The Prophet's Way : Touching the Power of Life

Rating:
Summary: A book on spiritual sociology.
Review: Here we follow the author's "adventures" in several different parts of the world, usually following his spiritual / sociological / ecological mentor who picks up worms in the rain and puts them safely on the grass. The mentor says if you want to be a great spiritual leader, "... begin with the smallest work, a tiny act of compassion for the least of the least. (hence, the worms) And do it in secret." And be a vegetarian.

The book is anecdotal (and wanders off the subject a lot) with spiritual and socio-ecological themes. My favorites: a discussion of lapis lazuli (my favorite stone) in praise of its "spiritual purity" and a very important discussion regarding television's harmful impact on children -- not for its presence, but because too much television means a lack of reading to kids, which actually causes a deficiency in the brain's ability to develop the visualization of what they hear and imagine.

It's worth your time. ....

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I've ever read.
Review: I bought this book because it got highly recommended by Neal Donald Walsh in his Conversations With God trilogy. And I must tell you all, it is a book witch will for ever change your life and the way you look at things. A must read for everyone. Although my native language isn't english (I am Dutch speeking), I had no trouble in understanding every word. So, you no english speeking people, do not let a language barriere come between you and this book. I wish you all love, friendship, light and truth.

Rating:
Summary: A Powerful and Life-changing book!
Review: I have never had so many problems doing a review before. I don't even *like* the word, "problems", usually seeing them as challenges instead. The process of reviewing this book was challenging to the point of being problematical. While part of me was energetically focused on this very personal dilemma, part of me was asking, "Why?", seeking the meanings beneath the surface of the obstacles occurring and recurring at annoying and increasingly quick intervals.

This reached a crisis point during an interminably long sleepless night. This morning I realized that most of what I've been encountering is because this book is one of the most important I have ever read; that it is both life-changing and life-challenging -- and how in the world can I do it justice in a few bytes of a review?

I still don't know. All I can do is urge you to read this book. At worst, you will be entertained by a wonderful and inspiring story; at best, and more likely, it will change your life.

In the beginning, Thom Hartmann talks about the physical mountainside path in Bavaria that his mentor, Herr Muller, calls his "prophet's way". He then invites us to walk along with him as he shares his own journey along this path that began in his early years and continues to this day. "The Prophet's Way" is the story of one man's personal journey toward self-actualization, yet it also takes on the shape and form of "every-(wo)man's journey" as its message speaks strongly and with beautiful simplicity to the very heart and soul and spirit of who we are and what we are here to accomplish.

Thom Hartmann talks about many things that we have all heard before, yet they are presented in a more in-depth and personal way. There are also many things he shares that are juxta-positioned in a way that we can't help but see and experience them differently.

To isolate just one example of the former, there were two 'basics' that underscore a great deal of the author's personal experiences, and ! that we can all relate to. One is that the underlying need for each being on this planet is for love; the other is that the underlying drive for each being on this planet is to find and fulfill their life's purpose.

This book is a testimonial of Thom Hartmann's personal search for that love, growing toward becoming that love, and thus being directed by that love toward his own life's purpose. It isn't about being perfect or living the life of a saint or being or doing anything that is outside the realm of human possibility. It's about being conscious of the small and large ways divine love manifests in our lives every day; how that loving Presence is constantly and caringly nudging us toward being more of who we really are, and doing more of what we've come to do.

Of the latter, (seeing things differently), the author's sharing in the chapter called "Living on the Edge" and how he presents fractals helped me to not only see my life differently, but also to identify ways for living my life with more positive influence. There are strong generating energies available to us through creating and maintaining an "edge" in our lives, and Thom Hartmann talks about this in relation to his own life as well as offering ways for us to incorporate it into our lives.

Along "The Prophet's Way", we are introduced to the many characters who were leading men and women, (and sometimes the supporting cast) in Thom Hartmann's life's script. The curtain rises and falls on some of the most intriguing, powerful, empowering and inspiring cast of people I've ever encountered in one person's life. As the location changes from the United States to Europe to Jerusalem to Uganda to Bogota to India and Russia, many people's lives entwine with the author's, each with their own gifts.

