Review by soumswriter -- The Unbound Soul
Posted: 24 Mar 2019, 07:01
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Unbound Soul" by Richard L. Haight.]
3 out of 4 stars
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The Unbound Soul by Richard L. Haight is a guide to spiritual transformation and enlightenment. Richard’s spiritual journey started at a young age. Jesus Christ appeared to Richard in a series of dreams and asked Richard to find his bones. The premise of this book is that the Christian teachings have been modified over generations' and it was the author’s quest to bring the truth to light.
The book is divided into four parts, My Story, The Path, Daily Unfoldment and Soul and Spirit. In My Story, we learn about the childhood and the early adulthood of Richard. In The Path, Richard goes on a vision quest to Amazon and also learns several martial art techniques in Japan. In Daily Unfoldment, Richard writes about the Warrior Meditation and Dance of the Self, two techniques which open the gates to discovering ourselves. In Soul and Spirit, Richard presents his views about the current spiritual deterioration of the society and combines them with his life experiences. The worldly beliefs and systems trap us and prevent us from experiencing the boundless joy of the soul.
I found the title of the book to be appropriate. Early in his life, Richard has several out-of-body experiences, hence his soul was unbound. His spiritual journey is unique because it combines the martial art technique, Shinkaido, with regular meditation techniques. Richard’s vision quest in Amazon and a few of his life stories such as almost getting mugged, fooling his brother and friends by pretending to be a wild animal were a good diversion, and held my interest.
In my opinion, spiritual transformation requires in-person guidance of an able teacher and cannot be obtained from books. There could be hurdles on the spiritual path. If we get the guidance from a book, then we are stuck because we can’t ask the author for immediate help. For example, I wanted to try the Dance of the Self proposed by Richard. With the Dance of the Self, we dance out our negative feelings and discomforts. Richard also mentioned the negative aspect of this technique. After a few days of doing the Dance of the Self technique, he was troubled by an evil spirit who sucked his strength. Richard figured out that place where he practiced Dance of the Self, harbored the released negative energy. This energy came to haunt him and therefore had to be dispelled without fail. While I was glad that the author was forthcoming about this side-effect, I was also riddled with doubts such as, ‘What if I don’t dispel the negative energy properly? Will it haunt me as well?’ Therefore, I did not try this technique. However, a few basic guidelines found in the book about healthy lifestyle can be put into practice.
This book can be a long read on spirituality and hence recommended only to people who like spiritual books. The book seemed professionally edited because I could not find any spelling or grammatical errors. I give this book a 3 out of 4 rating because the structuring could have been better. For example, in Soul and Spirit part, there was a discontinuity between the personal stories and the advice provided by Richard. The transition from one to another felt abrupt. This book is recommended to anyone seeking enlightenment and have no issues in learning spiritual techniques from a book.
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The Unbound Soul
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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3 out of 4 stars
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The Unbound Soul by Richard L. Haight is a guide to spiritual transformation and enlightenment. Richard’s spiritual journey started at a young age. Jesus Christ appeared to Richard in a series of dreams and asked Richard to find his bones. The premise of this book is that the Christian teachings have been modified over generations' and it was the author’s quest to bring the truth to light.
The book is divided into four parts, My Story, The Path, Daily Unfoldment and Soul and Spirit. In My Story, we learn about the childhood and the early adulthood of Richard. In The Path, Richard goes on a vision quest to Amazon and also learns several martial art techniques in Japan. In Daily Unfoldment, Richard writes about the Warrior Meditation and Dance of the Self, two techniques which open the gates to discovering ourselves. In Soul and Spirit, Richard presents his views about the current spiritual deterioration of the society and combines them with his life experiences. The worldly beliefs and systems trap us and prevent us from experiencing the boundless joy of the soul.
I found the title of the book to be appropriate. Early in his life, Richard has several out-of-body experiences, hence his soul was unbound. His spiritual journey is unique because it combines the martial art technique, Shinkaido, with regular meditation techniques. Richard’s vision quest in Amazon and a few of his life stories such as almost getting mugged, fooling his brother and friends by pretending to be a wild animal were a good diversion, and held my interest.
In my opinion, spiritual transformation requires in-person guidance of an able teacher and cannot be obtained from books. There could be hurdles on the spiritual path. If we get the guidance from a book, then we are stuck because we can’t ask the author for immediate help. For example, I wanted to try the Dance of the Self proposed by Richard. With the Dance of the Self, we dance out our negative feelings and discomforts. Richard also mentioned the negative aspect of this technique. After a few days of doing the Dance of the Self technique, he was troubled by an evil spirit who sucked his strength. Richard figured out that place where he practiced Dance of the Self, harbored the released negative energy. This energy came to haunt him and therefore had to be dispelled without fail. While I was glad that the author was forthcoming about this side-effect, I was also riddled with doubts such as, ‘What if I don’t dispel the negative energy properly? Will it haunt me as well?’ Therefore, I did not try this technique. However, a few basic guidelines found in the book about healthy lifestyle can be put into practice.
This book can be a long read on spirituality and hence recommended only to people who like spiritual books. The book seemed professionally edited because I could not find any spelling or grammatical errors. I give this book a 3 out of 4 rating because the structuring could have been better. For example, in Soul and Spirit part, there was a discontinuity between the personal stories and the advice provided by Richard. The transition from one to another felt abrupt. This book is recommended to anyone seeking enlightenment and have no issues in learning spiritual techniques from a book.
******
The Unbound Soul
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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