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 THE LAMP:
A (Not Quite) Spiritual Biography
By Ilan Amit (Eureka Editions), 2008. PP. 202. $22 paper
Reviewed by Jeff Zaleski
Ilan Amit, a retired mathematician whose essays have appeared in Parabola, grew up in Israel during that nation's turbulent early years. In this absorbing memoir, he remembers a rambunctious childhood in Haifa and adventurous youthful years on several kibbutzes amidst the pioneering ferment of the equally young Jewish state; at the same time, he recalls intellectual awakenings, furthered through meeting several impressive individuals including Moshe Feldenkrais, who gave Amit copies, in French, of P.D. Ouspensky's In Search of the Miraculous and G.I. Gurdjieff's Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson.
Amit's experiences in, and reflections on, the Gurdjieff Work comprise the major part of the book's second half, and they are worthwhile reading. (He offers sharp observations of Krishnamurti as well.) His vivid memories of working in groups with peers and a succession of teachers including, most notably, Michel Conge, add valuable source material to the growing body of writings about the worldwide Work after Gurdjieff's death. Also of interest, sometimes for their insight, sometimes for their lack of orthodoxy, are his assessments of the state of the Gurdjieff Work and of what it means to "work."While one may (or may not) disagree with him, for example, that "meditation has nothing to do with actual inner work. If at all, it may be relevant for a theory of consciousness," his evaluations of the spiritual life seem the result of intense inner search-and suffering: for in middle age, Amit went blind.
The cover of this book carries a photograph of Amit holding what looks like a Star Wars light saber. It is in fact an illuminated walking stick, but the mistaken identification is apt for Amit seems to accept his blindness as would a Jedi knight, not turning away from his suffering through self-pity or anger, but accepting its toll and placing it in the context of his spiritual search. For this hard-won lesson alone, Amit's memoir is worth its price and then some.
-Jeff Zaleski is editor in chief of Parabola
 The Future of Faith
By Harvey Cox (HarperOne), 2009. PP. 245. $24.99
Reviewed by Bill Williams
In his trenchant new book, The Future of Faith, Harvey Cox once again demonstrates why he is one of today's keenest observers of Christian history and practice.
Cox argues that Christianity can be divided into three historical periods. In the initial Age of Faith, Christians were primarily concerned with following Jesus' example and teachings. Then came a constricted Age of Belief, with its emphasis on hierarchy and codified rules. Finally, Christianity today is entering a new Age of the Spirit, similar to original Christianity.
For the first three centuries, there were no fixed dogmas that Christians had to believe and no concept of heresy. But that era eventually "curdled into a top-heavy edifice defined by obligatory beliefs enforced by a hierarchy." This rigid Age of Belief developed under Constantine, who embraced Christianity and turned it into an appendage of the Roman Empire. The emperor even hosted and presided over the first full assembly of Catholic bishops.
After Constantine, according to Cox, the Catholic Church began to define required beliefs, and embarked on a mission to find and kill alleged heretics. By the end of the third century, "the imperial version of Christianity-with its princes and monarchs above and its common folk below-had won the day, at least among the elites."
The effort to define Christianity as creed and hierarchy, he contends, reached its peak in 1870 when the First Vatican Council approved the doctrine of papal infallibility, which held that the Pope could rule on matters of faith and morals without error, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
One of the "most devastating blunders" in Christian history, Cox says, was the Church's insistence that the Spirit was present only to believers. A third-century Catholic bishop asserted that there was no salvation outside the Catholic Church, a belief that has since been largely retracted.
The Future of Faith is a model of clear, persuasive writing from a professor who is ending a distinguished Harvard career that began in 1965. That year, he published The Secular City, which has sold more than one million copies.
Scholars and historians are discovering evidence that contradicts previous notions about early Christianity. We are learning that followers of Jesus were scattered throughout the Roman Empire, and there was no standard theology or practice, and no clerical caste or hierarchy. Religious practice involved faith, spirit and awe-rather than rigid rules or beliefs to which all Christians had to assent.
