cover image The Mandala of Being: Discovering the Power of Awareness

The Mandala of Being: Discovering the Power of Awareness

Richard Moss, . . New World Library, $15.95 (361pp) ISBN 978-1-57731572-8

For more than 100 years, Eastern insights about the quest for peace possible in the present moment have filtered into the West. Just so, Moss chooses the perfect visual map for this important book about self-awareness: a mandala. A mandala is a geometric, usually circular figure in Hindu and Buddhist thought that represents the universe. In the psychoanalytic realm, this figure represents the quest for self-unity and completeness. Using the mandala, Moss elegantly and with great elucidation and precision offers a place for modern seekers to stand centered in the now amid the four directions of past and future, you and me. His volume presents much clear thought about a potentially complicated topic. Readers who enjoyed Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now and are ready to take the next step should gravitate easily to Moss's probing marriage of psychology, the transcendent nature of self, fear, faith and love. The fruits of Moss's many workshop experiences and exercises are cited throughout so as to make this potentially dense subject surprisingly accessible. A charity of spirit and extension to all religious traditions percolates through this volume. Concluding thoughts on the present climate of politically and culturally generated terror make this an especially potent offering. (Mar.)