Book Review: No Soul Hurricanes Here

The Call of Spiritual Emergency: From Personal Crisis to Personal Transformation-How to deal with the disorientation that can accompany death, illness, injury, childbirth, drug experiences, sex, meditation, and all life-transforming experiences by Emma Bragdon, PhD (Harper & Row, 1990, 0-06-250104-6)

This book was written by Emma Bragdon, who states that she does not fear death because she knows that it "would be a passageway into the ultimate peace that [she] had felt when [she] nearly drowned." (p.12) Dr. Bragdon "went from being an art student to being a Zen Buddhist Nun" (p.16) at the age of 20, and is ""not only a sensitive receiver, responding to the stimulation of others, but an organism looking for ways to express itself." (p.18) She has also undergone Neo-Reichian therapy while pursuing a life devoted to meditation so that now she "can help people to integrate their spiritual experiences with their ordinary reality, to reach levels of development beyond ego," (p.23) this is due in part to the fact that, "life and death, the archetypal opposites, had made love on [her] doorstep." (p.22)

What is in this book: "Guidance and reassurance in understanding your spiritual experiences." (p.9) The term spiritual emergency is used in this book not to describe emergencies in the sense of soul earthquakes, essence fires, or spirit floods, but rather to describe "critical points in the process of spiritual emergence" (p.15). This book has been written because people with emerging spirits may suffer from "a framework that classifies their experiences only as evidence of mental disease."(p.8) Since "intense spiritual experiences and inspired states of mind often look similar to psychosis," (p.16) and "the difference between psychosis, which is a breakdown, and spiritual emergency, which is a breakthrough, can be very subtle," (p.214) this book is necessary to let people at those critical points know that they're not going crazy.

What is not in this book: Permission to go crazy. "Psychotic states that are pathological, rather than gateways to higher functioning, are very real, and need to be treated by health professionals" (p.16). Dr. Bragdon notes that the way to tell the difference between inspired state and psychotic break is that "visual and auditory hallucinations, delusions, and inability to communicate" (p.16) are clear symptoms of psychotic behavior, and illustrates the difference by providing accounts of spiritual emergence from individuals who have heard eerie whistling noises unlike anything they have known (p.120), have had wild hawks land on them (p.146), see visions of purple orbs taking up all of space (p.95), and who are so overcome by their spiritual experiences that they don't want to communicate with those around them (p.142).

Would you recommend this book to cheerleaders? No. This book will do nothing to help for either spirit rallies or spirit week.

Would you recommend this book to either Carrot Top or Ed O'Neill? No. Spiritual emergence does not "dial down the center" when it calls, and is not interested in learning how to do so.

What was interesting about this book: The excerpts that Dr. Bragdon has included from sessions with her clients, describing their own moments of spiritual emergency. One client, "Louise," had "wanted to experiment with MDMA, a psychoactive drug, when it was still legally available [...] Since many of her patients had abused drugs, Louise wanted to try a drug "trip" once, because she felt it would help her understand her patients in more depth." (p.26) Louise states that after she began her experience with MDMA, her husband "knew that if [she] was taken to the hospital, they would give [her] antipsychotic medictaion to stop the process, so he decided to be with [her] at home."(p.26)
Also of interest is the section at the end of the book on how to help in a spiritual emergency. Of interest to those who have friends or family members undergoing a spiritual emergency, it offers helpful tips like "A woman who is mistrustful of men may be more comfortable appealing to a feminine personification of divine energy such as Kuan Yin, the goddess of compassion, than appealing to Jesus Christ or a masculine God"(p.206).