Cox includes a particularly compelling chapter on the Bible. Belief in the literal Bible became a litmus test of whether one was a "real Christian," but as Cox notes, there are myriad translations, editions, and versions, which change from century to century. "It is important to recognize that no one anywhere has the original manuscript of any of the biblical books. All we have are copies of copies," Cox writes. "It is time to come to terms with the stubborn fact that we have no single and indisputable book we can confidently call the Bible."
Christianity's future clearly is in the developing world, Cox argues. A little more than a century ago, ninety percent of Christians lived in Europe and the United States. Today sixty percent live in Asia, Africa, or Latin America, where one of the fastest growing segments is Pentecostalism, with its stress on direct experience of the Holy Spirit, much like early Christianity. Europe no longer is the center of Christianity. Vacant pews testify to the remarkable geographic and spiritual shift taking place.
"Christianity understood as a system of beliefs guarded and transmitted through a privileged religious institution by a clerical elite is dying," Cox asserts. In its place a new spirit-filled faith is emerging, similar to the ebullient early Christianity that cared deeply about the message and spirit of Jesus and little about doctrine and institutions. "All the signs suggest we are poised to enter a new Age of the Spirit, and that the future will be a future of faith."
The Future of Faith reflects a deep understanding of Christianity, based on the findings of modern scholars and the author's own Baptist journey from belief to faith. Cox is a gentle teacher, never disparaging those who disagree with him. The tone is open, curious and searching.
Despite predictions that religion would wither, it is "now exhibiting a new vitality all around the world and making its weight widely felt in the corridors of power," Cox writes. The rapid growth of charismatic congregations and the appeal of Asian spiritual practices show that people are being drawn "more to the experiential than to the doctrinal elements of religion." Moreover, Cox contends that reactionary fundamentalism, despite what many people think, is waning as it tries to "stem an inexorable movement of the human spirit whose hour has come."
As Cox heads into retirement, we can only hope he will continue to write. His observations about the world's largest religion are provocative, uplifting, and celebratory.
Bill Williams is a free-lance writer and former religion book reviewer for The Hartford [Connecticut] Courant. He is a member of the National Book Critics Circle.
-Reviewed by Bill Williams
 Water & Its Spiritual Significance
Edited by Virginia Gray Henry-Blakemore and Elena Lloyd-Sidle (Fons Vitae), 2009. PP. 184. $19.95 paper
Reviewd By Samuel Bendeck Sotillos
Conventional wisdom informs us of the crucial role that water plays in our collective lives. Regrettably, present-day discussions of water are often outweighed by its quantitative aspect pertaining to its increasing scarcity due to lack of rain fall, deforestation, and increasing atmospheric temperatures associated with climate change, not to mention the hitherto unprecedented phenomenon of the privatization of water, while qualitative concerns regarding its contamination are also on the rise as fresh water is becoming evermore limited. The current pandemic is often couched within what has been identified as the environmental crisis of our times; although undeniably real, it frequently lends itself to misdiagnosis by not acknowledging or understanding what is above and beyond it, which is essentially a matter of the spiritual domain. In contradistinction, the perennial wisdom of the sophia perennis informs us that not only is water essential to sustaining sapiential existence itself, but it is sacred and concurrently a symbol of the human soul, thus framing the most urgent call of all, the spiritual crisis of contemporary life. The following Native American proverb of the Lakota people is fitting: "The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives."
Water & Its Spiritual Significance was prepared in honor of the fourteenth annual Festival of Faiths, in Louisville, KY, organized by the Center for Interfaith Relations. It is therefore apropos that among its selections are providential essays by spiritual representatives who are at once authorities within their respective traditions, yet also embrace the universality of truth underlying the religions of the world, including the First Peoples or Shamanic traditions. These selections include essays and or poetry by Sri Ramakrishna, Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy, Titus Burckhardt, Martin Lings, Whitall N. Perry, Emma Clark, Huston Smith, Henry David Thoreau, Thomas Merton, Wendell Berry, Colemen Barks, Timothy Scott, and Hamza Yusuf-Hanson.
