The Way Back to Paradise: Restoring the Balance Between Magic and Reason

By Joseph M. Felser

Book Overview

Paradise is not the state of being in harmony, but the process of harmonizing. It is not a garden of bliss, but the bliss of gardening.

Paradise is about mending the self, restoring the balance, getting back into tune, bringing all our discarded and forgotten parts into the whole. That means paying attention to and honoring synchronicities, precognitive dreams, telepathic communications, visions--and all manner of experiences of psychic sensitivity.

Philosophy professor Joe Felser realized that what he calls the "decrepit, decaying cultural ideologies," in exclusively favoring reason and logic, were excluding the equally real world of magic and psychic activities. He began to investigate, and the closer he looked, the more he found.

But he wasn't ready to abandon the world of reason and logic. Instead, he wanted to see if he could find a way to blend the two.

He did. The result is this book. In The Way Back to Paradise, Felser takes you through his day, showing what everyday life looks like when you live that blend. His stories, both magical and reasonable, point the way toward a new kind of paradise, one suited to the 21st century.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1571743804
• ISBN13: 9781571743800
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Hampton Roads Publishing Company
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Deeply personal, thoughtful, and thought provoking

The Way Back To Paradise: Restoring The Balance Between Magic And Reason by New York philosophy professor Joseph Felser uses anecdotes and logic to challenges the reader to reclaim life's mysterious questions while seeking for our metaphysical answers without abandoning reason. Professor Felser argues for noticing precognitive hunches, reawakening personal communication with nature, and investigating life's synchronicities. To make his case, Professor Felser draws upon philosophy, the history of science, dreams, near death experiences, myths, fairy tales, Carl Jung, past lives, altered states, Bible stories, talking with animals, and healing. Especially recommended reading for students of Religion, Philosophy, and Metaphysics, The Way Back To Paradise is deeply personal, thoughtful, and thought provoking.

A stunning defense of consciousness

Joe Felser's book is a threshold work of charm and originality, in which he takes us on a journey through the process of rediscovering the deep "natural knowing" that exists within himself, and each one of us, however abrogated by our "decrepit, decaying cultural ideologies," as he puts it so well. Throughout, not only is Felser's writing a joy in itself, he maintains a delicate balance between intuitive leaps and earthy good sense, most unusual in this (or any) field. I especially like his description of a heightened sense experience in which all things seemed alive in the moment --even the phone poles. His self-effacing humor guides the reader unerringly, where a lesser writer would have lectured or spun an agenda. Instead, Felser asks the right questions, never settles for standard answers, and skewers the nonsense on all sides. Nonetheless, this book is written with an underlying tone of urgency. In refusing to concede his "natural knowing" to any official discipline or belief mode, Felser is challenging the rest of us to do the same, for in his opinion, "...nourishing our psychic sensitivity ... is not an option. It is a necessity if we wish to survive as a species on this planet." I could not agree more. This book is not only a stunning defense of our native individual consciousness, it is a work that represents the best of our collective understanding about how reality works, and how we'd best get cracking at attending to it. Five big, gold stars.

Highly recommend

I highly recommend this book. The author has generously shared himself in a very personal and human way that endears him to the reader. His experiences serve to jog memories of our own experiences - ones that we may have dismissed because they didn't fit the accepted, limited patterns in our society. The book reminds us that we are all remarkable magical creatures living in a very personal universe.

A Human Chronicle

The Way Back To Paradise is a solid footprint in the sands of time, a clear impression of the human desire for greater individual meaning, balance, presence, being, in the vast environment of existence. Professor Joseph M. Felser (Joe Felser) has "pulled it off," brought forth a clear view of the healing multidimensional capability of every human being with eloquent clarity, bringing together rich layers of perception, grounding it in the truth of his own existence and experiences. Intelligent, candid, perceptive, it is an honest , sensitive, well documented chronicle of the human search for inner freedom. Dr. Felser's epilogue is an eloquent tract, "the way back to paradise" unflinchingly laid out. "Powerful are the sensitive, they are free!"

Magical Experience

"The Way Back to Pardise" shows you, through the personal life experiences of Dr. Joseph Felser, how to approach life from a more meaningful perspective. Through this new perspective you are lead toward a much richer and magical daily life. The book was outstanding and I found it evoked in me many of my own forgotten experiences as I was reading it. Definitely 5 stars.