Carl Gustav Jung
Every once in a while a book comes along that truly gives you pause and forces you to deeply reflect on life and the driving forces behind your decisions and your philosophy. For me, Dr. Wayne Dyer’s latest work; The Shift – Taking your Life from Ambition to Meaning is one of those rare books.
The Shift, a companion book to the movie of the same name illustrates how and why to make the move, or the shift, from ambition to meaning. Dyer focuses on the reconnection that is possible with our spiritual connectedness as we first decide, and then begin this transformation.
The book starts with a piece from an inspirational documentary titled Hasten Slowly: The Journey of Sir Laurens van der Post:
The bushman in the Kalahari Desert talk about two “hungers”.
There is the Great Hunger and there is the Little Hunger.
The Little Hunger wants food for the belly;
But the Great Hunger,
And the greatest hunger of all, is the hunger for meaning….
The book is divided into 4 chapters, smartly titled: From, Ambition, To and Meaning. The first chapter follows the transition from the spiritual realm into a physical one which is the first shift; from energy to form. This chapter explores the question of who am I and where did I come from in a way that I have never read before. I found it to be well thought out and extremely thought provoking.
Ambition, the second chapter, follows our progression as in our travels we leave a place of spiritual connection and then shift to a life that is ego driven and is constantly in search for more, a pursuit that is fruitless as each accomplishment is simply replaced by the desire for another. Dyer refers to this shift as a natural progression that requires us to edge God out and learn to believe in our false self. This explanation is followed by a thorough description of six lies that ego needs us to believe and how these affect our actions.
The third chapter, To, unfolds as Dyer describes the next shift as we attempt to step away from the demands of the ego and move towards the authentic self and a life of purpose. This is really defined as a return to the “fromness” from where we started. At this point our sense of separateness can be replaced by an understanding of how we are all connected and how attempting to control others runs counter to our true essence. He quotes both the Tao Te Ching with “never think of conquering others by force. Whatever strains with force will soon decay. It is not attuned to the way” as well as the words of Jesus; “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5:9) to illustrate the point. The seven steps of our U-turn illustrate in detail what we can expect as we begin this journey.
The fourth and final chapter, Meaning, takes us full circle as we arrive, ironically, back to where we started and describes how to prepare for a life of meaning and begin a life practicing the virtues that constitute our original nature.
At just over 100 pages in length, this is a small book with an enormous amount of information. It is supported by meaningful and beautiful quotes such as:
“Life is not meaningful…
unless it is serving an end beyond itself;
unless it is of value to someone else.”
- Abraham Joshua Heschel
“The one possible way of giving meaning to (man’s)
existence is that of raising his natural
relation to the world to a spiritual one.”
- Albert Schweitzer
As a committed student of life and personal development, I am always seeking well written sources of inspiration and learning in order to better understand life and my role in it. I found Dr. Wayne Dyer’s “The Shift” to be one of those sources of inspiration and it is a book that I will return to again.
For more information, visit Hay House at:
http://www.hayhouse.com/details.php?id=4672&utm_id=3313
or Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/Shift-Taking-Your-Ambition-Meaning/dp/1401927092/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265149999&sr=8-2
Please note that Hay House provided a copy of The Shift at no charge in exchange for being considered for review. My written review of this book is an honest reflection of my feelings towards it. Cam
Every once in a while a book comes along that truly gives you pause and forces you to deeply reflect on life and the driving forces behind your decisions and your philosophy. For me, Dr. Wayne Dyer’s latest work; The Shift – Taking your Life from Ambition to Meaning is one of those rare books.
The Shift, a companion book to the movie of the same name illustrates how and why to make the move, or the shift, from ambition to meaning. Dyer focuses on the reconnection that is possible with our spiritual connectedness as we first decide, and then begin this transformation.
The book starts with a piece from an inspirational documentary titled Hasten Slowly: The Journey of Sir Laurens van der Post:
The bushman in the Kalahari Desert talk about two “hungers”.
There is the Great Hunger and there is the Little Hunger.
The Little Hunger wants food for the belly;
But the Great Hunger,
And the greatest hunger of all, is the hunger for meaning….
The book is divided into 4 chapters, smartly titled: From, Ambition, To and Meaning. The first chapter follows the transition from the spiritual realm into a physical one which is the first shift; from energy to form. This chapter explores the question of who am I and where did I come from in a way that I have never read before. I found it to be well thought out and extremely thought provoking.
Ambition, the second chapter, follows our progression as in our travels we leave a place of spiritual connection and then shift to a life that is ego driven and is constantly in search for more, a pursuit that is fruitless as each accomplishment is simply replaced by the desire for another. Dyer refers to this shift as a natural progression that requires us to edge God out and learn to believe in our false self. This explanation is followed by a thorough description of six lies that ego needs us to believe and how these affect our actions.
The third chapter, To, unfolds as Dyer describes the next shift as we attempt to step away from the demands of the ego and move towards the authentic self and a life of purpose. This is really defined as a return to the “fromness” from where we started. At this point our sense of separateness can be replaced by an understanding of how we are all connected and how attempting to control others runs counter to our true essence. He quotes both the Tao Te Ching with “never think of conquering others by force. Whatever strains with force will soon decay. It is not attuned to the way” as well as the words of Jesus; “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5:9) to illustrate the point. The seven steps of our U-turn illustrate in detail what we can expect as we begin this journey.
The fourth and final chapter, Meaning, takes us full circle as we arrive, ironically, back to where we started and describes how to prepare for a life of meaning and begin a life practicing the virtues that constitute our original nature.
At just over 100 pages in length, this is a small book with an enormous amount of information. It is supported by meaningful and beautiful quotes such as:
“Life is not meaningful…
unless it is serving an end beyond itself;
unless it is of value to someone else.”
- Abraham Joshua Heschel
“The one possible way of giving meaning to (man’s)
existence is that of raising his natural
relation to the world to a spiritual one.”
- Albert Schweitzer
As a committed student of life and personal development, I am always seeking well written sources of inspiration and learning in order to better understand life and my role in it. I found Dr. Wayne Dyer’s “The Shift” to be one of those sources of inspiration and it is a book that I will return to again.
For more information, visit Hay House at:
http://www.hayhouse.com/details.php?id=4672&utm_id=3313
or Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/Shift-Taking-Your-Ambition-Meaning/dp/1401927092/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265149999&sr=8-2
Please note that Hay House provided a copy of The Shift at no charge in exchange for being considered for review. My written review of this book is an honest reflection of my feelings towards it. Cam
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