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The Way of Abundance and Joy: The Shamanic Teachings of don Alberto Taxo
by Shirley Blancke• Shows how to relate to and receive help from the elements, reconnect with nature to access abundance and joy, connect with plants, animals, water, air, and fire • Explores don Alberto&’s upbringing in a family of yachaks, his initiation, and his personal work to fulfill the Andean prophecy of the Eagle and the Condor • Includes reflections and essays from several of don Alberto&’s students and others who have worked with him, including Itzhak Beery and John Perkins Recognized as a master yachak, don Alberto Taxo is a celebrated spiritual elder, shaman, and healer of the pre-Inca Atik (Kichwa) people from the Andes Mountains of Ecuador. He has been sharing ancient Andean shamanic wisdom and practices in the United States for more than 20 years--his personal quest to fulfill the Andean prophecy that the Eagle and the Condor will fly together in the same sky in harmony. Written with don Alberto&’s permission and as further fulfillment of the Eagle-Condor prophecy, this book shares don Alberto&’s teachings and his simple approaches for building a reciprocal relationship with nature, centered on Sumak Kausay, the way of joy and abundance. As a yachak, a shaman of the elements, don Alberto shows how to relate to and receive help from nature. When we are connected with nature on an emotional and spiritual level it creates joy that is deeply healing and can be accessed during life&’s difficulties. The book discusses traditional Ecuadorian shamanic beliefs and practices, including Andean Inca cosmology; how to connect with plants, animals, air, fire, and water in sacred springs, the ocean, or your shower; and Inca concepts like Pacha, the space-time era in which we live that is now transitioning to a new one of connection and love after 500 years. The book explores don Alberto&’s upbringing in a family of yachaks, his initiation, and his assumption of the role of shaman for his community. It also includes reflections and essays from don Alberto&’s students and others who have worked with him, including shamanic teachers Itzhak Beery and John Perkins, showing how he influenced their lives and awakened them to the path of Sumak Kausay, Abundant Life.
The Way of Abundance: A 60-day Journey Into A Deeply Meaningful Life
by Ann VoskampWhat do you do when you wake up and feel like you're not enough for your life? Or when you look out the kitchen window as dusk falls and wonder how do you live when life keeps breaking your heart? As Ann Voskamp writes, “great grief isn't meant to fit inside your body. It's why your heart breaks.” And each of us holds enough brokenness to overflow—to be given as the greatest story of our lives.In sixty vulnerably soulful stories, The Way of Abundance moves from self-weary brokenness to Christ-focused givenness. Drawing from the critically acclaimed, New York Times bestseller The Broken Way and Ann's online essays, this devotional dares us to embrace brokenness as a gift that moves us to givenness as a way to draw closer to the heart of God. Christ Himself broke like bread, giving Himself to us so we might have a lifelong communion with Him. Could it be that our brokenness is also a gift to the world?This gentle but exquisitely profound book does nothing less than take you on an intimate journey of the soul.As Ann writes, "The wound in His side proves that Jesus is always on the side of the suffering, the wounded, the busted, the broken." Discover how surrendering in unexpected ways is the first step toward receiving what you long for. Discover the good news that your beauty is not in your strength but in your fragility. Discover why your healing shines radiant through your wounds—and how only in brokenness will you ever be whole—and find the way to the abundance you were meant for.