Book Review: Newborns Are Ugly

Birth Without Violence: The Book That Revolutionized The Way We Bring Our Children Into The World by Frederick Leboyer (Healing Arts Press, 1995, 0-89281-545-0)

This book was written by: Dr. Frederick Leboyer, who studied traditional childbirth practices in remote areas of India unaffected by Western-style obstetrics. He graduated from the University of Paris School of Medecine, where he served as Chef de Clinique, and has written this book to explore the termination of the relationship "between the uterus and its prisoner."(p.62) His love of children is clearly conveyed through his lyrical, almost poetic style of writing, such as the passage where he discusses how there should be no external light at birth, since "in the darkness, the mother will be able to make out her child's features only faintly. And this is all to the good, since newborn infants are almost always ugly."(p.37)

What is in this book: A re-examination of birth, focusing on the fragility of infants and the sensations that they experience. Their skin, "thin, fine, almost without a protective surface layer--is as exposed and raw as tissue that has suffered a burn."(p.19) Furthermore, "the air, which enters and sweeps through the trachea, and expands the alveoli, is like acid poured on a wound."(p.20) After establishing why current birthing methods are traumatic, he offers alternatives that include giving birth in darkened rooms and immersing newborns in water.

What is not in this book: Graphic descriptions of axe kicks, inverse piledrivers, and turnbuckle stomps performed in the delivery room. Apparently, the violence Dr. Leboyer is writing about is largely metaphorical and/or symbolic.

Would you recommend this book to Marv Albert? No. This is a book about birth without violence, not conception without violence.

Would you recommend this book to a classical musician? I'm not sure. The author does not discuss his stance on birth without violins.

What is interesting about this book: Dr. Leboyer's description of how one should touch a newborn baby. While he acknowledges that some may find his methods overly sensual, "making love is the sovereign remedy for anguish: to make love is to rediscover peace and harmony. In the cataclysm of birth is it not fit that we should call upon this sovereign comfort?"(p.64) He is unapologetic in the advocacy of his methods.

"Without rediscovering this visceral slowness that lovers rediscover instinctively, it is impossible to communicate with the child.
But, people will say, you're making love to the child!
Yes, almost."(p.64)

Book Review: OWD (Sorry, WWE, not NWO)

One World Democracy: A Progressive Vision for Enforceable Global Law by Jerry Tetalman and Byron Belitsos (Origin Press, 2005, ISBN 978-1-57983-017-5).

This book was written by: Jerry Tetalman, who registered as a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War. He is president of the Citizens for Global Solutions of San Diego.
It was co-authored by Byron Belitsos, a poet and the CEO of origin press. His involvement with the world democracy movement started in 1986 when he joined the World Federalist Association; he is now a board member of one of its successor organizations, the Democratic World Federalists.

What is in this book: A cry for a single government serving the entire world, since "we can say categorically that the UN has failed to bring the peace and stability that the broadening of sovereignty has been shown to confer upon humankind"(p.14). Before we can commence said broadening, “something must fill the vacuum that is created by the absence of a world government to enforce global law to keep the peace. And given the failure of the United Nations, that role will, by default, fall to the world's largest military and economic powers”(p.33). According to the authors, global government isn’t just something that can happen, it’s something that will happen, whether we like it or not, and “in the absence of a democratic world government, a ‘new world order’ will be provided by default by the world's largest superpower"(p.34).
We may as well opt for the omnipresent and all-powerful government of the New World Order that we democratically elect, which will be way better than the omnipresent and all-powerful government of the New World Order that is forced upon us. The book then adroitly soothes the fears of separatists, militiamen, and other individuals afraid of “Big Brother.” These individuals can read the following excerpt in the calm, rational style for which they are famous, entirely without searching for any hidden subtext or noticing anything alarming or ominous about the phrases that I have emphasized on my own:

"Eventually, all nations of the world would join of their own free will due to the numerous advantages of membership. They would quickly see how they would be protected from foreign invasion and terrorism by the power of the law backed by global government; they would be relieved of the burden of large military budgets; and they would gain the economic advantages of free trade and fewer restrictions within the governed area."(p.103)

What is not in this book: The gradual results of this world-spanning government redefining new and more aggressive powers for itself, or granting legislative favors to corporate patrons. While the authors warn about the dangers of corporate influence on civil government, they state that one thing "more powerful than corporate bribery is public outrage"(p.187). While in theory, this outrage works equally well against governmental abuses of power, there is no discussion of how this outrage has fared against illegal wiretapping programs, the awarding of no-bid contracts to favored corporations, or the indefinite detainment of individuals at Guantanamo Bay.
Also, no space is devoted to resolving the truly critical issues that would face such a global undertaking, such as what color the one world government should choose for its law enforcement army's uniforms, whether the supercomputer of the centralized bureaucracy in charge of tracking and monitoring all citizens should run Windows or Apple software, and if it would be better to have our identity chips implanted in our foreheads or in our right hands.

