Product Description

I invite you to walk through some common pathways of your soul's human journey with me, not only with your mind, but also with your heart and your body. We will be guided by a unique "soul map," and we will walk through it together. The following description of enthusiastic responders to this "map" may fit you in some or even all ways:
*Open-minded and growth-oriented.
*Introspective and reflective.
*Inclined toward self-examination and inner work.
*Had some "mystical" experiences, perhaps not understood at the time.
*Value meaning and purpose in life.
*Environmentally concerned and socially inclusive.
*Capable of honest self-observation.
*Benevolent sense of humor.
*Spiritually exploratory and non-dogmatic.

We all basically want to be healthy, happy and, whether we call it that or not, holy. If we reject the "holy" part we may be forgetting its core meaning of "whole" and equating it with a hypocritical "holier than thou" attitude we instinctively recoil from. Or perhaps we think of holiness as belonging to "enlightened beings" but not possible for us ordinary humans. Yet we are all potentially enlightened, and this is the experiential discovery of the psycho-spiritual journey.

Spirit is our true identity and can never be lost, only obscured or forgotten. We call the personified form of this divine energy "soul" - embodied Spirit born into a specific time and place, a specific familial and social matrix, the holy meeting ground of Spirit and matter.

We each have our own way to wholeness - holiness - our unique Path back to Spirit, which our essence has never left. It winds through the labyrinth of our individual lives, with many turnings and occasional dead ends. Yet when we encounter our authentic path, our heart recognizes it, and that is what this book is about.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #104613 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-20
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 178 pages

Customer Reviews

Broad View of The Human Experience
For years I've looked for a book that provides a broad view of the human experience, something that helps me understand what my own life is about and perhaps get some perspective on the universality of my individual challenges and experiences. For me, Dr. Ruumet's book did just that. I would agree with one of the endorsers on the back of the book by Dr. Robert Frager. He calls the book "a treasure chest, filled with wisdom...a wonderful tool for understanding the rich complexity of psychospiritual development in ourselves and others." To me, the book really delivers on that promise.

This is a book meant to be studied.
In Hillevi Ruumet's Pathways of the Soul she uses her 7-cycle model to explain psycho-spiritual human development cycles. Using a colored poster on page 17 the author numbers each icon that represents a particular cycle/level of development. Later she put a name to each cycle from one to seven as the Physical/Survival, The Emotional/Kinship, Egoic, Aloha, Star, Sophia, and the Transpersonal Journey.

This model was developed from an article she published, a class she taught, to this 158-page convoluted book. It is not an easy to read self-help book! It is a complicated study of theory written on a graduate school level. The author's complex writing style and frequent use of flowery metaphors made this a hard book to follow.

I would recommend reading Chapter 8, Perspectives on the Path and Chapter 9, Final Thoughts first. This will help the reader put names and explanation of terms and meanings related to numbers and pictures that represent each cycle.

I was more impressed with the author's credentials and vocabulary than with her ability to communicate. I learned something from this book, but cannot truthfully say that I enjoyed it. Perhaps I would appreciate it more if I intended to read it several more times and take the time to study it in greater detail.

I would recommend this book to serious psychology students, but not to those who are expecting a quick overview or an entertaining read.