The Direct Path : Creating a Journey to the Divine Using the World's Mystical Traditions

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Summary: Right to the heart..............
Review: I believe that this book is one that either you get, or don't get. There is hardly a need for discussion. Those that get it, have walked the path and are practicing it, and this writing, simply affirms and deepens it all. Those who do not get it, will have perhaps have a chance as this consciousness is growing... and more and more of us are putting it out there in our own way. We must carry a sense of urgency, practice a direct path and remember the road is straight and narrow. How can I get in touch with Andrew????? If anyone knows, please email me. [e-mail]

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Summary: I have two words: Rumi/Shams
Review: In Way of Passion-a wonderful book-Harvey outdoes himself explaining why we need a teacher, and gushes over Rumi's devotion to Shams of Tabriz. Now all of sudden it's "The Direct Path", and we don't need teachers because Andrew's burned out with his. Gimmie a break... Enlightenment without a teacher? Good luck. As Rumi said: "Whoever enters the Way without a guide will take a hundred years to travel a one-day journey . . . . Whoever undertakes a profession without a master becomes the laughing stock of city and town. Do not break with the prophet of your time! Do not rely on your own skills and footsteps! Though you be a lion, if you travel the Path without a guide, you will be a self-seer, astray and contemptible."

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Summary: Do we know better than the orthodox?
Review: Whenever we hear that some progressive has a programme of clearing away a forest of cumbersome orthodoxies to create a direct path to God, or to a God that bears a suspicious resemblance to one's own reflection in the mirror, we recall the verses of Psalm 74: "They behaved like men wielding axes to cut through a thicket of trees," etc.

Our sympathy with an author is somewhat frosted when we encounter this notion that persons who are Christians as the word has been understood for centuries, persons who do not dismiss the moral law as a hindrance to self-validation, are somehow less inclined to the corporal works of mercy (active humanitarianism) than the average white liberal, who allows his pet hedonisms a little breathing room.

We can scoff at orthodoxy, or we can descend from Mount Olympus and volunteer to work in the inner city, where we would find Catholic priests of unswerving fidelity, doing more to clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, feed the poor, than any vapid pseudo-mystic living far from the madding crowd. We would encounter Protestant ministers, who are faithful to a traditional understanding of Scripture, doing much to alleviate the sufferings of their neighbours. We would find hard-working layfolk, of African, Latino, Cape Verdean, Brazilian, Asian and other heritages, holding to devotional practices that progressives dismiss -- from their lofty perch -- as hopelessly outmoded.

This flippant and glib opposition (orthodoxy vs humanitarianism) is gloriously and completely refuted by one's own experience. We need only to look at the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal in the South Bronx, whose eucharistic adoration leads them to a direct, hands-on ministry to the poor. If we're looking for a Christianity that is real and not ersatz, we might look to the South Bronx and Father Benedict Groeschel.