“The most significant test we ever face is Death...We might delay fully living if we did not hear the tick, tick, tick of Time.”
About Dancing to Nirvana
Throughout the ages, humanity's spiritual endeavors have led thousands to experience enlightenment. Other names for it are celebrated and plentiful: nirvana (extinguish) for Buddhists; the kingdom of God for Jesus; satori (understanding) and kensho (seeing into one's nature) for Zen Buddhists; moksha (liberation) among Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains; al-fana fi al-tawhid (annihilation in Unity) for Muslim Sufis; the grail among some medieval Europeans; and theosis (union with God) in the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church. Platonists and Neo-Platonists called it henosis (unity with the One) and alchemists variously referred to this spectacle with the most colorful names: philosopher's stone, lapis lazuli, peacock's tail, and treasured gold. No doubt earlier names are now lost to history. These diverse traditions consider enlightenment a significant goal—perhaps even the essential experience—of human existence.
The Branch of Immortal Life (Assyria)
Dancing to Nirvana illustrates the shared vision of all religions that can lead to enlightenment as well as the story and views of an American who experienced it. This book is for people who desire to see more clearly the common insights of diverse spiritual traditions as well as techniques of individual transformation.
The wisest beliefs are not from one creed only, but from many branches of one sacred Tree, linked through the roots with eternity's wellspring. Each branch crafts its own unique fruit so that we marvel—hearts and mouths open, on bowing knee—at the beauty, mystery, variety, outlandishness, and deliciousness of the religious imaginatio