The Way of Being Lost: A Road Trip to My Truest Self
by Victoria PriceAfter a tumultuous period of crisis, Victoria Price rebuilt her life by embracing a daily practice of joy, healing childhood wounds and reconnecting to the example set by her father Vincent, the famed actor. Her journey involved stepping away from externalities and into her father's legacy — his love for people and compassion for others, his generosity of spirit and simple kindnesses, his enthusiasm for new experiences, and his love of life. "As I've gotten older, I've come to understand that every day, in everything we do, we have a choice — between expanding into our lives or contracting into our fears, into saying Yes! to life … or saying No," Victoria observes. This intimate and inspiring book shares the lessons learned from a powerful family heritage of remaining curious, giving back, and saying Yes. Join her as she shares the stories, experiences, and lessons that led her back to her truest self, including her lifesaving daily practice of joy."A brilliant account of finding and following one's inner light by a true pioneer that will help every reader do the same." — Mike Dooley, New York Times bestselling author of Infinite Possibilities and Notes from the Universe"In The Way of Being Lost, Victoria does what all of us wish to do — seek out her own relationship with spirituality and make the sacred a part of her everyday life, merely by observing the world around us in all its glory. Her writing shows the struggles of this way of being, but also its rewards." — Miranda McPherson, author of Meditations on Boundless Love "Too often we think that to lead a spiritual life requires doing everything right. That is not just a tall order, it is an erroneous one. Spirituality is about a quest for a home in love, which we will find when we finally listen to the call of our truest selves. As Victoria Price knows, this journey may come later than we hoped, but it bears the fruit of our life experience, and takes its own time to ripen. This beautiful recounting of Victoria's voyage shows us a path for discovering the Third Way and living it fully." — Fr. Richard Rohr, Founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation"In her inspiring memoir The Way of Being Lost, Victoria Price walks us all back home. A must read for anyone who dares to live a life of joy." — Rebecca Campbell, bestselling author of Light Is The New Black and Rise Sister Rise"The Way of Being Lost takes us on the most exquisite journey that one can take — the road home to one's true self … told through the particular lens of the author's life. Though it takes great courage to make this trip, the rewards are beyond measure. And in the case of The Way of Being Lost, the journey is beautifully told, universally relevant, and deeply meaningful." — Christiane Northrup, M.D., New York Times bestselling author of Goddesses Never Age"Victoria Price's journey is a truly inspiring one. She looks both outward and inward to find joy all around her. She has been a close friend to me for years and I have always been moved by her story and thrilled that she is finally sharing it with the world." — Melissa Etheridge, Grammy®- and Oscar®-winning musician and activist"Victoria Price is a fighter — for her belief in a world that is connected by Love, and for her own connection to Joy. Her commitment to living as her truest self is an inspiration for us all — match point, Ms. Price." — Martina Navratilova, tennis player, activist, wife, parent, and author of Shape Yourself and other books"Heartfelt testimony of an arduous search for self-affirmation that will appeal to fellow seekers." — Kirkus Review
The Way of Blessing: Stepping into the Mission and Presence of God
by Dave Roberts Roy GodwinYou're invited on a spiritual pilgrimage to the windswept hills of Wales. Within that small, praying community known as Ffald-y-Brenin, the deaf hear, the blind see, and the broken receive healing. Roy Godwin reveals how God has given believers the authority to bless others. As the executive director of the Wales retreat center, he shares how this ministry began, stories of miraculous healings, and ways you can usher God's presence into your community. It begins when we stop chasing blessings and become God's conduit for blessing others.
The Way of Ch'an: Essential Texts of the Original Tradition
by David HintonThis sweeping collection of new translations paints a brilliant picture of the development of Ch&’an (Zen) Buddhism, China&’s most radical philosophical and meditative tradition.In this landmark anthology of some two dozen translations, celebrated translator David Hinton shows how Ch'an (Japanese: Zen)—too long considered a perplexing school of Chinese Buddhism—was in truth a Buddhist-inflected form of Taoism, China's native system of spiritual philosophy. The texts in The Way of Ch&’an build from seminal Taoism through the &“Dark-Enigma Learning&” literature and on to the most important pieces from all stages of the classical Ch&’an tradition. Guided by Hinton&’s accessible introductions, readers will encounter texts and authors including: I Ching (c. 12th century BCE)Lao Tzu (c. 6th century BCEBodhidharma (active c. 500-550 CE)Sixth Patriarch Prajna-Able (Hui Neng, 638-713)Cold Mountain (Han Shan: c. 8th-9th centuries)Yellow-Bitterroot Mountain (Huang Po, d. 850)Blue-Cliff Record (c. 1040) Through this steadily deepening and transformative reading experience, readers will see the profound and intricate connections between native Chinese philosophy, Taoism, and Ch&’an. Contemporary Zen students and practitioners will never see their tradition in the same way again.
The Way of Chuang Tzu
by Thomas MertonChuang Tzu, who wrote in the fourth and third centuries B.C., is the chief authentic historical spokesman for Taoism and its founder Lao Tzu (a legendary character known largely through Chuang Tzu's writings). Indeed it was because of Chuang Tzu and the other Taoist sages that Indian Buddhism was transformed, in China, into the unique vehicle we now call by its Japanese name Zen. The Chinese sage abounds in wit, paradox, satire, and shattering insight into the true ground of being. Father Merton, no stranger to Asian thought, brings a vivid, modern idiom to the timeless wisdom of Tao.
