A New Earth

Chapter 10

 In this chapter, the author focuses on expansion movements of the world. He explains these two movements in the context of the life of a human being. I find the author’s explanations about the life of a human being quite fascinating. I cannot help but ask myself: “How did he come up with the conclusion that the life of a human being begins at birth and then continues to expand and upon reaching its maximum, it starts to contract when the person starts ageing and dies?” What I find quite surprising and unbelievable is the author’s view that consciousness is an eternal aspect of human life. The question is: “if human life is not eternal, how can consciousness be eternal?” My favorite sentence in this chapter is “So the new heaven, the awakened consciousness, is not a future state to be achieved” (178; ch. 10). I like this sentence since it consoles me with the thought that heaven is right inside me; it is only waiting for me to discover and explore it from deep within me.

Chapter 1

This chapter introduces and summarizes the contents of the book. From this chapter, I grasp that the author intends to convince people to transform their thinking patterns so as to avert the evils and dysfunctions that are widespread across the world. The author aims at transforming the reader by taking him through contemplative and reflective processes so as to achieve self-actualization since it is through self-actualization that a new earth is born. I tend to agree with the author’s views that human beings can only be transformed using something deeper than ideologies and beliefs. However, this something can only be consciousness. It is like recreating yourself from deep within since transformation happens there. My favorite phrase in this chapter is “If the structures of the human mind remain unchanged we will always end up fundamentally recreating the same world, the same evils, the same dysfunction” (12; ch. 1). This phrase catches my attention. This is since it echoes my belief that a person can only be transformed if he changes his thinking patterns.