Would you recommend this book to Pat Robertson? No. At first, he would agree with the authors when they say that "war and anarchy can be eliminated only when a new sovereign source of law is set up over and above the old clashing groups," (p.14) because he'd think that they were referring to the power of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. However, the authors' later statement that "the new world government can endorse no religion; world public opinion should strongly discourage international political parties based on religious ideology"(p.199-200) might rub him the wrong way.

Would you recommend this book to Lou Dobbs? Yes, but only after explaining to him that under the new system, he could keep the Mexicans from sneaking into our country by telling them that they're already in our country. The authors note that "the best thing the U.S. could do to stem the tide of immigrants coming from Mexico and other developing countries would be to launch a massive campaign of foreign aid for development, political reform, and family planning assistance"(p.166), and go so far as to suggest that the same amount of money we have spent on border security could be used to fund these programs with far more tangible results.
In fact, such a plan could produce significant savings since border guards expect steady salaries, but government assistance can be promised for years and then quietly cut from the budget without actually being paid.

What is interesting about this book: The opening phrase of the book is, “imagine an old Star Trek series like this:"(p.3).
There are also some interesting figures regarding the word choices used in this book that would probably be of no interest to either militiamen or separatists:
-In the first 5 chapters, not counting chapter or section headings, words like "democracy," "democratic," and "democratically," are used 91 times over 91 pages.
-The phrase "New World Order" only appears 4 times in the entire book, counting one time where it describes a "New Democratic World Order."
-Neither the words "zionist" nor "conspiracy" appear at all in the book.

From Beyond

From Sirius to Earth: A Therapist Discovers a Soul Exchange by
Evelyn Fuqua, PhD and Athor (Inner Eye Books, 1997, ISBN 1-880666-65-0)

This book was written by: Dr. Evelyn Fuqua, a Rosicrucian and (semi-retired) Marriage and Family Therapist who was a board member of the Association of Past Life Research and Therapies for 6 years. Dr. Fuqua writes that she started studying for her PhD in psychology at age 48 because she "wanted to have as many credentials as possible in order to be credible,"(p.xvii) but that she couldn't write her dissertation on past-life therapy because "the person teaching the class on dissertation writing insisted that there was no such thing as a past life and steadfastly refused to approve my proposed research" (p.xvii). She completed a PhD program in Psychology in 1983 from the Professional School of Psychology.
Athor is "an aspect of a Being of Light, a member of the Council of
Twelve on the star system Sirius."(p.vii)
Athor's host, described as "Rose" (not her real name), suffered from Environmental Illness and experienced difficulties interacting with society. She had also been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, which resulted in a period of hospitalization.

What is in this book: Transcripts of Dr. Fuqua's hypnotherapy sessions with Rose/Athor, along with background information and autobiographies to put them in context.
At the age of 2, Rose exchanged souls with Athor, a voluntary process that both souls agreed to before birth. However, Athor experienced difficulties adapting to life on earth which were not unprecedented, as evidenced by the time that Athor "attempted to incarnate in a fetus during the time of Christ but the Athor vibrations were too high and the fetus exploded"(p.106). Additionally, Rose never completely vacated the vessel, and the two souls continued to experience difficulties through their entire shared life.
Dr. Fuqua has helped the Rose soul move on to the next level so that the Athor soul can have complete control of their previously shared body. Their work is presented in this book as a resource to help other Soul Exchange Entities, and as a repository of knowledge on past lives, the reincarnation process, and the Sirius Council of Twelve.

