Balancing Heaven and Earth: A Memoir of Visions, Dreams, and Realizations (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Jerry M. Ruhl (Author) "It all began with the crash of a car against a brick wall and the small knee of an eleven-year-old boy caught in between..." (more)
Key Phrases: stone shirt, balancing heaven, alchemical gold, Golden World, Los Angeles, Old Stone Shirt (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Johnson was 11 years old and close to death after a car accident when he experienced the "Golden World," an "antechamber of heaven" where he felt "purely tranquil" and experienced "joy beyond bound." Recurring physical hardship due to the loss of his leg triggered a second illuminating experience several years later that motivated him to embark on a quest for self-knowledge. Johnson eventually embraced Christian mysticism and became a Jungian analyst. Here, the author of We (and of the companion volumes She and He, as well as seven other books) credits following the "slender threads" of fate for his well-being. Johnson expresses the belief that there is "one, and only one, appropriate action in any given moment of time"?an action that "balances" spiritual needs with more mundane concerns. Despite his faith in divine will, Johnson often seems at odds with organized religion, some aspects of which he criticizes as "nothing but institutional mother complexes, with selfishness and ego regression running rampant in the name of spirituality." Throughout, Johnson and Ruhl, the director of the C.G. Jung Society of Colorado, in addition to offering an inspiring memoir, weave in explanations of psychology, synchronicity theory and dream analysis to create a useful personal guide to Johnson's brand of self-realization.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

One of this century's most popular psychology scholars, Robert A.Johnson was among the first to present Carl Jung's rich but complex theories with simple elegance and grace,opening them to an entirely new and hungry audience. His masterful works--including the best selling He, She, Inner Work, and Owning Your Own Shadow-are known and loved as much for their beautiful retellings of timeless myths and folktales as for their deep wisdom and profound insight.

Balancing Heaven and Earth reveals, for the first time, Johnson's own fascinating and mystical life-from his near-death experience at the age of eleven to the lifelong soul journey that has informed his writing and taught him how to live a spiritual life in the endlessly challenging modern world. Full of compelling, humorous, and surprising stories of encounters with an assortment of "sages, saints, and sinners," it lays bare Johnson's own inner world and its dazzeling landscape of powerful dreams, mystical visions, and synchronistic events.

Beginnning with a vivid retelling of the childhood accident that claimed the lower part of his right leg, Johnson describes the life-defining moment when he was transported by a mystical vision to a realm that exists just beyond ordinary consciousness-a realm he calls the "Golden World." With this experience, described as "both my curse and my blessing," Johnson is launched on a spiritual quest that leads him in search of Eastern wisdom, to encounters with such wise men as J. Krishnamurti and D.T. Suzuki, and finally to Carl Jung, who shows him his destiny revealed in a dream. Johnson's experiences lead him to a unique understanding and acceptance of the slender connecting threads at work in all our lives, guiding us and shaping who we are-"call it fate, destiny, or the hand of God."

As much a personal guide as a memoir, Balancing Heaven and Earth teaches us to follow , as Johnson has, the subtle influences of dreams, visions, and even our deepest sufferings in order to live attuned to our spiritual selves. A pure delight for Johnson's many fans and a splendid example of his trademark blend of illustrative myth and psychological insight, this is a work of incomparable beauty and inspiration showcasing the wisdom of a lifetime.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne; First edition (January 20, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062515063
• ISBN-13: 978-0062515063
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #101,791 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Warm and unpretentious account of a life lived well, August 26, 2004

By	Robert Anderson (Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Beginning at the age of 11 and occuring several times more throughout his life, the author found himself in an altered state where he was able to view Heaven, or "The Golden World" as he called it. The title of this book then, "Balancing Heaven and Earth", chronicles his spiritual journey which was characterized by the need to balance or integrate the nearly undescribable bliss of heaven with the author's ordinary existence.

Looking back on his life while near the end of it Johnson examines and chronicles his life and spiritual journey for us, including his experiences growing up as a poor kid without a leg, his meeting with Carl Jung and subsequent career as a Jungian analyst, writer and speaker, and his adventures traveling around the world. Especially interesting are his tales of India.

Johnson's "voice" comes across as grandfatherly and warm. He doesn't claim to have achieved enlightenment, doesn't claim to know all of the answers, and he clearly isn't attempting to recruit followers, or build up his ego, resume or bank account. He writes simply and elequently, and avoids the complex, philosophical jargon that render many writers (such as Ken Wilber) somewhat inaccessible to simple lunkheads like me. (Note however, that a basic understanding of Jungian psychology will add to one's understanding).

Here is a sample passage that I particularly liked, which is the author's take on sainthood, coming after a small town in India had asked him to live there as their local "saint":

"I have meditated on the subject of sainthood many times since this experience, and I find a bit of wisdom in understanding that saints are people who suffer the projection of unlived holiness from a group of people and are made to serve in this strange role whether they like it or not. It is only the other side of the coin of scapegoating, in which a group chooses an individual to carry the dark side of their own personalities, which they are unwilling to own for themselves...God help the poor person who is landed with either of the excesses that humankind finds equally difficult to bear."

(The theme of people unwilling to "own" their own best qualities, and therefore projecting them onto a religious guru, is touched upon several times throughout the book).

Overall, this is a wonderful story of someone following God's leading throughout life and finally coming to a place where they are comfortable in their own skin, both physically and spiritually - having learned to lay down the ego's agenda and follow the subtle leading of the Spirit of God.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A transformative experience, June 2, 1999

By	R. Needham (Friday Harbor, WA) - See all my reviews

This is less a review than a hymn of gratitude. For me, this book is one of the "slender threads" Johnson talks about, a serendipitous opportunity that, grasped, changes your life. If you, like he, have experienced "the Golden World," you are likely to sob as I did at his description of it and his yearning to return to it. Johnson is an old soul, an introvert, a solitary by nature, who wrestled with his destiny for decades.

His memoir gives me hope for my own struggles, and I believe this will hold true for many, many readers. I have rarely been so moved by a book; perhaps the only other I have found so affecting was Matthew Fox's collection of Meister Eckhard's thought.

If you are seeking the light in any way or form, don't miss it.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Possibly the best work in Johnson's compendium., May 17, 1999

By	[e-mail] (Orange County, California) - See all my reviews

As a student of depth psychology, particularly Jungian, I have read all of Johnson's work and this most personal work is the one that has affected me the most deeply. By revealing the details of his life's journey, Johnson gives the reader insight into how it looks to "follow your bliss." Sometimes the call we receive is not an easy one and Johnson poignantly shares his struggles with this as well. But remaning true to the "still small voice" and allowing his ego to be used in service to the Self (God) has resulted in a life that is both rich in texture and joyful in experience. This book is a treasure and one to be savored at that!