themselves. It's also an invaluable tool for those who are curious about discerning essence from appearance. Curious, yes! Have the Truth revealed and see if you're really interested! Many will scurry from the work because...

"A good horse runs even from the shadow of the whip!"

Signed,

Kevin

A former slave to popular delusions with an opinionated defense-mechanism. Now, an ordinary man who knows that he does not know anything.

This book takes Dr. Hawkins most recent teachings and places them in the context of current society and the recent past. He explains the discernment of essence from perception at length, issues of paradigm and worldview, and cites historical examples. Included are Dr. Hawkins detailed explanations of Ramana Maharshi's radical instructions regarding "Saving the world," The relationship of the Scopes Monkey trial to our current societies conflicting worldviews, and how harmful influences use the cover of secular and religious appearance to manipulate all aspects of society, including, especially the media. Included are the illumination of spiritual paths for those questioning the traditional teachings of our culture or the existence of God. A Great Book, full of clarity, bound to be controversial, eye opening and for some paradigm changing. Thank You Dr. Hawkins for the power and directness of your teachings.

David Hawkins is truly an insperation and this book shows why, as do all of his writings. If you have not read his works, please do so. It will help all of us! Thank you David for your work!

Great book. Could read it one hundred times and still find something you missed in a previous exposure to his work. Highly recommend this as well as the other works in this series.

I have read all of Dr. Hawkins books and I attend his lectures, I consider him the most important spiritual teacher of our time.

As far as I know, I've read all of David Hawkins' books and I enjoy this one as much as any of them. I'm sure there will be those who complain about the authors' seeming political bias but then we must ask ourselves, are we holding onto an emotional position? We are all subject to the limitations of our own perception.

Enjoy!

I have read all of Hawkins books, and I definitely drank the punch with Eye of the I, a book which I still love and enjoy. But really, some of things in this one are definitely entertaining and eye catching, like the previous 3 star reviewer's critique on the obvious conservative bias (I propose I am nowhere to be found in the political left - right range, but that would probably classify me (in your thoughts) as a liberal...so whatever, I'm still happy). Anyway, there is pragmatic value in all of hawkin's books, good psychology nuggets, and reiteration of sublime truths, but I've always put the goofy numbers thing to the side. This book goes a little too far (I'm only at the beginning) with some of his "opinions", although his tautology seems to preclude "himself" as outside of having opinions. His bashing on relativism (excuse me for lowering the calibration of this review by using a word with "ism"), is/was beneficial for me for analytical purposes; however, I have come to the conclusion that relativism is useful for relative reality (Buddhist), in that it can help one understand other people's frames of reference and therefore lead to compassion and forgiveness. I understand that relativism brought too far is ridiculous as it tries to undermind the absolute with thought experiments; however, the absolute is only pointed at through language, thoughts, and ideas and seems to only be recognized in relative paradoxes (cosmic humor here). so back to the critique...I like hawkins books. they are as good as they are useful to the reader. i'm not sure how much pragmatic value this one will have with me, but it is entertaining to say the least. If anything, I love this guy's use of vocabulary and am sure it will rub off onto me. If you are a healthy skeptic that is easily perturbed by other's views, I would not recommend this book. If you have an open and analytical mind, this book can be useful to you. If you drink the punch, maybe read into K Wilbers Integral Spirituality for another viewpoint on postmodernism. But hey, I could be the wolf in sheep's clothing! so watch out!

think of it this way: should the meaning of life be to find the meaning of life? at some point we just live, and hopefully enjoy. paz

Having read all of Hawkins books, I must admit that I was disappointed in reading this one. Contrary to the author's assertions, it seems that there are no real absolute truths or falsehoods in reality. This book is obviously biased by the author's own personal beliefs (conservative). It's unfortunate because it detracts from some of the other (valuable) viewpoints expressed in the book. Conservatives would agree with the calibrations expressed in much of the book but liberals would not. It is very difficult for me to believe that the calibration of the levels of consciousness expressed in the book favors the conservative viewpoints to the degree it does over those of liberalism. Perhaps muscle-testing as a way to calibrate levels of consciousness does not work as advertised when strong personal beliefs (emotions) are involved.