The Quest for Authentic Power: Getting Past Manipulation, Control, and Self Limiting Beliefs
Initially, these titles seem dissimilar, but they actually bear  a striking resemblance to each other in tone and approach, at  times seeming interchangeable. Intuition's subtitle is telling:  the book concerns unlocking one's inner guidance via yoga. Notes  Walters (The Promise of Immortality: The True Teaching of the  Bible and the Bhagavad Gita), "Intuition is the innate ability  in everyone to perceive truth directly not by reason, logic or  analysis, but by simply knowing from within." One taps  intuition, which according to the author is deeper and purer  than mere logic, by exploring the ill-defined "superconscious"  mental state, which resembles a state between sleep and  wakefulness. Purposeful writing encourages patience,  persistence, and consistency; initiates should seek "calmness,  clarity, and joy. Intuition is always based in a deep sense of  calmness and detachment."  As a biochemist (Univ. of Toronto), Lawford makes a strange  proponent for mysticism, yet here he claims that we seek what he  calls "authentic" power, a state in which each person is "in  harmony with the deepest values of his or her soul." This  liberates us from the conventional power of others. Despite  Lawford's very personal, workmanlike approach, it feels as if he  were rehashing how to redefine one's environment. Neither  Lawford's nor Walters's book has broad appeal, and only very  large libraries or those with specialized self-help collections  should consider. Instead, try Pema Chodron's When Things Fall  Apart, which advocates inner peace via meditation, or Douglas  Bloch's helpful and more mainstream Listening to Your Inner  Voice, which combines meditation and exercise.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.