Time and the Soul [Hardcover]

Jacob Needleman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 29, 1997

Time is the greatest modern scarcity. What used to be considered signs of success--being busy, having many responsibilities, being involved in many projects or activities--are today being felt as afflictions. The bestselling author of Money and the Meaning of Life, philosopher Jacob Needleman, shows how to take a bold and unconventional approach to time. The aim: to get more out of it by breaking free of our illusions about it. Needleman dispenses with tricks and techniques that only serve to make our obsessiveness more "efficient." Instead he shows how we can understand what our days are for. It's this understanding that allows time to finally begin to "breathe" in our lives.

People can learn to experience time more purposefully and meaningfully. We need not be at time's mercy. Needleman rejects time-management techniques in order to reveal ancient and little-known modern practices for exploring one's internal clock. He reveals how time is experienced by the soul. Drawing on the wisdom literature that chronicles the ways of Buddhists, poets, and philosophers, one learns:

What it could mean to chart one's real past, unclouded by emotions
How memory can lie to us
Why we need not be obsessed with the future
How to experience time so that it is not an enemy robbing us of the joy of life
How to have more "nonpsychological time," or "time of the heart [that] does not move," such as moments of ecstasy or joy in which time is cut off from the physical world
How to experience the gifts of time

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Praise for Jacob Needleman:

"Socrates would have liked [Money and the Meaning of Life]."
--Whole Earth Review

"Money and the Meaning of Life reads like a spiritual detective story. [Needleman] shows us how to redeem ourselves through probing what this down-and-dirty deity means to us."
--Mel Ziegler, cofounder, Banana Republic

"Needleman is great."
--Commonwealth

"Charismatic."
--Los Angeles Times

"Needleman is much loved and respected by his hundreds of inquiring students. He himself is a sower of spiritual seeds."
--San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle

From the Inside Flap

Time is the greatest modern scarcity. What used to be considered signs of success--being busy, having many responsibilities, being involved in many projects or activities--are today being felt as afflictions. The bestselling author of Money and the Meaning of Life, philosopher Jacob Needleman, shows how to take a bold and unconventional approach to time. The aim: to get more out of it by breaking free of our illusions about it. Needleman dispenses with tricks and techniques that only serve to make our obsessiveness more "efficient." Instead he shows how we can understand what our days are for. It's this understanding that allows time to finally begin to "breathe" in our lives.

People can learn to experience time more purposefully and meaningfully. We need not be at time's mercy. Needleman rejects time-management techniques in order to reveal ancient and little-known modern practices for exploring one's internal clock. He reveals how time is experienced by the soul. Drawing on the wisdom literature that chronicles the ways of Buddhists, poets, and philosophers, one learns:

What it could mean to chart one's real past, unclouded by emotions
How memory can lie to us
Why we need not be obsessed with the future
How to experience time so that it is not an enemy robbing us of the joy of life
How to have more "nonpsychological time," or "time of the heart [that] does not move," such as moments of ecstasy or joy in which time is cut off from the physical world
How to experience the gifts of time

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 157 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday Business; 1 edition (December 29, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385481772
• ISBN-13: 978-0385481779
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,094,532 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jacob Needleman, the acclaimed author of The American Soul and Money and the Meaning of Life, is a professor of philosophy at San Francisco State University, and a former director of the Center for the Study of New Religions at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Will be a philosophical classic, July 19, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Time and the Soul (Hardcover)

There were times when I had to just put this book down and breathe because of the truth in its pages. Needleman gets to the heart of "time and the soul." It is a short book and can be read quickly, but one reading will not suffice. An incredibly honest book.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sweetly disturbing. A masterpiece, one of my 5 best ever!, May 2, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Argentina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Time and the Soul (Hardcover)

If you try to understand this book with your head, you will be torn into a million pieces. It is amazingly difficult to explain what this book is about... you should just know that if you read it, at some point something very strange happens to you... this something is very disturbing, but it is also very sweet. Take a chance and read it!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Profound Guide, April 26, 2005

By 

earth elder (CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Time and the Soul (Hardcover)

Time and the Soul is not just a book, it is a deep meditation experience. Dr. Needleman is a wise, authentic guide calling us back to our lost Self, and suggesting practical ways to remember who we really are. I keep this book close by and when my spiritual quest feels a bit dry, I return here and find my inspiration renewed. This is the book I most often share with friends and family who are fellow seekers. Today, I am ordering five more copies.