Customer Reviews

Soul Without Shame

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It seems like a repeat of so many topics that speak about mindfulness. If you've read a few books on Zen and mindfulness, then you're probably easily bored with new authors finding new ways to say, "pay attention!" This book steps away from the rest by using the ideas of Almaas and essence. This is a very useful book to read slowly and repeatedly. It does not contain any miracle methods for killing the superego, but it has lots of simple and useful exercises to explore the depth of your judge.
I especially recommend this book to shy people.

Very well laid out, presenting concepts in bite size pieces and with lots of supporting examples in simple terms. I found I resonated deeply with many of the issues raised. For the first time felt myself naturally doing the exercises at the end of the chapters because they made perfect sense. I gained much joy and hope from myself through this book. It's feels like having a friend confide their worst fears to you and realising that you feel exactly the same way and had been too scared to speak out.

If you really....I mean REALLY want to change, you MUST get this book. I'm half way through...and wow...I would say it can be as effective as actual psychotherapy sessions. Sometimes I found myself smiling to myself reading and reflecting on the various passages and exercises. It has been such a relief. I cannot deny there were moments of uneasiness....like someone peering right through you...like they have you all figured out. Yes, my ego at work here!! I am invited to confront some of my demons. I feel lighter and so much more liberated since having read, reflected on and applied the learning of the book. If you're stuck within your own vicious judgement cycle, this book just may the beginning of something new for you.

25 years ago I began a journey. It began with an extremely useful book entitled "A New Guide to Rational Living" by Ellis and Harper. During the intervening years, I've read dozens of books, all of them varying between mildly interesting and useless. This outstanding example of a true and simple understanding of the perception of the world is a real find. I expect to delve into more books along this method of work, with this as a truly profound primer.

This book provides incredibly detailed information on the workings of the inner critic, and helps build awareness and a solid skill set for disarming it. It is very well organized; each chapter introduces a topic and then gives you exercises to work with the material. It had a very powerful impact on me, equivalent to a week-long spiritual retreat.

Brown does a superb job of illustrating the different levels of "attack" our "inner critic" performs on us daily. Very easy to read and to follow its concepts. Great examples and excercises to apply concepts.

Byron Brown captures every feeling I've felt in the past 3 years and addresses it simply by not determining it as good or bad but just the way it is. You can choose to continue to try to conform or you can realize that you have, along with your inner judge, the capacity to step out of bounds and make a singular decision from your soul, if you can find your soul.

Personally and as a mental health therapist this is one of the most effective presentations I have read with regard to recognizing, confronting, and changing unhelpful and ineffective intra- and interpersonal patterns. If one is 'ready, ' for a personally fulfilling joruney, this text will serve as a welcome guidepost. Thanks Byron Brown.

Tony Schwartz, author of What Really Matters, says it well in his blurb on the back cover: "Soul Without Shame is that rare book that blends intellectual depth, genuine originality, and practical usefulness. As Byron Brown envisions the 'inner critic,' (the superego) it is a force that most of us accept as a necessary moral compass in our lives, but which in fact attacks us relentlessly and insidiously. Gracefully and persuasively, Brown makes the case that we literally become our own worst enemies, undermining even our most determined efforts to grow and prosper. This book offers rich and fresh insights into an aspect of inner work that is far too often neglected, and also sets out systematic ways to break free of the prison of judgment--both of ourselves and of others."

Byron Brown has achieved a deceptively simple, compelling, systematic and clear distillation of basic superego analysis--as practiced in the Diamond Way so superbly developed by A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali). The book might be more accurately and successfully marketed with a title such as Soul Without Judgment, if Shambhala just had to use popular buzz words.

From A. H. Almaas' blurb: "In very clear and available language, this book details how to recognize the inner critic and how to deal effectively with it. Byron Brown's presentation is useful for any individual who wishes to be free from the inner suffering and coercion of this ancient foe of our humanity, but it is specifically directed to those interested and engaged in the inner journey toward realization and enlightenment."

I love this book! It's one of the best books I've ever read. For me it's in the same category as Fromm's Art of Loving and Buber's I and Thou--that is a book that makes such an impression that you don't forget it for decades. Soul Without Shame is well written, deeply thought provoking, and practical. I found myself making use of ideas from the book before I finished reading it. The exercises and practices at the end of each chapter are very worthwhile. Chapter 8 (Engaging the Judge) and Chapter 12 (Why Judge?)were chapters that resonated for me. I strongly recommend this book to people who are interested in becoming more aware of their own thought patterns and for those trying to quiet the inner critic so they can express their creativity.