Religion and Spirituality book reviews

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Author Comment by Catalina Egan on January 16, 2012 at 11:59am

This is an author I met here at Book Blogs
Allsville Emerging is a genre cross-over with the elements of a novel and elements of a manual. In a story told through the actions of various fictional characters Darrell Moneyhon creates a blueprint for “a model community” known as ALLSVILLE.
In Allsville Emerging the author presents the birth of a place where “gifts and virtues” replace the search for power and materialism. The belief and theme that we are all interconnected flows through the entire book; in it Mr. Moneyhon gives each fictional character his/her place and importance. Their ‘gifts and virtues’ come in handy as they identify and develop all the things that a community needs in order to bring out the best in everyone. Moneyhon takes the reader through a journey that shows how, brick by brick—in physical, intellectual, educational and any other form imaginable (truly no detail seems to have been by-passed)—Allsville emerges from an idea to become a reality.
The characters are everyone’s somebody. The clever manner in which the author chose to make them just enough of personality but at the same time generic enough gives the reader the freedom to visualize someone they know—a teacher, a businessman, a farmer—as a possible co-creator of Allsville, and it works to help the reader interact with the story.
Allsville Emerging is not a quick read.This is a book that will provoke thought and discussion, and not everyone will agree with some of the political implications, especially in today’s world where sharing and support gets easily confused with intrusive or enabling forms of ‘socialism.’

I am giving this book five stars. I do so because as a cross-over it is a unique and original book. It is well-written and it excites thought. I am also very impressed by the roots of where this comes from. Darrell Moneyhon is a retired prison counselor. It strikes me as fascinating that a person who spent years interacting with people who so many would see as the worst of society has a soul and spirit that believes there is so much good in ALL of us that he was able to create a concept such as Allsville. Mr. Moneyhon has great faith in the human race and sees our potential to really bloom if we tap into our innate sense of community.
M.C.V. Egan
Author of The Bridge of Deaths

Author Comment by Catalina Egan on December 13, 2011 at 7:18pm

Halley Elise

Please join us December 19th at 5PM...

We’ll have Catalina the author of Bridge of Deaths on the air chatting and answering questions about Soul connections!

Call Stephanie and I at 1-347-826-7400, you can chat in the chat-room too!
www.thebridgeofdeaths.com

Comment by Darrell Moneyhon on December 13, 2011 at 4:08pm

Hi, I'm new to this group. Am author of Allsville Emerging: Creating and Experiencing a New Culture Together ( www.allsvilleemerging.com   or  

http://sbpra.com/DarrellMoneyhon ) .

   In this fictional account of a model community, I show how spiritualtiy may be woven into a community's culture in a variety of ways.

   First, consented-upon "spiritual principles" are used to get everyone on the same page, without having to violate separation of church and state. To me (and the fictional citizens of "Allsville"), mere religious tolerance is simply not enough. We need to find a managable list of spiritual consensus points ("spiritual principles"), and then use those to orchestrate a much more spiritual culture and community than is the case for mainstream modern culture.

   Next, Allsvillites strive to identify, develop, and utilize the God-patterned human gifts within each and every person. Allsville and its educational system (the "Function of Matching and Personal Development")  emphasizes gift actualization. The "Sociospiritualization Matrix"is one of the tools used to actualize human gifts. A sociopolitical system called a "Giftocracy" is another. 

  When taking a more macro view of Allsville Emerging, and conceptualizing it as one of many social transformation strategies or "approaches," the following bullet points summarize some of my vision's defining characteristics. 

The Allsville Approach:  

• using model communities as socio-political experiments, from which we gradually learn to do government, or "us," better

• enacting a democratic and deliberative process to collectively engineer a healthy culture

• maintaining a priority of developing human virtues in general

• forming and using systems which maximize the development and utilization of human gifts (each person's unique aptitudes and dispositions) in particular

• consenting upon, and practicing, spiritual principles in common with all faith traditions and secular expressions of spirituality

• creating and using an integrated system (utilizing pooled resources and organized into an "indigenous corporation") for developing an optimal lifestyle service

• placing our lifestyle service (as provided in our intentional communities) on the  global market

 

Comment by Beck Valley Books Blog on November 22, 2011 at 1:30pm

NEW GROUP ON BOOK BLOGS - UK Bloggers and Authors Who Welcome Them

 

This is our brand new group to help UK Book Reviewers and Authors get in touch with each other and to update UK Book Bloggers with various sites / hops / uk inclusive giveaways / info etc available to them.

Come over and join in at http://bookblogs.ning.com/group/uk-book-reviewers-and-authors-who-w...

Comment by Beck Valley Books Blog on November 20, 2011 at 1:22pm

Book Review by http://www.beckvalleybooks.blogspot.com

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Inner Pilgrimage Ten Days to a Mindful Me  by Raji Lukkoor

Meet the Author

Hi I’m Raji Lukkoor, and I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.  A travel enthusiast, I was born and raised in Goa, India, but now call California, USA, my home, where I live with my husband and two sons.  I have loved to write since I was in the seventh grade, and although I went on to study and work in the field of environmental engineering, the art of communication always fascinated me and has consistently brightened my verbal, aural, written, and interpersonal competence. Travel- both physical and vicarious (although online volunteering)-across the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia over the years has given me perspective, motivation, a sense of achievement, the ability to connect to others, and deep regard for the world's cultures.  In summer 2008, when an opportunity for travel presented itself, I couldn't resist.  It was the trip of a lifetime - at a  vipassana meditation course. This
compelling experience held up a mirror to the reality of my existence,
furthering my spiritual evolution and helping resurrect the authentic me. Thus
was born my first publication, “Inner Pilgrimage: Ten Days to a Mindful Me.”

