Beatles Enlightenment

Beatles Enlightenment builds on Billy's Back!, but takes you deeper psychologically. It not only exposes the "Paul is Dead" meanings in "Let It Be," "Within You and Without You," “Across the Universe,” and “The Long and Winding Road,” but also reveals the emotional anguish and ultimate spiritual breakthroughs behind these and other songs.This book contains selections from The Memoirs of Billy Shears that are too philosophical, or spiritually esoteric, for the general readership of Billy's Back! If you enjoy books by illuminaries such as Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, Eckhart Tolle, or Marianne Williamson, you will love reading some of their favorite concepts behind Beatles songs.When The Memoirs of Billy Shears began to be shared in 2009 and 2010, it became apparent that most readers were more interested in the details surrounding Paul's death and replacement than in the Beatles' philosophical breakthroughs. Furthermore, The Memoirs are too long for most readers. Giving the public what they want, Billy's Back! became the flagship, providing the information that was the highest in demand; and Beatles Enlightenment (although likewise packed with "Paul is Dead" clues, insights, and implications) became the vessel of their more spiritual contributions.Paving the foundation for Beatles Enlightenment, we highly recommend that you first read Billy's Back! The painful introspection and joyous liberation reflected in Beatles Enlightenment will make more sense after you are sure of Paul McCartney's death and replacement, and after you understand the intense internal struggles that those circumstances caused "Paul" (William).

Susan Shumsky is a successful author in the human potential field. But in the 1970s, in India, the Swiss Alps, and elsewhere, she served on the personal staff of the most famous guru of the 20th century—Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Maharishi died in 2008 at age ninety, but his influence endures through the spiritual movement he founded: TM (Transcendental Meditation). Other books have been written about him, but this spellbinding page-turner offers a rare insider's view of life with the guru, including the time the Beatles studied at his feet in Rishikesh, India, and wrote dozens of songs under his influence. Both inspirational and disturbing, Maharishi and Me illuminates Susan's two decades living in Maharishi's ashrams, where she grew from a painfully shy teenage seeker into a spiritually aware teacher and author. It features behind-the-scenes, myth-busting stories, and over 100 photos of Maharishi and his celebrity disciples (the Beatles, Deepak Chopra, Mia Farrow, Beach Boys, and many more). Susan's candid, honest portrayal draws back the curtain on her shattering, extreme emotional seesaws of heaven and hell at her guru's hands. This compelling, haunting memoir will continue to challenge readers long after they turn its last page. It dismantles all previous beliefs about the spiritual path and how spiritual masters are supposed to behave. Susan shares: “Merely by being in his presence, we disciples entered an utterly timeless place and rapturous feeling, and, at the same time, realized the utter futility and insanity of the mundane world.” Susan's heartfelt masterwork blends her experiences, exacting research, artistically descriptive and humorous writing, emotional intelligence, and intensely personal inner exploration into a feast for thought and contemplation. Neither starry-eyed nor antagonistic, it captures, from a balanced viewpoint, the essence of life in an ashram.

The incredible backstories, cosmic coincidences, and colorful characters who loved, supported, exploited, and cheated the Beatles Historical deep dive for anyone who loves John, Paul, George, and Ringo and the mayhem that was Beatlemania Learn how the Beatles forced the integration of Florida’s Gator Bowl for the first time in its history

The hidden meanings of the Beatles’ most esoteric lyrics and sounds are revealed by a rare insider who spent two decades with the man who made “meditation,” “mantra,” and “yoga” household words: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. “I absolutely love this book. Between the stories and the pictures, many I’ve not seen before, this is truly a spiritual journey.” —Chris O’Dell, author of Miss O’Dell, My Hard Days and Long Nights with The Beatles, The Stones, Bob Dylan, and the Women They Loved The spiritual journey of the Beatles is the story of an entire generation of visionaries in the sixties who transformed the world. The Beatles turned Western culture upside down and brought Indian philosophy to the West more effectively than any guru. The Inner Light illumines hidden meanings of the Beatles’ India-influenced lyrics and sounds, decoded by Susan Shumsky—a rare insider who spent two decades in the ashrams and six years on the personal staff of the Beatles’ mentor, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. “With clarity, depth, and impeccable research, an exceptionally comprehensive book filled with engaging tales and fresh insights that even diehard Beatles fans will find illuminating.” —Philip Goldberg, author of American Veda: From Emerson and The Beatles to Yoga and Meditation, How Indian Spirituality Changed the West This eye-opening book draws back the curtain on the Beatles’ experiments with psychedelics, meditation, chanting, and Indian music. Among many shocking revelations never before revealed, we discover who invented "raga rock" (not the Beatles), the real identity of rare Indian instruements and musicians on their tracks, which Beatle was the best meditator (not George), why the Beatles left India in a huff, John and George’s attempts to return, Maharishi’s accurate prediction, and who Sexy Sadie, Jojo, Bungalow Bill, Dear Prudence, Blackbird, My Sweet Lord, Hare Krishna, and the Fool on the Hill really were. “This book reminds us in illuminating fashion why Susan is the premier thinker about India’s key influence upon the direction of the Beatles’ art. In vivid and stirring detail, she traces the Fabs’ spiritual awakening from Bangor to Rishikesh and beyond.” —Kenneth Womack, author of John Lennon 1980: The Last Days in the Life Half a century later, the Beatles have sold more records than any other recording artist. A new generation wants to relive the magic of the flower-power era and is now discovering the message of this iconic band and its four superstars. For people of all nations and ages, the Beatles’ mystique lives on. The Inner Light is Susan Shumsky’s gift to their legacy.