What is not in this book: Pulled punches. Everything that Rose/Athor thinks the reader needs to know has been written down in this book, regardless of how it may affect the public's opinion of her. For example, she offers proof of reincarnation by writing that "I was a woman in my twenties who was suddenly experiencing full-blown sexual feelings and explosions of loving recognition toward an eleven-year-old boy! Evidently, the young boy was experiencing the same." (p.44)

Would you recommend this book to Maureen Flannigan? Yes. Both Maureen and Athor are out of this world.

Would you recommend this book to a member of the Better Business Bureau? Not until the Council of Sirius starts clearly printing their soul exchange policy on their receipts.

What is interesting about this book?
Dr. Fuqua's refusal to take the easy way out. Although she writes that her Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) "defines paranoid-schizophrenia as a type of schizophrenia dominated by persecutory delusions and or hallucinations with persecutory or grandiose content," (p. 53) she is convinced that Rose/Athor's issues stem from a soul exchange even after Rose/Athor makes the following statements:

"Strangers on the street often turned around to look at me as I rode by in a car. Store patrons stared at me at the end of an aisle, as though I had just been beamed down from a spacecraft." (p.11)

"George, my future husband, was a musician romantically involved with a local negative witch who had an avid interest in necromancy. [....] We discovered that she wanted George's virgin teenage son as a sacrifice for her Satanic rituals."(p.43)

There is also chapter written by Rose/Athor where she describes being chased by the mafia, getting locked in an apartment by a pimp who wanted to add her to his stable, and barely escaping from four rape attempts, including one where five men "were going to knock me unconscious, drag me off for a gang rape, and probably kill me later."(p.12) All these events occur over 5 pages of text. Luckily, the worst was averted by Athor, working in concert with Rose's own heightened psychic abilities.

Book Review: Tubular Tykes

Radical Parenting: Seven Steps to a Functional Family in a Dysfunctional World by Brad Blanton, Ph.D. (Sparrowhawk Publications, 2002, ISBN 978-0970693822)

This book was written by: Brad Blanton, Ph.D., a psychotherapist and CEO of Radical Honesty Enterprises, which offers workshops to help apply the principles put forth in this book. Dr. Blanton has been "biological father of six children in the last five decades and the responsible parent of five,"(p.11) which only took him four marriages to accomplish. The fact that he gave them names like Elijah, Carsie, Shanti, and Amos should in no way be held against him. This also doesn't count the son that Dr. Blanton didn't know about until after the child's fourteenth birthday, when the mother sued him for child support.
Dr. Blanton has an extensive career in conflict resolution, possibly dating back as far as when he fractured his stepfather's skull, "breaking three of his ribs, before leaving home."(p.8) He writes that "After that therapeutic event, and a few more like it with my stepfather-and sixteen years of psychotherapy-I'm almost over having my reactions to how I was parented completely run my life." (p.8)

What is in this book: An indictment of our environment as "A sick society, in which control and money are the primary considerations of value,"(p.11-12) and one of "culturally-endorsed child abuse."(p.12)
Dr. Blanton feels that to properly raise children, one must create a new community of more nurturing principles, which he does in his book by drawing heavily on the work of others, discussing the experiments of Stanley Milgram, spending the balance of chapter 12 quoting Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, and Richard Lannon's A General Theory of Love, having his ex-wife Amy Sliver write chapter 18 ("The Alternative to Preparing and Repairing"), and accepting help from his daughter Carson.

What is not in this book: Advice on the best way to ollie with toddlers, do kickturns with newborns, or thrash with grade schoolers. Also missing are instructions on grinding with children, which is just as well since it sounds like it should be illegal.

Would you recommend this book to Tony Hawk? maybe. He's a pretty radical dude, and I hear he's also a parent.

Would you recommend this book to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Absolutely not. Partly because the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are in no way ready for the responsibilities of parenthood, but mostly because all they ever seem to eat is pizza, and a child left in their care would end up dangerously malnourished.

