Coming Home: The Experience of Enlightenment in Sacred Traditions

by Lex Hixon

Book Overview

Explores the experience of enlightenmentin sacred traditions and how it affects those who experience it.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0943914744
• ISBN13: 9780943914749
• Release Date: November 1995
• Publisher: Larson Publications
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.7" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Think: Ken Wilber with a Lot More HEART

I enjoyed this book so much that I wrote to Lex Hixon. To my suprise, he telephoned me and we talked for an hour! His PhD in comparative religion from Columbia University should not make you think that his approach to the world's mystic traditions was the least bit dry or academic. He was an ecstatic lover of God, like Rumi, while remaining an encyclopedic scholar and a wonderful writer, like---well, like Rumi. I've read all of his books. This is one of his best. Lex Hixon died of cancer at age 55, but like a 20th Century version of Ramakrishna (a great mentor of his) he had lived the lives of several devotees rolled into one.

A Unique Insight into the Mystical Tradition

An excellent book - well written and insightful.At one level the book is a survey of "enlightenment" or the mystic experience/way of life (direct experience of the Divine) in several religious traditions. At another level - and the more important one from my perspective - the book uses its discussion of the particular nuances of each of these mystic traditions to draw a common definition/description of enlightenment. The clear message here is that the apparent differences among religions are more a matter of the nature of human perception/ways of communicating than any fundamental difference at the real level. The last chapter of the book contains a valuable set of guided exercises in prayer and meditative practice to equip the reader with the tools to embark on the path of mystic experience.Hixon was both a scholar (Ph.D. in Comparative Religions from Columbia) and a practicing mystic (Sheikh in the Havleti-Jerrahi Sufi Order) so this book combines the best of scholarship and direct experience. He is the author of several other very valuable books.

An exceptional guide to the spiritual journey.

Contrary to what the heading says, the book is by Lex Hixon alone, with a brief forward by Ken Wilber. That aside, the book is a welcome addition to the literature on the world's religions. Focusing as it does on the territory of enlightenment in various traditions, it is a breath of fresh air from narrow minded, my-way -is -best religious wrangling. He cover some of the greats: Maharshi, Ramakrishna, the Baal Shem Tov, Plotinus...and his ending with a consultation of the i ching is intriguing.

An inspirational, beautiful look at various paths to Truth

As Ken Wilber says, this is the "single best introductory book ever written on the world's great mystical traditions." It is soulfully, masterfully written--seeking not merely to educate but to awaken its reader to the all-encompassing reality of his or her own Consciousness. I recommend it highly.