Sacred Contracts: Awakening Your Divine Potential [Hardcover]

1. First, how do we know for certain that we make Sacred Contracts before we are born? This seems to be highly speculative. I mean, it could be, but how do we know for sure? Also, what objective criteria would one use in discovering the content of the contract? Is it just intuitive? There's a lot of guesswork here -- to be sure. It gets fuzzy right from the start.

2. With whom is the contract made, and what are the consequences if one does not fulfill the contract? Are their negative consequences for breaking one's vow? Is the vow made with God? I'm still not clear on this.

3. Myss is specific on the classification of archetypes, but admits there may be dozens or hundreds more. How does she know that these are all legitimate archetypes? This is a very different view from Plato's understanding of eternal forms. Plato believed the forms are universal, perfect, incorruptible, and all participate in the ultimate form of the good. Jung takes the forms re-works them, and ends up with a rather splintered and fragmented view. (the archetypes seem to be persons or spirits as Jung presents them.) Then Myss gets takes Jung's archetypes, splinters them further, and adds a dark twist -- confusing more than clarifying. I wonder where all of this is going to end?

4. I think Myss is correct with her diagnosis of a metaphysical disease which effects all people and expresses itself through depression, anxiety, fatigue, and physical illness. Humans are ill. However, her prescription for curing that disease (being one's own spiritual doctor) is unconvincing. If the source of the disease is external then why is an external cure not needed? What I mean is, if we are truly ill, why is that not a result of our failure to keep our contract? If it is, should we not seek the forgiveness of the One we have broken the contract with? Myss seems to say, 'no - we just try harder.'

5. If Myss wants to promote her view over other metaphysical views, it would may be best for her to explain why the other views are wrong. Either we have entered into sacred contracts in a pre-existence or we have not. Since so many other worldviews don't acknowledge this belief, I don't find it very compelling. If Myss is right, then so many others are wrong, as many religions deny a pre-existent state. Yes, she presents some similar views found in other religions, but these are obscure and an extreme minority.

In short, Myss's ideas are interesting, but I believe this book ends up being more fictional. If it is fiction I begin to wonder if it is leading people from the truth instead of towards it.

Sacred contracts will help you understand your most potent relationships, and what gifts they are giving to you! You cannot ask for a more powerful tool to help you change your own perspective and made solid changes to your life and your relationships.

Not only that, but Carolyn's process (Astrology, Archatypes and Spiritual Contracts) gives you a long term process that can be a life-long (or one-time) companion to deeper and deeper understanding of yourself and other people.

Be sure to read "Spiritual Madness" as well, if you haven't already. Talk about validation at midlife (and even sooner!).

Happy Reading.

Why are we here? What should we be doing with our lives? To discover our individual purposes, Myss encourages us to first find and then learn how to use our inner compass (p. 2). We need to find our divine path through life, Myss observes, because how we live our lives can create health or illness (p. 3). Drawing from sources like Jung and Plato, Myss teaches us how to read the archetypal patterns that influence our chakra energies (p. 6). "Archetypes are the architects of our lives" (p. 7), she writes, and our chakra energies radiate into every aspect of our lives, influencing our survival instincts, sex drives, self esteem, emotions, intellect, and spiritual aspirations (p. 165). I discovered, for instance, that I am influenced by the archetypal patterns of Hermit, Advocate, Poet, Rebel, Seeker, Student, Dreamer, and sometimes Clown, among others. Myss even provides an extensive and truly fascinating "Gallery of Archetypes" in the Appendix of her book (pp. 364-416).

Dr. Myss defines our sacred contract as the lesson we agreed to learn before birth in this incarnation to fulfill our divine potential (p. 17), and illustrates her discussions with the sacred contracts of Jesus (pp. 88-93), Muhammad (pp. 93-98), and the Buddha (pp. 98-103). While it offers its reader many opportunities for self discovery, I also think SACRED CONTRACTS should also be read with a caveat emptor inasmuch as its "Archetypal Wheel" premise rests greatly upon the validity of the archetypes, eight chakras, and twelve houses of the zodiac Myss relies upon in her methodology. Or perhaps I just approached this book through a Doubting Thomas archetype. Despite that caveat, however, SACRED CONTRACTS is a good reference tool for understanding the fine print of our lives.

G. Merritt