Paradise is not the state of being in harmony, but the process of harmonizing. It is not a garden of bliss, but the bliss of gardening.
Paradise is about mending the self, restoring the balance, getting back into tune, bringing all our discarded and forgotten parts into the whole. That means paying attention to and honoring synchronicities, precognitive dreams, telepathic communications, visions—and all manner of experiences of psychic sensitivity.
Philosophy professor Joe Felser realized that what he calls the "decrepit, decaying cultural ideologies," in exclusively favoring reason and logic, were excluding the equally real world of magic and psychic activities. He began to investigate, and the closer he looked, the more he found.
But he wasn't ready to abandon the world of reason and logic. Instead, he wanted to see if he could find a way to blend the two.
He did. The result is this book. In The Way Back to Paradise, Felser takes you through his day, showing what everyday life looks like when you live that blend. His stories, both magical and reasonable, point the way toward a new kind of paradise, one suited to the 21st century.
One of the downsides to obtaining a Pretty Heavy Diploma (apart from the student loans) is that the process indoctrinates you into a society where thought processes are driven by simple logic and rationality. This can have a stifling effect on the creative mind. Thinking outside the box is permitted, just don't try and leave the dusty crate all the boxes are stored in. In his new book The Way back to Paradise, Professor Felser describes his battle between the mental limitations imposed on him by the education system, and his heart-felt belief that there is more to the universe around us than that which can be easily observed and tested. Railing against pressure from his peers and his mentors, and placing his career on the line, he breaks out from the box, pries the lid of the crate and yells down the attic stairs to anyone that will listen that there are more things in Heaven and Earth than are spoken of in the Journals of Science and Nature.
Felser elegantly describes his experiences with students, teachers and the world around him as he walks the line between Magic and Reason, finding deep truths and gaping holes in both of them. The book is intelligently written, and empathic in many ways, for the moment the text starts to become bogged down the author switches to a more upbeat and interesting style. I would recommend this book for anyone who wishes to feel better about the nature of being or who has spent their life having experiences that cannot be explained away by the image of Venus reflecting off of marsh gas...
We spoke with the Professor about this book, The Way back to Paradise, and his future projects.
The way back to Paradise is available at better bookstores or by clicking on the above link.
