Impossible! If there's one thing the author of HOW TO CONQUER SUFFERING WITHOUT DOCTORS, HOW TO CONTROL YOUR EMOTIONS, HOW YOUR MIND CAN KEEP YOU WELL, and SEX, SIN AND SOLUTION, despises, it's the slobbering sentimentality of the boy-meets-girl pap so popular in song and story.
Let me quickly explain that this particular Roy Masters offering concerns true love and genuine beauty and not the illusionary variety one continually encounters in movies and on television.
I'm of the belief that authentic beauty is a proper response to a human need. Forget what you've been brainwashed to think. Dare to break new ground. At least for the duration of this book give up stereotyped thought patterns that have been imposed upon you since the Year I . Not to do so will abort a unique consciousness-altering experience awaiting you in the chapters ahead. More about that later.
A spectacular sunset or the panorama of a lush flower garden in full bloom is very pleasing. But, by invoking a higher perception one can readily perceive the incomparable beauty inherent in an interpersonal relationship where loving truth is the bond that binds. When a wise friend provides the light of understanding needed in your hour of darkness, that to me is true love. And, really, what can be more beautiful?
As Roy Masters well knows, it's a chancy business at best providing the avenue where precious few can find wisdom. There are risks involved. There are also several prerequisites demanded of the sincere seeker.
Chanting a sanskrit mantra, fasting, or sitting cross-legged in the lotus position staring at your navel are not ~mg the requirements. What is necessary is to look at life without your rose-colored glasses.
Some will find this impossible. The positive thinker would rather die than admit that everything is not beautiful. The multitude shun unadorned truth like the plague. Yet they give lip service to the immortal truism: "know the truth and the truth Shall Set you free."
Still they go about living their lies and all the time wondering why God permits so much suffering. "Is there no justice?" they cry. "Why me? I try to do good, and yet I have all this pain."
Lost souls, drowning in their personal agony, can be shown breathtaking sunsets by the score, handed the most fragrant bouquets, allowed to view nature's most superb handiwork, and yet, in the midst of such stunning sights, preoccupation with their problems renders them oblivious.
Pull the shades down, throw away the flowers . . . but give them a lasting solution to their dilemma. Let them see how they can banish their pain and become whole (or holy) again. That's showing them beauty. That's loving them. And that's what this book is all about. In fact, that's what Roy Masters is all about.
Wait a minute. Before rushing on to read this book it is vital that you have the ability to clearly comprehend all that is here. You recall I mentioned prerequisites.
Unless you are utilizing the meditation - observation - concentration technique taught by the Foundation of Human Understanding, then the effect intended will not be experienced. One must bring objectivity, awareness, and right intent to the following pages.
Remember the 3-D fad some years ago that required you to wear special glasses in order to perceive the full three-dimensional effect? If you didn't view the film or illustration through the special lens, only a part of the picture would be visible.
I'm not suggesting you don gimmicky 3-D glasses. Quite the contrary. But the analogy makes a point. To get at the treasure waiting between the covers of this and any other Roy Masters books, something special is needed, and that something special is perception unencumbered by emotionalism.
Of course, when you meditate, every book, motion picture, television program, and life situation will provide invaluable insight. Then you can really enjoy beauty and know what love is truly all about. And won't that be nice?
- William Wolf