Titus Burckhardt in his consummate essay, "The Symbolism of Water," underscores the interconnectedness of the environment and the human being, who is made of up seventy-percent water, in its unanimous light: "When the balance of Nature is not disturbed, the earth's waters themselves continually re-establish their purity, whereas, when this balance is lost, death and pollution are the result. It is thus not merely a coincidence that the 'life' of the waters is a symbol for the 'life' of the human soul." That the corporeal world and life itself are indivisible from the element of water is directly acknowledged by the sacred traditions: "We made every living thing of water" (Qur'?n XXI:30). The mystic Angelus Silesius writes: "The world is my sea, the sailor the spirit of God. The boat my body, the soul he who wins back his Abode." This is also verified by the eminent Sufi, Shams-i-Tabr?z: "Conceive Soul as a fountain, and these created beings as rivers.... Do not think of the water failing; for this water is without end." Plotinus also affirms the mystical dimension of water: "Imagine a fountain that has no origin beside itself; it gives itself to all the rivers, yet is never exhausted by what they take, but always remains integrally what it was…the fountain of life, the fountain of intellect, beginning of being, cause of the good, and root of the Soul." The process of spiritual alchemy and its relation to water is symbolized by Gautama Buddha's words: "As a lotus flower is born in water, grows in water and rises out of water to stand above it unsoiled, so I, born in the world, raised in the world having overcome the world, live unsoiled by the world." The coincidence of opposites or coincidentia oppositorum is skillfully presented in the following symbolism offered in the Rg Veda: "Though the rivers flow, the Waters do not move." (v. 47:5)
The timeless wisdom of all ages is perhaps summarized best within the topic of water in Verse 8 of the Tao Te Ching:
The best way to live
is to be like water
For water benefits all things
and goes against none of them
It provides for all people
And even cleanses those places
A man is loath to go
In this way it is just like Tao
Live in accordance with the nature of things…
One who lives in accordance with nature
Does not go against the way of things
He moves in harmony with the present moment
Always knowing the truth of just what to do
The underlying symbolism of water both East and West is well expressed in the didactic words of René Guénon: "'Walking on the water' symbolizes the domination of the world of forms and change." Sri Ramakrishna humorously presents this theme in light of those seeking paranormal powers in dissimilarity from integration with the transcendent, and we also are reminded of the warning presented across all spiritual traditions about the seeking of such powers:
A man after fourteen years' penance in a solitary forest obtained at last the power of walking on water. Overjoyed at this, he went to his Guru and said, "Master, master, I have acquired the power of walking on water." The master rebukingly replied, "Fie, O child! Is this the result of thy fourteen years' labors? Verily thou hast obtained only that which is worth a penny; for what thou hast accomplished after fourteen years' arduous labor ordinary men do by paying a penny to the boatman."
The life-giving qualities are perhaps most perceived in places that have minimal rainfall, such as the desert ecologies. Muhammad Asad articulates in a descriptive and seamless manner how life originates from the Divine, is sustained by it, and thus returns to it:
We had stopped for our noon prayer. As I washed my hands, face and feet from a water-skin, a few drops spilled over a dried-up tuft of grass at my feet, a miserable little plant, yellow and withered and lifeless under the harsh rays of the sun. But as the water trickled over it, a shiver went through the shriveled blades, and I saw how they slowly, tremblingly, unfolded. A few more drops, and the little blades moved and curled and then straightened themselves slowly, hesitatingly, trembling…. I held my breath as I poured more water over the grass tuft. It moved more quickly, more violently, as if some hidden force were pushing it out of its dream of death. Its blades-what a delight to behold!-contracted and expanded like the arms of a starfish, seemingly overwhelmed by a shy but irrepressible delirium, a real little orgy of sensual joy: and thus life re-entered victoriously what a moment ago had been as dead, entered it visibly, passionately, overpowering and beyond in its majesty.
