Pushing Ultimates: Fundamentals of Authentic Self-Knowledge

by Lew Paz

"The road to authentic self-knowledge is probably the most challenging and worthwhile journey that a human being will ever explore ... It is so very tempting to take the easy path, to believe someone else's truth as our own, or to seek comfort in beliefs that we've never really questioned. Pushing Ultimates takes a candid look at the most common obstacles to authentic self-knowledge. Probably the biggest challenge in this process is beginning a line of questioning and really trying to find the answers ... Pushing Ultimates reminds us that despite out intense need to fit in and to go with the crowd, if we as individuals truly want authentic self-knowledge, we have to dig a lot deeper than that. We have to be willing to question anything and everything. We also have to be willing to listen to the answers." Dr. Tami Brady / TCM Reviews

397 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2007

Reviews

[Tami · Rating 5 out of 5]

The road to authentic self-knowledge is probably the most challenging and worthwhile journey that a human being will ever explore. This journey is often riddled with good intentions, trying to ignore shadows of the self, and a desire to find some sort of meaning to one's own suffering. It is so very easy to take the easy path, to believe someone else's truth as our own, or to seek comfort in beliefs that we've never really questioned.

Pushing Ultimates takes a candid look at the most common obstacles to authentic self knowledge. Probably the biggest challenge in this process is beginning a line of questioning and really trying to find the answers. It takes quite a bit of courage to question why you believe something, why you react in a certain way, or why you make certain choices. The average person does most things so automatically that they don't even think about what they do so getting to the why takes some work.

The process of questioning also usually means exploring taboo-like subjects such as science and religion. Does science actually explain the phenomena you are looking at in detail or does it just describe it? Does religion actually address the specifics of your question or does it serve primarily as a moral guideline and sense of comfort? Are science and religion polar opposites or are they both ways to explore our world that often gets tangled up in dogmatism? Pushing Ultimates reminds us that despite our intense need to fit in and to go with the crowds that if we as individuals truly want authentic self-knowledge that we have to dig a lot deeper than that. We have to be willing to question anything and everything. We also have to be willing to listen to the answers. While this is definitely not an easy task, it is likely the most important undertaking we'll ever start.

[Jose Morales palomino · Rating 5 out of 5]

If there is one reason I will always be grateful for dedicating time and energy to learning English, let it be the unique chance to have read this book. I now have five grandparents, Paz is fifth. Thank you grandpa.

There are books that give you of the sacred water of knowledge, they invite the thirsty and satiate it with fresh pleasure and understanding, they sing only the song that you can hear and give you only the water that your hands can gather, those are great books. Yet, there are other books, even though rare and precious they trick you pretending to be just another fountain, these call you with grace to the edge flagging an ubiquitous promise: to let you drink and leave satiated. But fear them much, their aim is to secretly lure you to its profoundness, to drown you in doubt, to break you, to make your thirst insatiable, their hope is to enchant you, to make you forget who you think you are, to teach you a forbidden song and give you more water than you knew was possible to imbibe, thus, you too, can become a rare fountain. Warning to the fellow wanderer: careful be, trickster fountain ahead.