The Way of Complete Perfection: A Quanzhen Daoist Anthology
by Louis KomjathyOriginating about 1163 CE, Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Daoism is one of the most important Daoist movements in Chinese history. It remains the dominant form of monastic Daoism in the modern world, especially in its Longmen (Dragon Gate) lineage. This landmark anthology provides complete or partial translations of twenty-one Quanzhen texts. Most have never been translated or even discussed in scholarly literature. Louis Komjathy gives particular attention to work completed by the Quanzhen movement's founder, Wang Chongyang (1113–1170 CE), and his first generation disciples. Translations include representative works from every major genre of Quanzhen literature, from poetry and discourse records to didactic texts, commentaries, and hagiographies. Three monastic manuals from the late medieval and late imperial periods of Quanzhen history are also included. An introduction to Quanzhen Daoism begins the work, and each chapter provides discussions of the history and topics relevant to each translation.
The Way of Discernment: Spiritual Practices for Decision Making
by Elizabeth LiebertWe all make decisions constantly--some with careful reflection, some without much thought. But what if we understood these decisions, minor as well as major, as matters of faithful Christian living? In this helpful and encouraging book, Elizabeth Liebert introduces the practice of discernment and guides readers through the process of faithful decision making. Following the way of discernment means becoming increasingly able to notice where God is at work in the world and in one's own life--and becoming increasingly generous with one's own life in response. After briefly exploring the Christian tradition of discernment, Liebert then turns to practical steps and exercises that will help readers as they seek God's call in the midst of their decisions, allowing readers to internalize some of these practices and incorporate them into their daily lives.
The Way of Forgiveness: A Story About Letting Go
by Stephen Mitchell“A unique and special kind of masterpiece.” —John BanvilleStephen Mitchell’s gift is to breathe new life into ancient classics. In Joseph and the Way of Forgiveness, he offers us his riveting novelistic version of the Biblical tale in which Jacob’s favorite son is sold into slavery and eventually becomes viceroy of Egypt. Tolstoy called it the most beautiful story in the world. What’s new here is the lyrical, witty, vivid prose, informed by a wisdom that brings fresh insight to this foundational legend of betrayal and all-embracing forgiveness. Mitchell’s retelling, which reads like a postmodern novel, interweaves the narrative with brief meditations that, with their Zen surprises, expand the narrative and illuminate its main themes.By stepping inside the minds of Joseph and the other characters, Mitchell reanimates one of the central stories of Western culture. The engrossing tale that he has created will capture the hearts and minds of modern readers and show them that this ancient story can still challenge, delight, and astonish.
The Way of Grace: Finding God on the Path of Surrender (Renovare Resources)
by Glandion Carney2014 Readers' Choice Awards Honorable MentionDistinguished Honorable Mention, from Byron Borger, Hearts and Minds BookstoreThe Way of Grace
The Way of Gratitude: A New Spirituality for Today
by Galen GuengerichA leading minister offers an inspiring guide to living a meaningful life by embracing the power of gratitude.&“Galen Guengerich&’s wise and tender words about belonging, connection, and gratitudeare like keys to unlock our hearts, give us courage, and call us into the kind ofrelationships and community we are all longing for.&”—Elizabeth Lesser, bestselling author of Broken Open Galen Guengerich, the charismatic, brilliant leader of one of the nation&’s most prominent Unitarian Universalist congregations, All Souls in New York City, shares with readers his wisdom on how to lead a purposeful and joyful life through the practice of gratitude. When Guengerich was in his midtwenties, he left the Conservative Mennonite Church, the faith of his upbringing. The prospect of venturing out on his own was daunting, but he needed to find the way of life that was right for him. For Guengerich, transcendence is not limited to experiences of the divine; it can also be reached through gratitude&’s ability to take us beyond ourselves and create connection to others and the universe. Through his personal story, poems that resonate with his spiritual message, and guided spiritual practice, including &“gratitude goals,&” this book helps readers discover how the way of gratitude can make them happier and healthier, and provide a new sense of belonging, not only to the universe as a whole but also to themselves.
