The Seat of the Soul

Rating:
Summary: confusing boring tiresome ...
Review: Sorry Gary, after seeing you on Oprah I had high hopes. Recall your book from the publishers and try again. You make interesting and thought provoking commens on the TV show but this book did anything but elucidate them. I hate to not finish a book I've paid good money for but this one could not be stomached.

Rating:
Summary: Accessible, profound
Review: I loved this book, and I am recommending it to my friends. Although some of the ideas expressed have been expressed before, this writer was able to literally tap into my heart with his intelligence and his understanding of human behavior. He offers a blue-print about understanding ourselves and our choices in a spirtual context. What a wonderful world we could have if everyone were able to understand and commit to the ideas he expresses. I know he has raised the bar on my behavior --I am paying way more attention than I used to.

Rating:
Summary: hard read but worth it
Review: This book will challenge you. It isn't the typical new age lovey dovey stuff. It makes you realize the responsibility of all your actions. How your pain doesn't justify you trying to pass it onto someone else. It is about evolution and truly will stick with you.

Rating:
Summary: Essential Guide to Earth Living
Review: This is a book to be studied, re-studied and applied. I have used some of these ideas to dramatically help myself and others get clear about what we want - by defining the problem, asking and answering specific questions to help get to the truth of the situation.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Book.
Review: Upon reading the review of Two_Bears I noticed that (s)he wrote: "Mr. Zukav's information regarding Reincarnation will not sit well with 'christians' but Reincarnation was included in the bible until it was voted out as heresy in 553 or 576 CE if memory serves." Well, to be quite honest, nothing could be further from the truth. Reincarnation was never taken out of the Bible, infact the Bible has never been changed. (S)He may be refering to some official creed, etc. But certainly not the Bible itself. To refute this simply, one must only mention the Codex Sinaticus (325ad), which contains the whole of the New Testament, and a large portion of the Old(-er). It has the exact same New Testament as we do today. Reincarnation can be possibly be found in the New Testament, but one must make very shallow arguments from certain passages which may be interpreted in many lights. Beware of this one Two_Bears when (s)he has any refernece to Christianity, or the Bible. (S)he still needs to do alot more research in order to get the facts straight. Albeit, (s)he seems to know alot about energy stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Lacks Every day Experiences...
Review: "Be Mindful of the words that you use and the actions that you live and who you are and how it is you use your power", the book touches the basics of the soul in order to give a better understanding of how to approach and act to different situations.

It does bring in the concept of multisensory in human beings and explains in detail the theorectical part of the soul and the different phases it goes through to build its personality...

A good book read for basics but it would have been much more convincing and powerful if everyday experiences and examples were included. You feel there is something missing, does not give you that full satisfaction for such a delicate issue...

Rating:
Summary: Creative, but Terribly Disappointing
Review: This is going to be an unpopular review...I know many have found Mr. Zukav's book a very rewarding read. I, on the other hand, could not have been more disappointed. I finished the book for the express purpose of writing this review.

Zukav speaks as one "who knows" without demonstrating that he possibly could know. The book discusses authoritatively such issues as the nature of the soul, reincarnation, karma, the souls of animals versus those of humans, higher order guides and teachers, angels, and numerous other mystical concepts with ABSOLUTELY NO REFERENCE to where his thoughts and ideas come from. He simply states them as fact, and assumes we will all just fall in behind him like sheep. His model is little more than a creative mish-mash of Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Platonic thought, psychic experience and science, all blended in a creative, but HIGHLY unsubstantiated paradigm. He leans WAY too heavily on the inkling of quantum physics he gained while writing "The Dancing Wu Li Masters" and has made an abomination of some of those concepts. For instance, he speaks of the human soul as literally being composed of light. Not metaphorically, but literally. But not the kind of light that science knows, for that would run him up against problems when someone tries to measure the wavelength of the soul. No, his light is a DIFFERENT kind of light. Are there relationships to quantum physics that could be drawn upon to understand the human condition and psyche? Absolutely. Did he address any of the legitimate ones? Not one.