Sometimes these gifts are insight, spiritual truth, and profound revelation; sometimes these gifts are deeply painful and disturbing. The one thing these many gifts have in common is that they all worked together as ca! talysts for the inner pathways that were manifesting for deeper exploration simultaneously with the author's outer journeys.

As with any experience in our lives that is life-changing, there is a challenge. Insight and inspiration are catalysts for our growth, but they cannot change our lives until we make the conscious choice to follow through. This book is exactly the same. Within it there are many techniques that will enable us to live richer, fuller, more divinely Purposeful lives. There are also true stories about miracles and synchronicities on an ongoing basis, some little ones, some big ones. There are also insights about the driving force behind the miracles and magic, and how they can become a part of our daily lives.

The catch is, the techniques only work when we do them. The divine is always present in our every day lives, but it is up to each of us to actively seek it out in order to *see* it, to activate our own inner relationship with divinity in order to Be it, to find ways every day to express that divinity in our lives in order to live it.

Where this book makes a big difference is that we are not only given techniques, but we are shown these techniques in action. Over and over again, Thom Hartmann shares examples of the alignment of conscious intent with manifestation in the world. We are allowed to see and feel how the life-changing messages in this book can have long-lasting significance in our own lives, in the lives of all those we touch, and rippling outward from there to have positive impact on the world.

One of the main points that I felt very strongly in "The Prophet's Ways" is that we don't *have* to have our lives in perfect order before we can begin to make a difference. In fact, it is probably much more likely that in our desire to make a difference, and allowing that to motivate us in our every day lives, our lives will actually *become* more "perfectly ordered".

Through the pages of Thom Hartmann's book, and the story that unfolds, the inspiratio! n shakes us loose from lethargy, generates that desire to make a difference, offers techniques for following through on our desire, and thus launches us into conscious creation of change.

There is much that is rare and singularly beautiful in this book; there is so much more that is common to all life, to the planet herself, to all the souls on it, and to the Source of everything. Through Thom Hartmann's generous sharing of his journey, we become witness to this connection, we feel part of it, we become active participants in the process of awakening to our collective missions in this life.

If one person can do, feel, know, learn, teach, experience all of this; if it is possible for one person to find the true source of love and activate that in a path of service to life on this planet, so can we all.

We are all writing our own lives' scripts and our characters may be different, the locations may be different, the terrain of our path may be different, yet what it all comes down to is that the divine source of love is equal and present in each of our lives, and each of us has our own purpose to fulfill in the expression of that divine love in our world.

"The Prophet's Way" is not only an inspiration for catalyzing our own desire to fulfill our life's purpose, but it is filled with direction signs that we can't miss .My feeling after reading this book is that fulfilling our purpose in life is no longer an "option"; it is a necessity. The world has need of each one of us Now. Today.

... Jaline

Rating:
Summary: Eye opening!
Review: I highly recommend this book along with The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight. Thom Hartmann has done the world a great service by writing these books. He has taken the time to think, feel, and "see" the big picture - who are we? why are we here?, and where are we going in relation to those questions. The answers are not always pleasant ones but they are not new or suprising - they have always been there for us to see. I only hope that I can take his message of hope to heart and to borrow a phrase from another book, become a "bringer of the light."

Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: I just finished reading the Prophet's Way.. I was absolutely entranced. All that I have read, combined with our first real energy crisis in California has really made me wake up, although I feel more like I'm in a daze thinking about all of it.

I never thought about vegetarianism in this way it is presented before. I never knew that a meat-eating lifestyle perpetuates the disintigration of our earth and reaches out to harm so many areas. "Diet for a new America" is what I'll be reading next.

Rating:
Summary: Hartmann Walks the Talk in Prophet's Way
Review: Review: The Prophet's Way

Thom Hartmann is an individual who has changed the world by providing exciting new paradigms for understanding the psychological, neurological, and (in Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight) ecological domains of human experience. He rides the conceptual bow wave and loves to play with ideas and make his creative contribution from that place.

