On the surface, this is a book of words that conveys a pleasant melody. But underneath the stories, chords of consciousness are being strummed that will transform the way you think. THE WAY WE CAME A story of an awakening that has become a worldwide movement. Our Reading this book will change your life. Excerpt from the Like most journeys, self-evolvement has a starting point. That starting point is the recognition that some (or even most) of your guiding values and beliefs are based on imitation of parents, teachers, peers, satisfied customers, celebrities, authorities, the successful, or even the world's failures. The life you are living is a copy of someone else's. It is a patchwork quilt of borrowings and unconscious influences. When you recognize this, really see it, something independent of any mental embellishment awakens a new self. You can call this new self, I am. This ineffable spirit authentic YOU wakes up with a desire to explore its potential. The articles and stories in the pages that follow are intended to illuminate archetypes in consciousness that will assist your growth. As you read, several things will the expectations and opinions of others will be recognized and re-considered; personal values will be re-examined; and patterns of behaviors will change. And most importantly, YOU, that ineffable explorer, will begin awakening as a Source Being. This is a heroic journey. About the Author In 1986, a teacher named Harry Palmer created The Avatar Course. That same year he founded Star's Edge International®, the seminar management corporation that supervises the delivery of the Avatar Materials. Harry's writings are a profound contribution to the growing body of knowledge, exercises, and processes directed to self-improvement. Many individuals and companies in the personal-development industry have adopted his ideas.
The Avatar Path offers an exploration into shedding the delusions of mind, body and self in favour of a real self, the Source Being. Avatar seems to do so through reprogramming thoughts: debilitating thoughts, 'secondaries', are acknowledged and simultaneously parked; empowering thoughts, 'primaries', are the real deal.
Such focus on the power of free will and the YOU as a structuring as well as constructing tool is both a strength and a weakness of the book. For the YOU to be active, a powerful imaginative open mind seems quintessential; yet, the mind is said to be not YOU. Experience, instead, governs the YOU; yet, many forms of experience, physical and intellectual experience among others, are disregarded.
Another blind spot I take issue with is how suspicious the book is of pre-aware life: experiences and sensations are seemingly delusional and debilitating and should be ignored. Instead, creating a new experience is to be aimed for. Personally, it would have resonated more if Avatar had seen value in them. I do feel resistance to turn away completely from the past as if it hadn't brought me any benefit.
So, as I reflect on the book's contribution to my emotional/ spiritual wellbeing, I can but conclude that it does not resonate with me, for the simple reason that it explicitly denounces the physical body as a 'means to reach and sustain a transcendental state.' (p. 153) Having said that, The Avatar Path does contain some thought gems (see progress report) that made it an at times thought provoking read.
I just re-read this book and found it completely amazing. Gained greater understanding & wisdom especially around the importance of doing the work in consciousness. It is like magic when I operate this way....and also like magic it is sometimes seems to hard to believe it can be this easy. I am sure I will read this book again. Each time I have read this book I have gained new insights that have made tangible differences ....
The goal in a philosophy/self-help/spiritual book nowadays has to be basically misinform the mind. Socrates told ''I know that I know nothing''. Are you looking for peace? Peace is not to look for something. You do not really need to know anything important. You just need to know what is not. And in this case, Harry Palmer seems to know too much things.
I suppose this just did not resonate with me. It feels contrived and in-authentic, if that can be a word. I know many wonderful people who have attended these sessions and feel strongly about these teachings. For me, it simply did not resonate.
This was a tough read i am not a disciple of this particular thought process. I believe that everything the author is espousing in his Avatar teachings can be found in the Bible. Being a practicing Christian I have no need to find a higher power since I have found my higher power.