This is one of the most important books that exist. Everyone should read it. Especially if you want to get free within your consciousness, relationships, and life, of most of the social conditioning and programming most of us don’t want any longer, that no longer serves us, that is not conducive to the kind of world we want to create.

For me, seeing the historical origins of so much of my programming was extremely liberating. Our conditioning is SO SUBTLE, and reading over and over about many facets of it, helped disentangle me from it. I also experienced a HUGE sense of validation for many of my differences from the culture I find myself in, and even from many of the “spiritual” writers and approaches I have studied.

The book is not an easy read; it is kinda academic (but not as intensely so as some of our dear Ken Wilber.) But I found it still very emotionally powerful, so I recommend just plowing along and not worrying about understanding every sentence completely. She repeats herself often enough that eventually you will flow with her style (like tuning one’s ear to an accent) and “get” what she is saying.

And I’m only about a third of the way through it!!!!! And despite all the academic stuff, it is becoming a page-turner for me. The more of it I am reading, the more I am gulping it down and harder to tear myself away from it!

I do plan to add some quotes at some point.

Others, please jump in with your own reviews!

P.S. I have NOT read her first book The Chalice and The Blade, to which this is kinda an intellectual sequel, but she does summarize many of the essential points of the earlier book.