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Summary: Psychologist Robert Johnson Tells His Life Story
Review: Psychoanalyst and bestselling author, Robert A. Johnson, renowned for his graceful applications of Carl Jung's rich but complex theories, shares a lifetime of mystical visions, powerful dreams, and synchronistic events in his compelling memoir, BALANCING HEAVEN AND EARTH: A Memoir of Visions, Dreams and Realizations with coauthor Jerry M. Ruhl. BALANCING HEAVEN AND EARTH reveals, for the first time, the pivotal experiences of Johnson's fascinating and mystical life--from his near-death experience at the age of eleven to the soul journey that has informed his writing, to his meetings with modern sages and his quest for a balance between the earthly and the spiritual dimensions of life. Beginning with the vivid retelling of a serious accident which claimed the lower part of his right leg when he was eleven years old, Johnson describes the life-defining moment when he was transported by a mystical vision to a realm that exists just beyond ordinary consciousness--a realm he calls the "Golden World." After this heavenly experience, described as both as his curse and his blessing, he is disenchanted with the material world. Transformed by this taste of the Golden World, Johnson is launched on a spiritual quest. Committed again and again to seeing through the mundane world and experiencing the Golden World in everyday life, Johnson finds wisdom in Eastern philosophies, modern monasteries, in India, and in the people he meets along the way. "Being in a particular place at just the right time, meeting someone who steers you in an unforseen direction, the unexpected appearance of work or money or inspiration just when they are most needed" are the slender threads--inconspicuous individually but remarkable when woven together. His experiences guide him to a unique understanding and acceptance that his life has always been managed by some benevolent fate. Johnson says, "The mystery is this: There is one right thing to do at every moment. We can either follow or resist." The key is to respond to the calls life issues, even when they seem challenging and unlikely. Drawing on instructional encounters with such mentors as J. Krishnamurti, D. T. Suzuki, and Carl Jung, Johnson fuses the realities of heaven and earth, teaching us to listen to the voices of our most subtle experiences. Johnson's insight, gained through a passionate, confusing, and sometimes painful quest, inspires us with a truly modern religious vision: that the answers to our most searching questions of existence lie before our very eyes, and that striking a balance in which both heaven and earth are honored is the safest and holiest place. This is the inspiring account of how a modest man, whose life could easily have been mired in fear and disappointment, bravely seized the opportunity that came his way, as they do for us all, and created an extraordinary life helping others to find their way.
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Summary: Johnson's Moving Memoir
Review: Robert Johnson was my first introduction to Jungian psychology. His simple, yet profound little books (He, She, We, Ecstasy, et al.) impacted my life deeply. In this his memoirs, Johnson relates a moving account of a life and all that it encompasses. The suffering, joy, and those wonderful "grail castle" experiences. If you are aquianted with Johnson's previous work, then this book will be all the more enjoyable. However, it may be a good starting point into learning more about Johnson's previous, more scholarly work on Jungian psychology.
Rating:
Summary: Johnson's Moving Memoir
Review: Robert Johnson was my first introduction to Jungian psychology. His simple, yet profound little books (He, She, We, Ecstasy, et al.) impacted my life deeply. In this his memoirs, Johnson relates a moving account of a life and all that it encompasses. The suffering, joy, and those wonderful "grail castle" experiences. If you are aquianted with Johnson's previous work, then this book will be all the more enjoyable. However, it may be a good starting point into learning more about Johnson's previous, more scholarly work on Jungian psychology.
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Summary: A transformative experience
Review: This is less a review than a hymn of gratitude. For me, this book is one of the "slender threads" Johnson talks about, a serendipitous opportunity that, grasped, changes your life. If you, like he, have experienced "the Golden World," you are likely to sob as I did at his description of it and his yearning to return to it. Johnson is an old soul, an introvert, a solitary by nature, who wrestled with his destiny for decades. His memoir gives me hope for my own struggles, and I believe this will hold true for many, many readers. I have rarely been so moved by a book; perhaps the only other I have found so affecting was Matthew Fox's collection of Meister Eckhard's thought. If you are seeking the light in any way or form, don't miss it.
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Summary: Exquisite humility and engaging stories
Review: What a treasure this book is! Robert Johnson shares his understanding and experience of the "slender threads" that have guided him through the events of his life, from one synchronistic moment to the next...and such a thread seemed to lead me to this book. It is a rare gift, written by a man who openly shares both his struggles and his joys, someone who reveals his true soul without any of the blustery ego-dross that so many modern "masters" pontificate with. "The highest form of worship," Johnson writes, quoting a Hindu saint, "is simply to be happy." Johnson's own hard-won happiness shines tenderly from his stories, and he invites us to share in his journey of homecoming and self-liberation. Jerry Ruhl, in his introduction to the book, describes Johnson as someone who "maintains an ethical obligation to...powerful and myserious forces" (dreams, visions, and synchronistic events). Johnson's life choices show the ultimate sanity of dedicating oneself to the realities of soul, love, and service. His ethics are honed, exquisitely, by experience and relationship; his humility is sincere. This is the first book of his that I've read; it definitely won't be the last!
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