The Lazy Man's Life
Thaddeus Golas was born in Paterson, NJ, to Polish Catholic parents during the Great Depression. He served a long European tour of duty in WWII; the G.I. Bill to graduate from New York's Columbia University where he studied under Jacques Barzun, among notable others. He went on to work as a proofreader for Betty Ballantine, as a book editor for Tattler, Redbook, and later, in Oklahoma, as a sales representative for Harper & Row. He saw the rise of the Beat Movement in Manhattan, with its onset of mind-altering substances. His ideas on human consciousness had gathered over many years of pondering Eastern Mysticism and popular Quantum Science. During the '60s, he was encouraged by Alan Watts, Timothy Leary, and former high school mate Allen Ginsberg to self-publish his Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment. Thus, it was in the psychedelic maelstrom, in the midst of San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury turmoil at the start of the Seventies, that Thaddeus Golas achieved recognition as a major philosopher. He stood on street corners with his wife, come rain or come shine, selling copies to passersby to make ends meet.The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenmentcaught-on like wild fire, and Golas, the reluctant guru, became a bit of a sensation. TheGuideremained in print for nearly 40 years through various incarnations. Often shunned by members of the New Age community for his biting criticism of their manipulations, Thaddeus Golas remained a nomad and led a discreet life, declining to lecture or exploit his readers with seminars. Twenty years after it was completed,Love and Pain, the second book by Thaddeus Golas, picks up whereThe Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenmentleaves off. It is a deeper investigation of his metaphysical message; a more modern and more complete look at his metaphysical map -- by some accounts his "masterpiece" !Similarly,The Cosmic Airdrome, his third book, is a great companion to the Guide.The Lazy Man's Lifeis the Biography of Thaddeus Golas.