Simple insights – a book that can be read in small pieces and reflected upon.  Not quite “The Miracle of Mindfullness” but an inspiring read nevertheless.

Excellent, insightful, practical – pick and choose the bits that turn you on.

A handbook of exercises and meditations which, given its origins, are distinctly Christian.

One of Walsch’s many books – the only one I’ve read – a big book that can be dipped into – always food for reflection.

In a ground-breaking reappraisal of the most revered ancient texts and traditions from around the globe, Ian Lawton uncovers startling evidence that could change the way we think about our origins.   The texts point to a lost ‘golden race’ that walked the earth tens of thousands of years ago and who held a far more sophisticated worldview than we readily associate with early man.   There exists a universal mythology of fallen angels and sages bringing wisdom and civilisation to the earth.  Lawton has spent ten years analysing the foundations of this belief and has formulated an extraordinary hypothesis: that the evolution of the modern human race received its most supreme cultural impetus around 100,000 years ago – the time of the first ritual burials – when highly advanced souls first incarnated in human form.   These ‘angels’ taught their fellow humans that the soul lived on after death; that the physical world around them was not the only reality and that higher states of consciousness could be achieved by following a spiritual path.   However, the texts also reveal that this worldview became increasingly marginalised, replaced by a preoccupation with the material and physical world until, ultimately, the forgotten race perished in a worldwide catastrophe of 11,500 years ago – at the end of the last Ice Age.  With chapters on mythology, evolution, archaeology and science, Genesis Unveiled is a remarkable and scholarly work that bravely combines history, philosophy and theoretical physics to spectacular effect.   Enlightening and educational, this impressive analysis of how the world’s secular and religious belief systems have failed to properly interpret records of our extensive cultural prehistory attempts to provide credible answers to the most timeless and profound questions: where to we come from and why are we here?  Above all, it argues that the hidden history of our forebears has profound implications for the human race at the start of the twenty-first century.

Don’t let the title put you off – this book is essentially a compendium of extracts from some very ancient Eastern and native writings and spiritual traditions that goes some way towards proving that long ago, our ancestors had a far better understanding of awareness, life, peace and happiness than us so-called civilized people have.

Essence is a revolutionary book in its synthesis of Western and Eastern approaches to psychological and spiritual development.  But it is not primarily an abstract or theoretical work.  It explores the essential reality of the truth of who we are when we move beyond our ego or personality.  Almaas’ exposition of this essential reality is remarkably clear and precise and includes a discussion on the ‘essential aspects’ such as love, compassion, wisdom and strength.  This work draws on knowledge from the most sophisticated current psychological theory and de-mystifies enlightenment, helping us to see it not as some mysterious event but as a down-to-earth, understandable process with definite stages through which the personality gradually releases its grip on our being and allows our essence to emerge.

Exploring our essential energy, the book touches on a variety of psychological approaches that will enable the reader gain a better practical everyday understanding of how to get to the root of ourselves.