Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0767902998, Hardcover)

Andrew Harvey is a renowned spiritual scholar and a master of the world's mystical traditions. He's the author and editor of more than 30 books, but The Direct Path can be viewed as the benchmark of his spiritual philosophy. "I feel I have been waiting all my life to write this book," he states, and at the core of The Direct Path are his clearly defined beliefs: organized religions and guru systems have largely failed to serve the spiritual needs of humanity. We are all children of God since we each contain a spark of God's divinity--i.e., we each have a soul, and as such, we do not require middlemen to mediate our way to God. What is required is the Direct Path, sacred practices of mind, body, and spirit through which we can each attain a personal union with the divine. The fruit of this union is the "birth" of energy, which is transformative and boundless and which must be shared with our fellows through active humanitarian work so that we each become "servant-warriors for peace and justice." And on this birth depends the future of humanity.

"This is a radical vision, of course," Andrew Harvey explains, "but it is not a new one." The prophets across all native and religious traditions have espoused the same essential teachings, that the divine dwells within each of us and that by accessing our divinity we will attain union and so comprehend the true meaning of human fellowship. Judeo-Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Islamic and native, Andrew Harvey draws on mysticism rather than dogma from across the spiritual spectrum. He gives us an eloquent and wholehearted explanation of the Direct Path and its necessary practices--such as breathing, meditation, and focused exercise--and he conveys a compelling vision of why the birth of transformative energy within each of us is so essential to the future of humankind. --Lucas LoBlack, Amazon.co.uk