His ignorance and arrogance shines brilliantly throughout the book. For instance, in the chapter on reverence he expresses shock that mankind would do "one thing that would risk the balance of the Earth's ecosystem." If he was really a student of evolution and dynamical systems, he would know full well that ecosystems are CONSTANTLY moved out of balance, and that is exactly the fuel that drives the evolution that his theory depends upon! No one, not dolphins or squirrels or trees or people or even Mr. Zukav can prevent having an "impact on the balance of the ecosystem."

There are myriads of inconsistencies in his paradigm that leaves the reader confused as to what he's really trying to say. For instance, he speaks a good deal early on in the book of the impersonal universe that acts without judgment, being essentially the medium that allows life to just unfold (not unlike the Tao). Later, he speaks of a Universe that has been divinely planned and executed to make sure that it is the perfect opportunity for each soul to achieve exactly the karmic balance it seeks. Or he says, "not one action of the Universe is without compassion." These suggestions are anything BUT the actions of an impersonal universe. So which is it? Are we simply evolving according to principles that govern the system, or are we a part of grand, externally generated blue-print? He also state's that "Angels cannot be understood in human terms," and then he spends several paragraphs explaining the nature of angels...in human terms! The inconsistency alone grates on me, but the audacity of the man to speak so authoritatively on the nature of Angels or anything else that "cannot be understood in human terms" is absurd.

Space does not allow for a point by point criticism of this book, and you don't want to read it anyway. Suffice it to say that anyone that purports to "know" anything had better be able to back it up with either direct experience, or at least a coherent synthesis of the accepted works of others. Zukav has done neither. He has launched himself on a creative flight of fancy and tried to pass it off as wisdom regarding the manner in which the soul exists. It is not wisdom. It is not philosophy. It is not religion, and it is not science. It is nothing more than Mr. Zukav's ideas, written in a creative way that demonstrates his abilities in the English language far more than any gifts related to spirituality. (Had he only stated that "these are my ideas, see if you like 'em," then I could have been much more forgiving. But he didn't. He said, "This is how it is.")

Zukav apparently has not learned the age old imperative that, "the more I learn, the less I find I know." He thinks he knows it all, and in so thinking, proves to me that he "knows" nothing. For those who read the book and loved it, my apologies. For those who have not yet read it, be cautious.

Rating:
Summary: Get out of the box! A fresh look at spirituality!
Review: So, you can't quite wrap your brain around sprituality that goes outside the box, but you long for someone to sell you a line that will take you there? This is it! This book offers a rich and reflective view of spirituality that will leave even the most traditional and guarded thinking about a new paradigm for the soul.

Rating:
Summary: Creative, but Terribly Dissappointing
Review: This is going to be an unpopular review...I know many have found Mr. Zukov's book a very rewarding read. I, on the other hand, could not have been more disappointed. I finished the book for the express purpose of writing this review.

As a student of religion and culture, I was extremely disappointed with the manner in which Zukov approached his subject matter. He speaks of such issues as the nature of the soul, reincarnation, the souls of animals vs. those of people, higher order guides and teachers, and numerous other mystical concepts with ABSOLUTELY NO REFERENCE to where his thoughts and ideas come from. He states them as though we all agree that his model of the way the universe works is a given, and then proceeds to flesh out some of the details related to that model. His model, of course, is a curious mish-mash of Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Aristotlean thought, psychic experience and science, all blended in a creative, but highly unsubstantiated paradigm. As a scientist, I think he leans WAY to heavily on the inkling of quantum physics he gained while writing "The Dancing Wu Li Masters" and has made an abomination of some of those concepts. For instance, he speaks of the human soul as literally being composed of light. Not metaphorically, but literally. But not light as SCIENCE knows. Oh no. That would run him up against some problems when physics attempted to measure the wavelength of the soul. No, his light is a DIFFERENT kind of light, but light nonetheless. Are there relationships to quantum physics that could be drawn upon to understand the human condition and psyche? Absolutely. Did he address any of the legitimate ones? Not one.