Within the discussion, it is apt to mention the following words of John Chryssavgis in consideration of the meaning of water outpouring from the human body in the form of tears and their transpersonal significance: "Tears signify an opening of new life, a softening of the soul, a clarity of mind. They bring us to rebirth and the world to healing. They signify a true homecoming. Through tears we are able to enter the treasury of the heart." A.K. Coomaraswamy highlights the symbolism of water and contextualizes its symbolism in its unanimous orientation by way of grand synthesis: "In conclusion: we are not much concerned here with the literary history of these striking agreements…. The point is, rather, that such collations as have been made above illustrate a single case of the general proposition that there are scarcely any, if any, of the fundamental doctrines of any orthodox tradition that cannot as well be supported by the authority of many or all of the other orthodox traditions, or, in other words, by the unanimous tradition of the Philosophia Perennis et Universalis."
This anthology assists in the recovery of the sacred meaning of water via the spiritual traditions of the world in a very comprehensive and unitive fashion. There have been scores of books published in recent years on the miraculous stature of water yet they often "miss the mark" by not acknowledging the underlying spiritual principles that provide the true origin in divinis, not only of water but of all the elements (air, fire, water, and earth) that make up the manifest world. In renewing the spiritual significance of water, we are reminded of the Buddhist parable of the finger pointing at the moon-When the finger points at the moon, the foolish man looks at the finger.-which is to say water is sacred and inseparable from sapiential existence, yet the finger points beyond its own designation, to what is transcendent and Divine from where water and consequently all existence originates-"from God do we come and unto Him do we return" (inna lillahi wa inna ilahi raji'un). Samuel Bendeck Sotillos has received graduate degrees in Education and in Psychology. He has traveled throughout the world to visit sacred sites, and has had contact with noted spiritual authorities. He currently works as a mental health clinician in northern California.
-Reviewd By Samuel Bendeck Sotillos
 IT'S UP TO OURSELVES: A Mother, A Daughter, and Gurdjieff: A Shared Memoir and Family Photo Album
BY JESSMIN AND DUSHKA HOWARTH(GURDJIEFF HERITAGE SOCIETY), 2009. PP. 512. $75
Reviewed by Jeff Zaleski
The "Mother" of the subtitle is Jessmin Howarth, who was a prominent teacher of G.I. Gurdjieff's sacred dances and exercises, or Movements, for sixty years, from 1924 until her death in 1984, at age 92. The "Daughter" is Dushka, and she is not only Jessmin's daughter but Gurdjieff's as well, which makes this warm and robust book of particular interest to many.
The anecdotally rich and extensive text is arranged in roughly chronological order, from Jessmin's early days as a violin student in Dresden 1910 up to the present day. Throughout, entries from Jessmin take turns with passages from Dushka, with many of the latter being direct reminiscences and many of the former being letters to or from Jessmin. While there is substantial focus on the personal details of each woman's life, from romances to friendships to jobs, the nearly century's worth of events unfolds in the distinct context of Gurdjieff and his teaching, and it is the Gurdjieff Work and its players that gets the prime focus.
It is this that will attract most readers to this book, and most will be satisfied, provided they are not looking for sacred teachings. We live in two streams, as Gurdjieff noted, and the gift of this book is to vivify and humanize the horizontal as well as the vertical in the sage and his followers. Through the mother-and-daughter Howarths, an array of exceptional and exceptionally complex human beings, from Gurdjieff to the de Salzmanns, from Dr. William Welch to Lord John Pentland, from Mme Ouspensky to William Nyland, come to life; and that life is enhanced considerably by an extraordinary gallery of nearly one thousand photographs, many seen publicly here for the first time.