What was interesting about this book? The views expressed in the chapter "The Family Bed - A Limbic Service Station." (p.131). In this chapter, Dr. Blanton advocates sharing a bed with your newborn, and on page 132 he states that although "one objection to the family bed is the lost opportunity for sex," the solution he proposes is for parents to "have another place in the house to go in order to make love, after the children are asleep in the family bed. Do it on the altar of your meditation room. Do it in the room you have set up for the child to move into when he leaves the family bed." Alternatively, you can "put a pillow between you two and the baby and go to it," even though "we don't actually know what effect the parents' making love nearby has on the baby's consciousness."

Book Review: The Two Towers

Inside Job: Unmasking the 9/11 Conspiracies by Jim Marrs (Origin Press, 2004, ISBN 1-57983-013-7)

This book was written by: Jim Marrs, who, within two months of 9/11, "had gathered much of the material in this book and presented it as a proposal [...] under the title The War on Freedom"(p. xviii). It was not published immediately because "some force existed that did not want this information available to the general public"(p. xviii).
Jim’s professional accomplishments, according to the back of the book, include owning “several newspapers before becoming an independent writer”.

What is in this book: Lots of questions. Was the Pentagon hit by a missile? “Could there have been multiple conspiracies wrapped together, involving both domestic and foreign players, each perpetrating portions of the crime with an eye to their own special agenda?”(p.135) Is the U.S. Government unwilling to discuss training exercises scheduled for September 11 because “someone in high authority must have passed this information and its timing to the terrorists?”(p.12)
Occasionally, he puts forth facts rather than questions, such as when he discusses “the seemingly outlandish suggestion that remote-controlled planes were crashed into American targets [that] is backed by several intriguing facts”(p.110). Said facts include a news release that mentions the type of technology he describes, and “after all, as all experienced aviation and military persons well know, if a technology [that allows remote control of passenger airplanes] such as Global Hawk is publicly revealed, it most probably has been in secret use for many years”(p.111).

What is not in this book: Answers. Not necessarily because Jim can't find them, but because he wants his readers to find them for themselves. The information in his book “points to the possibility that the 9/11 attacks may indeed have been a conspiracy wrapped inside another conspiracy,”(p.13) and that “planning for the 9/11 reaction was indeed set into motion long before September 11”(p.9). This is evident because “the suspicious stock market trading indicating foreknowledge of the 9/11 attacks only added to the ever-growing proof that people in high positions knew what was coming in September 2001”(p.93).
Jim's hope is that by asking these questions, he can urge "persons of good heart and conscience to stand up and regain the country handed down to them by men and women who fought for a free and democratic republic by risking their very lives and fortunes"(p.141).

Would you recommend this book to George W. Bush? No, I would recommend that he read his Daily Briefing Memo titled "Bin Laden determined to attack inside the United States.” You know, back on August 6, 2001, when it was originally issued.

Would you recommend this book to journalists? Yes, as an inspirational example. If your life is anything like Jim's, that reporter job could be just a foot in the door to greater things like owning your own newspaper. If you are inclined to think bigger, you could end up teaching college courses about the assassination of JFK as well as publishing books about UFOs, psychic powers, and the hidden conspiracies that really shape world events. You might even wind up as a guest on The Montel Williams Show.

What was interesting about this book? The fact that Jim’s theories don’t really get rolling until the last chapter of his book, “What do we know now?”(p.134) For example, he doesn’t conspicuously mention the New World Order until page 137, when discussing an aspect of the attacks that “seemed to indicate a schism within the ranks of the New World Order proponents”. Once he starts, though, he points out that “it is also well worth noting that in many ways, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks fits the same template as the aftermath of the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963”(p.139), and goes on to note that “today’s big-time criminals no longer worry about what the government might do to them because, in too many cases, they are the government. It therefore becomes essential to identify and connect the inner core elite of the world’s secret societies, to demonstrate their ownership and interlocking control over the multinational corporations, and the shadow-government cabals that dominate our national life”(p.140).
True to form, his book ends with more questions, including “Will the American people [....] finally take a look behind the green curtain of media spin to identify the globalist elites and secret societies who own and control the mass media as well as the government and, hence, the military?”(p.143)