I was recently asked to step into a new space in the blogosphere. This journal was originally created to track the progress of me and my friend Manny along our third-eye-opening trek through India; when we returned, there was enough literary momentum — and plenty of lessons being offered by the world right here close to home — to continue setting down thoughts every few days. The meditation and awareness classes we co-teach would fill pages each day, had I virtual ink enough to pen them.

The other day, a publisher with some savvy about the digital wave decided to ride it, and emailed me to review their new book, dedicated to spiritual pursuit and higher living, on my site.

It makes a great deal of sense, since those who wander into a blog on inquiry and on living through senses into the sublime are likely to have more than a passing interest in new books on the subject. 

And for myself, my one desire is to be intimate with Light, and with some luck (perhaps persistence), to warm others. So I agreed, with the caveat that in posting a review, I will do my best to neither overly praise nor excessively bash the author and his work. 

I do believe that all teachers who seek the Source with integrity — whether they be Christian, or Muslim, or Buddhist or Hindu or Yogic or Unaffiliated — work toward the same principals, the same Good, whether that is their intention or not. It serves us well to hold up the mirror in unison. How much noise and trivia is offered on this inter-net, this net with so many broken cords? And I believe that I do not move closer to that Light if I undermine another's work for some perceived personal gain, instead move myself nearer to my own ego, a petty darkness.

On the other hand, having trained in so many different practices over the years, and having been pulled and pushed through so many landscapes in my life, I find myself some distance from a purely Relativist past, with fairly strong opinions about methods and philosophies that bring positive change. None of them promise results in 30 days or less. So while I have great tolerance for those who make an attempt at the sublime, but perhaps do not reach as close to heaven as they would have liked (a population that includes all of our living Masters), I have no patience whatsoever for those who bottle used smoke from their cigars and sell it as medicine for a life's ills. An odd metaphor, but once you encounter a spiritual industrialist, you will know exactly what it means.

So. I have read a great number of books on a great number of subjects, many of them simply superb and not to be missed. New writers offer their best every day, the next generation of teachers. Through this invitation to speak on the quality of writing and intention of this publisher's new book, I have been offered a hand up, and begin what will be a fairly regular series of reviews of the written or recorded word: those human creations which help light the path, and guide us along it — or wave a fairy-light in the tangled heart of the forest, asking us to leave a better road for one that leads nowhere. 

Hopefully a few critical comments, positive or negative, will add context to the body of knowledge in print, with each review helping refine my thinking, and offering a few new thoughts to those circling our current inquiries.