Joey Madia, New Mystics Reviews

 (Burdett, NY: Larson Publications, 2007 [Orig. 1936, E.P. Dutton]). ISBN 978-0-943914-98-5 Paul Brunton, perhaps best known for his Short Path to Enlightenment and theories about the Oversoul, was an explorer, spiritualist, and thinker in the great tradition of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As humankind grappled with the Industrial Revolution and the question of the moral validity of Empire, Brunton and others like him sought to understand the varied religious, historical, and political systems of the world by experiencing them firsthand. Prior to going to Egypt, he traveled to India, writing the precursor to this volume. As Timothy J. Smith writes in the introduction, this journal is not only outward but an “inward journey of initiation.” When I first received it I anticipated a travelogue with valuable information about Egypt and its wonders through the lens of the 1930s. Although it is certainly that, detailed in its descriptions of buildings a...

(Larson Publications, 2014, for the www.larsonpublications.com, for the Paul Brunton Philosophic Foundation). ISBN 978-1-9360120-30-5 “You cannot acquire what is already here. So drop the ego’s false idea and affirm the real one” (p. 15) I was first introduced to the work of philosopher Paul Brunton in 2012, when I was asked to review The Gift of Grace: Awakening to Its Presence . I found it to be a profound and moving read. The Short Path to Enlightenment , like the previous book, is compiled and administered by the Paul Brunton Philosophic Foundation (PBPF) and it culls passages from some of Brunton’s earlier publications. Paul Brunton (1898–1981) was, like Joseph Campbell, of whom parts of his philosophy remind me, a student of the world’s sacred wisdom teachings. Trying to encapsulate his well and broadly lived life is nearly impossible in a book review, so I encourage the reader to spend some time researching Brunton on his or her own. The Short Path to Enlightenm...

A Review of The Gift of Grace: Awakening to Its Presence, a collection of Paul Brunton’s writings edited by Sam Cohen (Larson Publications, 2011, www.larsonpublications.com) by Joey Madia “Grace is received, not achieved.” (p. 134) Now that we have entered 2012, a year when so many are looking to the Mayan, Tibetan, and Hopi prophecies that have long foretold of a new era of spiritual enlightenment for all people, it is more important than ever to keep our hearts and minds engaged and nourished with the types of insights and guiding lights represented in this collection of writings on Grace culled from The Notebooks of Paul Brunton (compiled and administered by the Paul Brunton Philosophic Foundation). The man himself (1898–1981) was, like Joseph Campbell, a student of the world’s sacred wisdom teachings, and he draws on a wide range in the course of his writings on Grace, as well-evidenced in this book. Trying to encapsulate his well and broadly lived life is nearly impossible in a b...