At the same time, the inner aspects of the Work are not overlooked, especially in Jessmin's contributions, with their hard-won insights into the Movements ("….quietness of mind, an awareness of body and an interest of feeling can be brought together and that this results in a more complete state of attentiveness in which the life force is freed and one is sensitive and open to higher influences").
The book also provides valuable information on two oft-neglected aspects of the Gurdjieff Work. One is the critical role in the Work played by numerous women, some of whom-Ethel Merston, for instance, or Mme Ouspensky, or Pamela Travers--have received little attenion in the historical literature. The other is the history of the Work after Gurdjieff's death; the present volume is one of only a handful that have essayed Gurdjieff's legacy from 1949 onwards. Dushka Howarth's sometimes caustic assessments of the current state of the Work will vex some (she claims insufficient attention to Movements and too much emphasis on meditative sittings) but it's refreshing and even edifying to hear a contrarian viewpoint.
The meat and potatoes of this book remain the memories and photographs, however, and for those interested in reading about the Work and its astonishing range of personalities, the book provides a full meal.
Jeff Zaleski is editor in chief of Parabola.
-Reviewed by Jeff Zaleski
 THE DICE GAME OF SHIVA: How Consciousness Creates the Universe
By Richard Smoley(New World Library), 2009. PP. 240. $14.95 paper
Reviewed by Tracy Cochran
In the prologue to his latest book, Smoley, the executive editor of the Theosophical Society journal, The Quest, and a consulting editor to Parabola, describes participating in an extracurricular Kabbalah group that met in shabby apartments (often his) during the time he was formally studying classical literature and philosophy at storied Oxford (a course famously known as "Greats") in the late 1970s. "When we met in the Kabbalah group, our discussions were not always profound, and in fact were seasoned with a large dose of the silliness that could only be expected of beginners, but I had the sense of being surrounded by something greater-an unseen cosmos that was as infinite and mysterious as the night sky," writes Smoley, who also had a degree in classics from Harvard. "When I turned to the ideas propounded in the dark-blue volumes published by Oxford University Press or in scholarly journals such as Mind and the Philosophical Review, I felt like a child who had been locked indoors on a summer day."
In this book Smoley, the author of five previous books including Inner Christianity and Conscious Love, offers readers the rich fruit of his double education in mystical and classical philosophy to address the question of consciousness, which he elegantly defines as "that which relates self and other." Formulating his ideas in language of many traditions including esoteric Christianity but especially in the terms of Hindu philosophy (and especially the school known as Samkhya, the oldest), Smoley elegantly opens up the Oxford library to the night sky. With clarity and verve, he lays out famous arguments and articulations of the conundrum of the nature of consciousness so that they sparkle like jewels on dark velvet in starlight-linking the mystery of their arising with an unseen divinity.
The title and structure of the book is drawn from a story that is well known in India. In the course of a game of dice that is played again and again, Shiva, the lord of the world "who is free and fulfills all needs" loses everything, down to his last stitch of clothing, to his consort. How can this be? "Shiva represents consciousness-what I have been calling variously purusha, "I," or "I am"-that is, consciousness in a sense much more universal than mere human awareness," writes Smoley. "Parvati respesents prakriti, the contents of consciousness: experience in all its forms, internal and external, what esoteric Christianity calls "the world." Why must Shiva lose since he represents what one of the Upanishads calls the "seer of seeing" -that is, all forms of consciousness down to the sense of recognition exhibited by a hydrogen atom and an oxygen atom when they bind? Stringing together gems from Schopenhauer to great Sufi mystics, from John Locke to Jesus, Smoley plays the part of Parvati, displaying the beautiful inventiveness of our various religious, philosophical, and scientific philosophies-all the while stripping consciousness down to its bare essence, which is always free from any attributes except seeing alone. "For all the possible throws of the dice-that is, for all the possible directions manifestation can take-Shiva will always lose." Yet, Smoley also points Shiva out to us, shining and vast, like the night sky.
Tracy Cochran is executive editor of Parabola
-Reviewed by Tracy Cochran
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