The Way of Heart and Beauty: The Tao of Daily Life
by Deng Ming-DaoThe essential Taoist guide to living with simplicity, compassion, and integrity <P><P>This is a book that draws on ancient Chinese wisdom to explore the critical life issues: What is our place in nature? How do we make right decisions? How do we respect the earth? How are we to view life and death? What is the path we should live to truly achieve a good and meaningful life? <P><P>For Deng Ming-Dao, the two entry points for this exploration are two words: The first is the Chinese word for “heart”— which means heart, mind, intention, center, core intelligence, and soul. And the second is the word beauty—which connotes the pleasure we take in art, design, fashion, and music. Our hearts love beauty, and beauty opens our hearts. <P><P>In this profound collection of fresh and contemporary translations of ancient texts, Deng Ming-Dao gathers over 220 selections that deal with the essence of heart and beauty. <P><P>Topics include: how to be great, how long it takes to follow your heart, how to bring order to the world, how to know everything, how to pacify the heart, and much more. Here are stories, fables, poems, and epigrams that delight, inspire, and inform. <P><P>Those who would subdue people through their own “excellence” <P><P>Have yet to subdue anyone. <P><P>But if you used excellence to nurture people instead,The whole world would be subdued. <P><P>No one has become ruler of all under heaven <P><P>Without subdued hearts.It has never happened.
The Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self
by Martha BeckIn The Way of Integrity, Beck presents a four-stage process that anyone can use to find integrity, and with it, a sense of purpose, emotional healing, and a life free of mental suffering. Much of what plagues us--people pleasing, staying in stale relationships, negative habits--all point to what happens when we are out of touch with what truly makes us feel whole.Inspired by The Divine Comedy, Beck uses Dante's classic hero's journey as a framework to break down the process of attaining personal integrity into small, manageable steps. She shows how to read our internal signals that lead us towards our true path, and to recognize what we actually yearn for versus what our culture sells us.With techniques tested on hundreds of her clients, Beck brings her expertise as a social scientist, life coach and human being to help readers to uncover what integrity looks like in their own lives. She takes us on a spiritual adventure that not only will change the direction of our lives, but bring us to a place of genuine happiness.
The Way of Integrity: Finding the path to your true self
by Martha Beck'This radiant book will not only change your life, but perhaps even save it' Elizabeth Gilbert'Martha Beck's genius is that her writing is equal parts comforting and challenging. A teacher, a mother, a sage, she holds our hand as she leads us back home to ourselves' Glennon Doyle_____________________Bestselling author, life coach and sociologist Martha Beck explains why 'integrity' - being in harmony with ourselves - is the key to a meaningful and joyful lifeIn The Way of Integrity, Beck presents a four-stage process that anyone can use to find integrity, and with it, a sense of purpose, emotional healing, and a life free of mental suffering. Much of what plagues us-people pleasing, staying in stale relationships, negative habits-all point to what happens when we are out of touch with what truly makes us feel whole.Inspired by The Divine Comedy, Beck uses Dante's classic hero's journey as a framework to break down the process of attaining personal integrity into small, manageable steps. She shows how to read our internal signals that lead us towards our true path, and to recognize what we actually yearn for versus what our culture sells us.With techniques tested on hundreds of her clients, Beck brings her expertise as a social scientist, life coach and human being to help readers to uncover what integrity looks like in their own lives. She takes us on a spiritual adventure that not only will change the direction of our lives, but bring us to a place of genuine happiness.
The Way of Integrity: Finding the path to your true self
by Martha BeckOPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICKA NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER'A roadmap on the journey to truth and authenticity... [The Way of Integrity] is filled with aha moments and practical exercises that can guide us as we seek enlightenment' Oprah Winfrey'This radiant book will not only change your life, but perhaps even save it' Elizabeth Gilbert'Martha Beck's genius is that her writing is equal parts comforting and challenging. A teacher, a mother, a sage, she holds our hand as she leads us back home to ourselves' Glennon Doyle_____________________Bestselling author, life coach and sociologist Martha Beck explains why 'integrity' - being in harmony with ourselves - is the key to a meaningful and joyful lifeIn The Way of Integrity, Beck presents a four-stage process that anyone can use to find integrity, and with it, a sense of purpose, emotional healing, and a life free of mental suffering. Much of what plagues us-people pleasing, staying in stale relationships, negative habits-all point to what happens when we are out of touch with what truly makes us feel whole.Inspired by The Divine Comedy, Beck uses Dante's classic hero's journey as a framework to break down the process of attaining personal integrity into small, manageable steps. She shows how to read our internal signals that lead us towards our true path, and to recognize what we actually yearn for versus what our culture sells us.With techniques tested on hundreds of her clients, Beck brings her expertise as a social scientist, life coach and human being to help readers to uncover what integrity looks like in their own lives. She takes us on a spiritual adventure that not only will change the direction of our lives, but bring us to a place of genuine happiness.