In Prophet's Way, he moves from his work as a conceptual iconoclastic to share his love for his spiritual guru--a German mystic named Herr Muller--and to describe the miraculous experience of being around him in their travels.

The journey Hartmann takes us on is not done to glorify his guru or promote his teachings. It is a journey that stays true to Hartmann's lifelong interest in the power of the human mind and spirit to shape reality in extraordinary ways. In Prophet's Way, the author describes how the power of love can be focused to change physical reality so as to bring things into being that were thought to be impossible.

This book took was written with heart and obvious courage. Hartmann didn't have to write about his relationship with his guru. He risked getting a lot of criticism for talking about the joy of giving up his free will in this way. But he pulls it off marvelously!

One of Hartmann's jobs for Herr Muller was to travel internationally setting up children's homes along the line of the establishment he ran in Salem, New Hampshire twenty years ago. Hartmann would often get on the plane, not sure how he would be received on the other end, because often all the details had been left to chance. But chance always seemed to come through when Herr Muller put his mind on getting a project in place for homeless kids.

Prophet's Way, gives you a sense of what it's like to live deep in the faith that if you're on the right path you don't really need to know where the path is going. You'll be taken care of. I have always found this kind of "cosmic innocence" (to quote William Blake) difficult to live. I enjoyed reading about how Thom Hartmann not only lives this philosophy but leaves the world better for it.

Rating:
Summary: Exceptional
Review: The Prophet's Way is a rare book indeed. It manages to be both in tune with similar books that have gone before yet totally original. Thom Hartmann is an accessible, Western version of Carlos Castenada and Herr Mueller is a more than adequate Don Juan. The writing is spare and genuine, its authenticity is striking and the stories are often compelling. If this book doesn't change your life, it will at least give pause for re-evaluation. Exceptional.

Rating:
Summary: Exceptional
Review: The Prophet's Way is a rare book indeed. It manages to be both in tune with similar books that have gone before yet totally original. Thom Hartmann is an accessible, Western version of Carlos Castenada and Herr Mueller is a more than adequate Don Juan. The writing is spare and genuine, its authenticity is striking and the stories are often compelling. If this book doesn't change your life, it will at least give pause for re-evaluation. Exceptional.

Rating:
Summary: A Prophet's Way: Living Transformation through Service
Review: This book left a strong imprint in my being. I was very moved by its true stories about the magic of living by faith and total self-giving. The author lays his life on the line again and again, and his example draws us to do the same, for the sake of a humanity and a planet glorified by the Love of God.

Not every theory and spiritual exercise in this book resonated fully for me. But there was much food for thought in the author's ideas, and much usefulness in his exercises. Most important for me however, was the living example of people making a real difference in the state of the world, by being true to their deepest convictions, and being a Light of Godly service.

The life of Herr Muller is truly an exceptional example of esoteric spirituality, combined with very practical, energetic service. Hopefully, his example will become less exceptional, as more people catch the fire of transformation that this book serves.

Rating:
Summary: The Prophets Way: A portal to Divinity
Review: Thom's book cracked my heart wide-open. It' clearly the definitive journey of our time: waking up to the possibility, certainly the responsibility, of reaching toward a maturity of Soul. This journey takes you into the Suffering of the World. From the Hunt Clubs in Bogota, Columbia: those who hunt children for sport. To the poverty of Africa, India, and the diminishment of the integrity of the Earth itself.

This is a book that you FEEL to the Depths of your Soul. It shakes you and changes you.

After reading the book several years ago, it was my honor and privledge to visit with Thom and his mentor Herr Muller in Germany, and walk the Prophets Way Path. It was a moving and life affirming moment. It launched me to embrace a suffering world.

I now work with At-Risk kids taking them into the wilderness. I listen to their stories. Hold their pain by affirming and mirroring the best in each one of them. We are all linked in a common humanity and that is the message of Thom's book. It affirms the best in each of us and asks us to CHANGE.