ADVANCING IN ENLIGHTENMENT
The Crash Course Gail M. Knox
September 11, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
In this guide to spiritual awakening, debut author Knox combines the teachings of many notable masters to deliver a thorough exploration of the ways that inner perspectives drive external realities.
The author aptly titles this book a “crash course” in spirituality and holistic well-being. She dives into such complex topics as light and dark energy, cultural beliefs about death and dying, and metaphysics, skillfully conveying material from ancient teachings and modern texts. Drawing on 44 years of her own study, the author relates how modern culture pushes people to ignore their spiritual lives in favor of material, commercial concerns. However, Knox urges readers to look within themselves, and to that end, she fills her book with exercises to expand consciousness and mindfulness, including visualizations and conscious breathing. The book brims with information culled from numerous outside sources, including Bashar’s Five Laws of Creation from medium Darryl Anka and an in-depth exploration of the seven chakras and their importance to spiritual and physical health. Readers who are unfamiliar with ancient studies of energy fields, pyramids, and the human connection to the divine may find the book somewhat overwhelming, but others will relish the author’s tendency to dive straight into the nuances and specifics of each topic. Indeed, many of the principles expressed, such as the importance of applying positive meaning to all things, are easy to absorb and understand, even by readers who are just beginning to learn about spiritual practice. Toward the end of the book, the author explains “The Medicine Wheel,” a Native American concept represented by stone monuments, in New Age terms, relating how people may use it to integrate spiritual growth with physical health. A thorough, well-articulated study of spiritual awakening.
.