The Greatest Achievement in Life: Five Traditions of Mysticism and Mystical Approaches to Life (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780578395661)

The greatest achievement in life? Living in conscious oneness of ultimate reality, found in Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Kabbalah, Sufi, and comparative mysticism. This book summarizes many similarities among those five traditions and outlines mystical approaches to life. Inspired by the author's meetings with nineteen mystics in twelve countries: A Nobel astrophysicist in Chicago, a Vedanta Society spiritual director and the chairman of a global bank in New York, a professor of philosophy in Kyoto, a Zen abbot and a Cistercian monk on Lantau, a Quaker missionary in Victoria, Hong Kong, a Theravada monk from Chiang Mai, a Hindu priest on Bali, a Vajrayana abbot in Kathmandu, a sadhu/scholar in Lucknow, the President of India in Delhi, a Sufi shaikh in Teheran, a professor of political science (and shaikh) in Cairo, a member of the Knesset, a professor of history and a Greek Orthodox monk in Jerusalem, a retired police inspector in Copenhagen, and an Anglican bishop in Bath, England. The manuscript was sent to ten religious leaders/scholars of the five faiths and ten professors who teach comparative mysticism across the U.S.A. Their suggestions led to many revisions prior to publication.