His igorance shines through in countless examples throughout the book (mine is marked up almost beyond recognition). For instance, in the chapter on reverence, he expresses shock that mankind would do "one thing that would risk the balance of the Earth's ecosystem." If he was really a student of evolution and dynamical systems, he would know damn well that ecosystems are CONSTANTLY moved out of balance, and that is exactly why there is evolution in the first place! So the fact that there are human beings at all, and they do stuff to the ecosystem is because that's the way the system works! No one, not dolphins or squirrels or trees or people or even Mr. Zukov can prevent having an "impact on the balance of the ecosystem."

There are myriads of inconsistencies in his thought paradigm that leaves the careful reader genuinely confused as to what he's trying to say. For instance, he speaks a great deal of the impersonal Universe that acts without judgement, being essentially the medium that allows life to unfold (not unlike the "Tao" of Taoism or the "Way" of Zen). And then later he speaks of a Universe that has been Divinely planned and executed to make sure that it is the perfect opportunity for each soul to achieve karmic balance. Or he says "not one action of the Universe is without compassion." These suggestions are anything BUT the actions of in impersonal universe! So which is it? Are we evolving according to principal, or are we guided by a grand blue-print? Another example of his inconsistency is in the chapter on souls, where he states that Angels cannot be understood in human terms, and then goes on to describe the nature of Angels! The inconsistency alone grates on me, but the audacity of the man to speak matter of factly about the nature of Angels or anything else "that cannot be understood in human terms" is absurd.

Lastly, I echo the criticisms of others that point out how unbelievably redundant this book is. I don't know HOW many times he points out the relationship of the personality to the soul, and the difference between the 5-sensory and the multi-sensory person. The book is 90% filler and 10% stuff, and only a fraction of that "stuff" was convincingly insightful.

Space does not allow for a point by point criticism of this book, and you don't want to read it anyway. Suffice it to say that anyone that purports to "know" anything had better be able to back it up with direct experience, or at least produce a coherent synthesis of the accepted work of others. Zukov has done neither. He has launched himself on a creative flight of fancy and tried to pass it off as wisdom regarding the manner in which the soul exists. It is not wisdom. It is not philosphy. It is not religion. It is nothing more than Mr. Zukov's ideas, written in a creative way that demonstrates his gifts in the realm of English far more than in the realm of spirituality or mysticism. (If he would have just SAID as much, that these are just his own thoughts and ideas, then I would have let go all of my angst over this book, but he never does. He just speaks as though he knows, and assumes we will simply believe him. Well, not all of us are willing to do that.)

As an afterthought, I expect there are those who are fuming at this review, and who assume I am a narrow-minded person with no bent to the psychic or the spiritual, or that I have an over-dependence on things concrete and tangible. Nothing could be further from the truth. I consider myself extremely open to the possibilities that exist in the Universe, and pretend nothing when it comes to my own experience and knowledge. I am a student of life and living, thought and creativity, religion and philosophy and culture and science, and STILL this book left me empty and irritated. For those who love the book, my appologies. For those who have not yet read it, be cautious.

Rating:
Summary: Quantum consciousness
Review: This book has to be read after understanding Zukav's first book "The Dancing Wu Li Masters". Once you have mastered the mechanics of what he relates to you in that book, you will have a more profound grasp of what the seat of the soul really means. This is not some new age hocus pocus. It is written with deep spiritual awareness based on a lucid understanding of theoretical physics and quantum theory.

Read, read this book over and over. It is one of the most enlightening books one will ever read. I categorise this book in the same bracket as Zohar's "The Quantum Self" and "The Quantum Society". In the quest to understand the relationship between Man and his place in the Universe, Zukav's first two books are of invaluable importance.

Read,learn and experience.