Days of Shock, Days of Wonder: The 9/11 Age, the Ways of the Mystics, and One Man's Escape from Babylon in the Belly of a Whale by Rafiq

by Rafiq

When your views are at odds with the system, how do you walk your talk? What does it mean to live ethically in a world at war?Disillusioned with the religious and political models of the 9/11 age, Rafiq asks a question that we all face in our desire for authentic how can he remain in the world and still be true to himself?His quest for an answer carries him to a job at an Islamic university in Indonesia, where the US embassy is looking for terrorists, and then to the Sufi communes of northern India in search of the mystical. It pulls him into the trenches of 9/11 truth activism in Montreal before immersing him in the peyote ceremonies of the Huichol shamans of Mexico.Days of Shock, Days of Wonder is the eye-opening true story of one man’s confrontation with the spiritual and cognitive dissonance of our times – and how at last he escapes Babylon to find wisdom in the earthbound ways of the ancients.Read excerpts at for Days of Shock, Days of Wonder“If Kerouac or Bukowski had shunned alcohol for cannabis, encountered Sufism, and faced 9/11 truth and its implications, the result might have looked a bit like this. An engrossing read and an important document of our time.” ~ Kevin Barrett, author of Truth Jihad and 9/11 & American Empire“Rafiq narrates a twofold journey of discovery, describing how the 9/11 attack was engineered by the Bush administration and why humanity needs to replace religion, based on an external God, with devotion to the divine as a unifying force that lives in all of us.” ~ David Ray Griffin, author of 9/11 Ten Years Later and God Exists, although Gawd Does Not“This book links one man’s luminous journey with a nation’s crisis of identity and waywardness in the aftermath of the state crime that was 9/11. Rafiq gives us a deeply engaging account of arriving on the other side of a new awareness of our world from which there is no returning. Having shared this experience, I drew much solace and inspiration from his lyrical meditation on choice, doubt, determination, and resolve.” ~ Matthew Witt, co-editor of State Crimes against Democracy"What a trip, of substance and deep truth seeking. This book is part travel adventure, part spiritual quest, part activism handbook. Rafiq's quest is the ancient vision quest; it's indigenous to our true nature, since we are a part of God. That's what Rafiq seeks to show us. This book should be a part of the essential tool chest for all the ones who believe that spirituality is a part of activism AND the ones who seek to criticize religion as a distraction. Because Rafiq has something to contribute to this most important of dialogues." ~ Sander Hicks, author of Slingshot to the Total Resistance to the Death Machine Means Complete Love of the Truth

Mass Market Paperback

About the author

Rafiq is writer and filmmaker Robert Sean Lewis. He wrote his first book, Gaj: The End of Religion (2004), to counter the idea of “God” as an individual who could take sides in the “war on terror.” His memoir Days of Shock, Days of Wonder (2016) tells the story of his confrontation with the spiritual and cognitive dissonance of the 9/11 age.

His documentaries include Be Smile: The Stories of Two Urban Inuit (2006), Khanqah: A Sufi Place (2011), and Cosmic Shift: Pilgrimage into Mayaland (2012). Be Smile screened at the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco in 2008 and at Cinema Politica in Montreal, Ottawa, and Fredericton.

Rafiq's docs are online at Vimeo.

Gaj is at https://www.amazon.com/GAJ-The-End-of....

Days of Shock, Days of Wonder is at https://www.amazon.com/Days-Shock-Won....

Reviews

[SALLY WHITE]

Thank you Goodreads for sending me this book. Angry by the cover ups perceived about 9/11 & the death of Bin laden, Rafiq takes himself off on a journey of discovery. The book is a great read. Both aspects of the book are inspiring to find the truth. The truth about how governments can mislead us, and the spiritual truth within each of us.

[Chris Pemberton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm amazed at the intelligence of this author. He has the ability to write about such intricate topics and yet does it so smoothly, making it such an enjoyable and enlightening read!

[Avery · Rating 3 out of 5]

For anyone interested in an alternative view, this book is for you. It not only examines what we don't want to see now, but what it is like to be a contrarian. This book will appeal to people who enjoy travelling and the quest for knowledge. It is an honest forthright recollection of one man's struggle to unearth the truth within as well as outside the belly of the whale. Very easy to read and thought provoking.