 

Website - click here       Facebook - click here       Twitter - click here

 Book Description
A profound human experience, a modern-day response to the primeval human
quest for truth and meaning in life. By engaging in the author’s spiritual
journey, readers learn about vipassana—a timeless, powerful, non-sectarian, and
non-mystical tool for transformation. They see how the practice of mindfulness,
nourished through regular meditation, can help anyone to live a life that is
fully expressed, affirming, connected, healthy, compassionate, and vibrant. This
book will appeal to all spiritual seekers and to anyone with an interest in
Buddhism or meditation.

Inner Pilgrimage in the hands of vipassana master His Holiness S. N. Goenka August 08, 2011 http://www.dhamma.org/

My Review

I have often watched documentaries on retreats with the secret yearning of wanting to attend one of these myself one day.  They show you the difficulties people have to overcome and the unbelievable transformations of peoples lives that can take place, it is simply amazing.

What you don't actually think about is what it is really like to participate on such a retreat for the whole period, spending every minute there, on the personal journey you have to travel to get to your destination.  For anyone thinking of going on a similar retreat this is a great book to read, giving you an insight of what it genuinely feels like to the there, day by day, through the authors writings.

When I first saw this book, for some reason I was immediately pulled towards it and couldn't wait for its arrival.  On opening the book two words struck out to me straight away 'inner war'.  The description was so clear and so close to home that the book grabbed my attention as soon as it had began.

As well as explaining, in fantastic realistic detail, how living through the whole course felt - through the emotions, the ever so true worries the author felt, the pain and yet the enlightenment she felt, it also explains basic Buddha and meditation methods learnt.  These are the parts where you may have to re-read certain pages to fully understand.

For me the main message in the Buddha teaching is that everything in life is impermanent and by not accepting this we create our own problems.  "Why agonize over that which is I, me and mine?  The body and the mind are mere wavelets of vibration and energy.  Egoism is futile because if brings unhappiness, disappointment, frustrations, sorrow, anxieties, and worries.  Happiness is to be sought not in the outside world where society judges you, but within the person, where eternal peace, compassion, equanimity, wisdom, joy and moral integrity flourish."

A fascinating read and I have so much respect for the author, travelling through her own journey.
 

"A beacon of spiritual light charted a new course for my life during the
summer of 2008, when I attended a S. N. Goenka led, ten-day Buddhist meditation
(vipassana) retreat. That experience sparked the writing of Inner
Pilgrimage: Ten Days to a Mindful Me--a mindfulness triggered spiritual
transformation."

 

My Rating .5


For a Signed Copy of Inner Pilgrimage -
Ten Days to a Mindful Me by Raji Lukkoor click here

Blogger Comment by Patricia Blomeley-Maddigan on November 15, 2011 at 12:43am

Blogger Comment by Patricia Blomeley-Maddigan on November 15, 2011 at 12:36am

 

This is a "quasi" spiritual book review!

Please visit my blog:  "India Was One"  by  an Indian

http://thejoyofthewrittenword.wordpress.com/2011/11/14/book-review-...

Hope you enjoy my review!

Patricia

Author Comment by Catalina Egan on November 5, 2011 at 8:04pm

Hello Everyone,

Have we liked each other's page on facebook? If not please let me know.

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Bridge-of-Deaths/130675087014521

Thanks,

Catalina

Blogger Comment by Patricia Blomeley-Maddigan on November 4, 2011 at 4:17pm

Please visit my blog, and check out my latest book review:  "Stained Glass Hearts by Patsy Clairmont.

Patsy is a member of the Women of Faith team, leading workshops and seminars all over the world.

https://thejoyofthewrittenword.wordpress.com/2011/11/04/book-review...

Your Comments are most welcome!

Patricia

Choose Joy!

Comment by Raji Lukkoor on October 18, 2011 at 7:55pm

Would you like to review my personal experience with the Buddhist vipassana meditation technique?

 

More info:

Watch the Book Trailer

"Like" the Facebook Page

Follow the blog

 

 

 

About "Inner Pilgrimage: Ten Days to a Mindful Me"

"Inner Pilgrimage: Ten Days to a Mindful Me" is a comprehensive, moment-by-moment description of the author’s ten-day vipassana meditation retreat. The story unfolds with her arrival at the retreat as an ordinary being seeking a calmer, more centered existence. Sacrificing every luxury and self-indulgence, and following a rigid daily routine that excludes reading, writing, praying, listening to music, watching television, and talking, the author spends ten hours everyday, meditating. She focuses on her breath and observes her bodily sensations, often without moving for hours at a time.

 

Much, much more at www.rajilukkoor.com.

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