Rating: 
Summary: Profound journey leaves readers wanting
Review: An interesting read, a profound message - but the climax (which in none other than ultimate reality) is given very little explanation. All this pain, and fear only to breakthrough to the other shore, and then a few sentences on the ultimate ???Please Bernadette let us have more on this...
Rating:
Summary: A christian path to transcendence
Review: Bernadette gives a very personal, if not somewhat choppy, story of her experience of self transcendence. Although not very well schooled in the terminology of the Eastern traditions she does an adequate job of describing the states and stages she goes through on her 2+ year ascent beyond self.
Rating: 
Summary: Start with "The Journey to No-Self"
Review: Bernadette Roberts is quite simply one of the most extraordinary contemplatives of our time. Her accounts of her experiences, and her reflections on them, are invaluable to anyone pursuing a similar path beyond the notions of God into the mystery of the divine nothingness. But this is not the Roberts' book to start with; for openers, one should read Roberts' "The Journey to No-Self," which traces Roberts' own dark night and emergence into Union, the preparatory stage, in her view, for the even more radical experience of no-self. There has been no Christian advaita philosopher, previously, that i know of--at least none that did not get burned at the stake. Meister Eckhart danced in this neighborhood, however. In any case, for anyone engaged in the emptying journey into God, Roberts' is crucial reading; her books are like the companionship of a wise and seasoned friend.
Rating: 
Summary: All is absent... no joy, no life, no love!
Review: Deo Caritas est - For Bernadette Roberts union with God seems to be an eternal deadening void. No Thanks! Try dancing one night or swimming in the ocean or loving a child... ! I may not achieve enlightenment, but I do experience joy. I think Ms. Roberts is completely without joy - depressed, mentally disturbed. And of course she admits to not being there anymore, but instead with the ONE. How does one write books when they are no longer a separate being. I thought God would be a better writer - funnier, more loving, more clear.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Account of the Spiritual Journey
Review: I read this book a number of years ago and still get inspired by it. Bernadette Roberts is an excellent writer and does a good job at conveying experiences that are in a lot of ways beyond words. People who are not intuiting or experiencing what she is talking about would likely have a very difficult time understanding what is being said, and possibly, as in a previous review, assume that Bernadette Roberts is on the edge of insanity and living a very unjoyful life. I had the opportunity to attend a talk by Bernadette Roberts a few years ago and I found her an absolutely warm, humorous and loving person, without guile of any sort. The Experience of No Self can be a challenge to read, but for those who are ready for its message, it is a blessing.
Rating: 
Summary: The meaning of no-self?
Review: I read this book years ago, and have re-read sections many times since. I've also corresponded with Ms. Roberts, and have attended a workshop led by her. There is certainly no doubting the fact that she has given all to God, and has been the recipient of an extaordinary experience. Doubtlessly, giving articulation to such is always nearly impossible, although we are to be grateful for those who do make the effort. Through all of this, and a similar awakening in my own life as well, I am left with many unanswered questions. It is one thing to speak of the disappearance of the experience of self and divine union, etc. etc., but quite another to say that one has NO-SELF. I suppose it all depends on what we mean by self. Many times, in dialoguing with Ms. Roberts, the only conclusion I could reach was that self what that which she had not, or which she had lost. But who was writing these words to me, talking to me, acting in the world? Can we really affirm the loss of self as an ontological reality? If so, then who is to take responsibility for the individual's actions? Are we to assume that everything said is by God? Another problem arises when Ms. Roberts tries to relate her experience to the Catholic mystical tradition, and says she does not find it there, or that she has gone beyond John of the Cross, that John was only at the halfway point, etc. In such manner does she elevate her experience and the testimony she gives above the entire Catholic tradition, with the mystical doctor seeming to be only an immature spiritual apprentice of some kind. So. . . reader beware! Listen to the experience and the possibilities it affirms for human transformation, but think long and hard before you buy into Ms. Roberts' intrepretation of its meaning.
Rating:
Summary: The meaning of no-self?
Review: I read this book years ago, and have re-read sections many times since. I've also corresponded with Ms. Roberts, and have attended a workshop led by her. There is certainly no doubting the fact that she has given all to God, and has been the recipient of an extaordinary experience. Doubtlessly, giving articulation to such is always nearly impossible, although we are to be grateful for those who do make the effort. Through all of this, and a similar awakening in my own life as well, I am left with many unanswered questions. It is one thing to speak of the disappearance of the experience of self and divine union, etc. etc., but quite another to say that one has NO-SELF. I suppose it all depends on what we mean by self. Many times, in dialoguing with Ms. Roberts, the only conclusion I could reach was that self what that which she had not, or which she had lost. But who was writing these words to me, talking to me, acting in the world? Can we really affirm the loss of self as an ontological reality? If so, then who is to take responsibility for the individual's actions? Are we to assume that everything said is by God? Another problem arises when Ms. Roberts tries to relate her experience to the Catholic mystical tradition, and says she does not find it there, or that she has gone beyond John of the Cross, that John was only at the halfway point, etc. In such manner does she elevate her experience and the testimony she gives above the entire Catholic tradition, with the mystical doctor seeming to be only an immature spiritual apprentice of some kind. So. . . reader beware! Listen to the experience and the possibilities it affirms for human transformation, but think long and hard before you buy into Ms. Roberts' intrepretation of its meaning.
Rating:
Summary: When people change, what they say can be uncomfortable.
Review: Most people who find them selves out side the cave disappear from their old world. Some reappear and try as they might to explain about the source of the light. Bernadette Roberts explains and we stretch to be insiders to her experience. Some times more successfully and other times not. Bernadette like Krishnamurti and Bernard de Montreal become foreign to the world's viewpoint. Understanding them requires translation and transformation. Their works may really be guide books for the moment we find ourselves in that different place.
Rating:
Summary: Revolutionary
Review: Robert's book is a real eye opener. Moves way beyond the limits of our everyday language about God and Love. Not written for those who expect the experience of God to be separate from their every day life. A great addition to the corpus of Western mystical literture.
Rating:
Summary: This book will open the eyes of Buddhist meditators
Review: The descriptions in this book relate a mystical experience of the author, an experience that she had in spite of her beliefs. Buddhist meditators will find the book illuminating and a much better account of the experience of no-self than I have ever seen in any book by a Buddhist.
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