Shows how we must make deep changes to complete our paradigm shift from the old mechanistic worldview to the new organic worldview • Reveals the distinct stages of paradigm shifts through the ages, including the 18th-century Enlightenment and the critical stage of our current shift • Explains how the new organic worldview began with Goethe and Kant • Offers solutions for each of us to be able to realize and make the deep changes needed for global regeneration In Global Awakening, Michael Schacker shows that hidden within our global crises is a positive future for the planet. Sharing his 30 years of intensive research into the history of change as well as the evolution of consciousness and regenerative science, Schacker explains how our current shift from the old mechanistic worldview to a new organic worldview based on biological models follows the same pattern as other paradigm shifts across history, including the 18th-century Enlightenment and the American Revolution. He reveals the creative geniuses who have contributed to the birth of the organic worldview, beginning with Goethe, Kant, and Hahnemann. Exposing the scientific and social forces that drive paradigm shifts, he details the stages every paradigm shift progresses through: the early Enlightenment, the conservative backlash, the intensive phase, and and the transformational phase leading to the Organic Shift. Explaining that we are currently in the throes of the paradigm flip, the critical last phase of our paradigm shift, Schacker shows how the mechanistic worldview is crumbling around us and nothing but a complete transformation in the way we think will keep us from the path of total self-destruction. Providing a map to overcome the allure of the simplistic mechanical model that has spawned countless unsustainable practices and problems--from global warming to intense economic disparities--the author offers concrete solutions showing how each of us can use our talents, skills, and time to make the deep changes needed for global regeneration.

Award-winning actor and playwright John Maxwell Taylor builds on the success of his previous book, The Power of I Am, in this eloquent call to awaken from our collective trance and to claim the transformative power and happiness that is our birthright. Drawing on his forty years’ experience in spiritual self-transformation, Taylor offers a potent array of practical tools, stories, and life lessons that help us reorder the events in our lives, the way people respond to us, and the impact we have on the world. The Enlightenment Quest and the Art of Happiness shows us how to master ourselves so that we can harness the energy of higher power to surmount the chaos of the modern world and provides strategies for “sociological aikido” that allow us to deal effectively with negative people, narcissists, and egotists. Informed by Taylor’s incredibly varied background—from European pop star, to student of Paramahansa Yogananda, Gurdjieff, and Mantak Chia, to resident at the pioneering Findhorn Community, to playing Carl Jung on stage for many years—this book demonstrates how, by understanding the powers active in creation, we can become instruments through which higher power continually flows to advance our evolution toward consciousness. In doing so, we not only transform ourselves, we become powerful agents for changing the world. Readers learn how to: • Deal with negative people and egotists • Use higher power to redirect the world around one to one's own advantage • Stay sane in an insane world by understanding true spiritual psychology • See the world as it is instead of spiritually daydreaming that "things are going to get better" • Move beyond conspiracy theories and conspire instead to create a united world of consciousness • Gain fresh insights into the work of Campbell, Jung, Paramahansa Yogananda, Gurdjieff, and others • Apply the Findhorn principles of miraculous manifestation as practiced by the author since 1973

The Beatles' self-titled 1968 album was seen as something of a comedown after the exhilaration of its predecessor, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. In addition, conventional wisdom holds that The Beatles, aka the 'White Album', marks the beginning of the end of the Lennon/McCartney partnership. This book, however, exists to argue that the 'White Album' is not only the finest achievement of the Fab Four but can also be considered one of the greatest LP recordings of all time. Track by track, the album (and its sleeve) is discussed and considered. The result is a portrait of The Beatles, reflecting its eclectic nature through a series of personal responses from a variety of contributors.

The national bestseller that Newsday called “the most authoritative and candid look yet at the personal lives…of the oft-scrutinized group,” from the author of All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words. In The Love You Make, Peter Brown, a close friend of and business manager for the band—and the best man at John and Yoko’s wedding—presents a complete look at the dramatic offstage odyssey of the four lads from Liverpool who established the greatest music phenomenon of the twentieth century. Written with the full cooperation of each of the group’s members and their intimates, this book tells the inside story of the music and the madness, the feuds and the drugs, the marriages and the affairs—from the greatest heights to the self-destructive depths of the Fab Four. In-depth and definitive, The Love You Make is an astonishing account of four men who transformed the way a whole generation of young people thought and lived. It reigns as the most comprehensive, revealing biography available of John, Paul, George, and Ringo. Includes 32 pages of rare and revealing photos A Literary Guild® Alternate Selection

A yoga teacher finds new life in India–just not the one she was expecting. Nearing thirty, Amanda thought she’d be someone else by now. Instead, she’s an ex-nanny yogini-wannabe who cranks out “For Idiots” travel guides. True, she has a sexy photographer boyfriend, but he’s usually off shooting a dogsled race in Alaska or a vision quest in Peru—or just hooking up with other girls. However, she’s sure her new assignment to the ashrams of India will change everything. What she finds, though, is an ashram run by investment bankers, a model-obsessed guru, tantra parties, and silent retreats. India, it turns out, is not the spiritual refuge she’d pictured. But she finds a friend in Devi Das, a redheaded sadhu who refers to himself as “we.” And when a holy lunatic on the street offers her an enigmatic blessing, Amanda realizes a new life may be in store for her—just not the one she was expecting.

Why has a tiny old mining town straight out of Gunsmoke or Deadwood —Crestone, Colorado —become home to twenty-five spiritual centers representing nearly all the brand-name faiths of the world? With the keen eye of a storyteller, the insights of a scholar, and the heart of a seeker, Jeffery Paine narrates a truly unique adventure. He explores Crestone's wintry, oxygen-thin mountain geography and introduces a cast of spiritual mavericks and unlikely visionaries. Paine finds in Crestone a remarkable dedication to coexistence. Paradoxically, the town's amazing spiritual diversity highlights fundamental commonalities in a way that will strike and even inspire believers, agnostics, and searchers of every stripe.