Author: George Burke

Publisher: Light of the Spirit Press

ASIN: B073V3QSYX

        On Combating Delusion                       

This is a difficult book to read if you are in any way into New Age thought. There are not many books which provide such a balanced, no-nonsense perspective on this subject.

For this is a much needed book. Considering the colossal and burgeoning size of the self-development industry, many of whose adherents advocate a fallacious understanding of laws of manifestation, as they promise anything up to high heaven and beyond, within hours, it is heartening to read a book that focuses on the core values of spirituality and self-mastery as espoused by the Ascended Masters, including Jesus.

In this book, the author attempts to document the kind of delusions that are evoked by the condition called “A little learning” as spelt out in the poem by Alexander Pope:

“A little learning is a dangerous thing
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring 
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.”

The text in the book is arranged as follows:
The author starts by describing the condition of a few initiates, who, after having done a little meditation, knowingly or unknowingly, become victims of delusion, concerning their personal role in the grand scheme of things. This is a very common hurdle for many initiates to encounter on the path to self-realization, however serious they may be about their quest. The delusions could stem from several factors, e.g. dreams, biomagnetic sensations that could cause the initiate to see angels and light, meditations that yield chills and thrills at the start but which cause ultimate harm to our subtle bodies in the long term. Sometimes the initiate could be doing the wrong breathing exercises, or doing the right exercises in the wrong way, this could affect her/his pranic energies and manifest in nervous disorders, which the initiate would probably attribute to “burning karma”. Other pitfalls on the road to self-discovery that are mentioned in this book, are kundalini yoga and the use of beej mantras, both of which, if practised correctly, can yield good results. However, used in the wrong way, the health of the practitioner can be affected very negatively. In this section, the author also deals with the subject of the ego and how pandering to its vagaries can wash away the merits of years of meditative practice. False gurus are also a major factor that can affect the health of an initiate.

In the second section, the author lists several symptoms of self-delusion that could affect a spiritual aspirant. Some of these are physical degeneration, addiction to drugs, extreme disinclination to rational and open self-investigation, intellectualization of his/her experiences in the light of being nothingness and so on.

In the third section, the author presents a technique for a spiritual practitioner to heal himself/herself of multitudinous health problems that have arisen as a result of wrong meditative practices. Subsequently, the author goes on to describe how a genuine seeker would talk of his spiritual attainments, closing the chapter with the example of St. Ambrose of Optina, Russia and a description of one of his transcendental experiences,

In the last chapter, the author suggests a meditative path called Om-yoga meditation.This is a simple,yet powerful meditative path with the additive advantage that one cannot easily go astray, as happens very often in the case of inappropriate Beej mantra meditations.

Like his other books, this book is very well written. A lesser person could have gone off on a tangent while dwelling on the negative consequences of much of the New Age buzzwords of consciousness. The author has been restrained with his criticism in this regard, without compromising on the facts, many of which he has experienced first hand, a difficult balancing act indeed. His facts are also bolstered by stories of encounters with genuine spiritual savants whose authenticity and authority stand unquestioned. This book could be invaluable to a genuine spiritual seeker as it informs her/him of many of the pitfalls created by the ego that lie in wait.

Warmly recommended to all genuine spiritual seekers.