The Way of Jesus: Living a Spiritual and Ethical Life
by Jay PariniRenowned poet and novelist Jay Parini's The Way of Jesus is a book for progressive Christians and spiritual seekers who struggle, as Parini does, with some of the basic questions about human existence: its limits and sadnesses, and its possibilities for awareness and understanding.Part guide to Christian living, part spiritual autobiography, The Way of Jesus is Jay Parini's exploration of what Jesus really meant, his effort to put love first in our daily lives. Called "one of those writers who can do anything" by Stacy Schiff in the New York Times Book Review, Parini--a lifelong Christian who has at times wavered and questioned his beliefs--recounts his own efforts to follow Jesus's example, examines the contours of Christian thinking, and describes the solace and structure one can find in the rhythms of the church calendar. Parini's refreshingly undogmatic approach to Christian thinking incorporates teachings from other religions, as well as from poets and other writers who have helped Parini along his path to understanding.
The Way of Jesus: To Repair and Renew the World
by Bruce ChiltonThe way of Jesus means that despite our tears and scars, we can become vessels of divine light. A young man loses his wife while their baby escapes without injury. In abject grief he reaches out to a friend for solace. What words of comfort are even possible? How can Jesus repair and renew these lives in this world? Author Bruce Chilton begins in the everyday. He shows how following Jesus not only repairs shattered lives, but renews them. While no broken life is ever simply reassembled and although there is no magic going back to the pristine, repair and renewal will empower us to truly live and love again. But our path requires something from us--mindful practice of Jesus' teachings about the soul, spirit, kingdom, insight, forgiveness, mercy, and glory.
The Way of Korean Zen
by Stephen Batchelor Martine Batchelor Kusan SunimThe power and simplicity of the Korean Zen tradition shine in this collection of teachings by a renowned modern master, translated by Martine Batchelor. Kusan Sunim provides a wealth of practical advice for students, particularly with regard to the uniquely Korean practice of hwadu, or sitting with questioning. An extensive introduction by Stephen Batchelor, author of Buddhism without Beliefs, provides both a biography of the author and a brief history of Korean Zen.
The Way of Letting Go: One Woman's Walk toward Forgiveness
by Wilma DerksenMaybe it was the sting of remarks from a relative or friend. Maybe a miscarriage ended your hopes for a family. For all of your heartbreaks, maybe you wished there was someone to help you through. For Wilma Derksen, letting go of the 15 misconceptions about grief led her back to hope. In this book she tells how you can do the same.Wilma’s world collapsed when her teenage daughter, Candace, was taken hostage and murdered. Wilma now shares her choices to “let go” of heartbreak, which gave her the courage to navigate through the dark waters of sorrow. Like Wilma, maybe your heartbreak forced you to retreat from happy expectations, of believing that life is fair, of finding closure for every circumstance. She encourages patiently: let go of the happy ending, let go of perfect justice, let go of fear, and let go of closure. Wilma's wisdom will help you overcome your broken heart, and her advice will enable you to break free of pain to live a life of true joy.
The Way of Life According to Lao Tzu
by Witter BynnerThe Way of Life is the way of poise, serenity and complete assurance. His gentle warnings on the futility of egoistic struggle made the Way of Life the basis of Taoism.
The Way of Man: According to the Teachings of Hasidism (Routledge Classics)
by Martin BuberMartin Buber was one of the most significant religious thinkers of the twentieth century. In this short and remarkable book he presents the essential teachings of Hasidism, the mystical Jewish movement which swept through Eastern Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Told through stories of imagination and spirit, together with Buber's own unique insights, The Way of Man offers us a way of understanding ourselves and our place in a spiritual world. 'There is something', he suggests, 'that can only be found in one place. It is a great treasure, which may be called the fulfilment of existence. The place where this treasure can be found is the place on which one stands.' Challenging us to recognize our own potential and to reach our true goal, The Way of Man is a life-enhancing book.
The Way of Passion: A Celebration of Rumi
by Andrew HarveyIn this sublime book the minds of two mystics intermingle in a work of inspired vision and clarity. Jalalud-Din Rumi, enlightened spiritualist poet of Sufism, has been venerated by Moslems everywhere since his death in 1273. No other poet in history--not even Shakespeare or Dante--has made so exalted and comprehensive an impact on his own civilization, and in the latter part of the twentieth century he has become, for people of every race and creed, the poet of the new mystical Renaissance that is slowly but surely coming to its flowering. No one has done more than Andrew Harvey to spread popular awareness of Rumi's message. Himself a charismatic mystic, he has spent the last twenty years of his life in search of the essential truths that could transform the spiritual barrenness at the heart of modern Western civilization. In his books Love's Fire and Speaking Flame he has re-created Rumi's poems with a brilliance that speaks eloquently to us today. The Way of Passion draws on the poems to present a guide to the contemporary spiritual and ecological crisis. Each chapter, Harvey tells us, is "a dance, a dance of mirrors, in which essential spiritual themes return to be reflected in different constellations and harmonies, a dance around Rumi and that mystery of Love he lived and expressed so completely." Inspired by Rumi's voice and by his own startling ability to see into the innermost heart of life, Harvey urges us to change, to have faith and to act through Love to transform this time of Apocalypse into the time of Resurrection. The passion of his words shines from the pages with an intensity that can embrace and inspire us all.
The Way of Peace
by James AllenThe author of the best selling As a Man Thinketh brings you The Way of Peace. This book takes a close look at the benefits of meditation. Learn how you can bring more peace, joy, and well-being into your life. Truth is the one Reality in the universe, the inward Harmony, the perfect Justice, the eternal Love. Nothing can be added to it, nor taken from it. It does not depend upon any man, but all men depend upon it. -James Allen
The Way of Peace and Blessedness
by Swami Paramananda“LIKE ‘The Path of Devotion’ by the same author, the present volume is made up in chief measure of extracts from letters; hence the living, personal note that sounds through its pages. According to Vedanta, religion is always an individual problem and the truest method of transmitting it the individual method. It must be a direct call from the wise and loving heart of the Teacher to the questioning heart of the disciple, the immediate quickening of the letter by the spirit. The great Vedic Scriptures are nothing more: a mighty Seer of Truth sitting in the shaded seclusion of an Himalayan forest, passing on to some eager, inquiring student the fruits of his realization. And wherever this note is heard, whether in the eternal word of a Scripture or in the admonitions of a simple letter, it cannot fail to stir to new life the spiritual consciousness.“The Way of Peace and Blessedness must ever be the way of consecrated service to a lofty Ideal, through unwavering trust, purity of heart and steadfast devotion. To follow it, one must rouse the soul from its slumber of ignorance or indifference and make it feel the reality of God and the spiritual life; one must learn how to worship Truth and gain the Divine vision, how to love and work unselfishly and prayerfully. These are the lessons taught in these pages, lessons too potent and precious to be kept for one only; so they have been gathered up into this little book, which is now sent forth with its holy message in the earnest hope that through it many may find peace and blessing.”—DEVAMATA
The Way of Perfection: St. Teresa Of Avila (Dover Thrift Editions)
by E. Allison Peers St. Teresa AvilaThis classic of the interior life and Christian mysticism remains as fresh and inspiring today as it was 400 years ago. Written by a prominent sixteenth-century Spanish mystic and Carmelite nun, it forms a practical guide to prayer that embraces readers with its warmth and accessibility.St. Teresa of Avila's detailed directions on the achievement of spiritual perfection designate three essentials — fraternal love, detachment from material things, and true humility. She discusses a variety of maxims related to the practice of prayer and concludes with a thought-provoking commentary on the Lord's Prayer. A work of sublime mystical beauty, The Way of Perfection is above all a treatise of utter simplicity that offers lucid instruction to all seekers of a more meaningful way of life.