ARA Review by Richardkcaputophd009 of In It Together
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Richardkcaputophd009
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ARA Review by Richardkcaputophd009 of In It Together
[Following is an OnlineBookClub.org ARA Review of the book, In It Together.]
In It Together argues that the path to inner peace for each and every one rests on an awareness of eternal, universal self-evident truths: That truth can be revealed, that truth is a matter of what is, that the real you means your consciousness vis-à-vis the illusionary rest of your unconscious mind and body, that people are united via empathy whether they like it or not, that truth entails unconditional love and forgiveness, among others.
Hughes judiciously uses thought experiments to enhance the plausibility of his arguments. One links a person’s present real self, that is, consciousness, to their future real selves, which they cannot help but love. Everyone has this mirror image of themselves and is also aware that everyone else has it. Empathy enables this mirror image of self-love to transcend not only time (present and future selves) but also concomitantly to extend it to all other mirror-imaging real selves. The stage is thereby set for universal inner peace, whereby everyone loves everyone else and by extension is willing to do something to mitigate human misery in its multivarious forms while ensuring the integrity of the planet to support life. Eleven suggestions of what to do to achieve the requisite inner peace are provided.
Sections of the book extol the virtues of self-discipline, i.e., spiritual freedom, and personal responsibility for the choices one makes. Other sections note that nothing in the book precludes one’s religion or spiritual proclivities. To prospective secular or scientific readers, a footnote provides a hyperlink to three types of controlled experiments to assuage lingering doubts.
Despite several misgivings and caveats, I give this book 4 out of 5. I rate it this highly because it is professionally written and its arguments spark additional deliberation, whether in agreement or not. I also rate it highly because it draws on and quotes notable thinkers such as Descartes, Ram Dass, Nietzsche, Rev. Dr. John Watson, Voltairine de Cleyre, Albert Einstein, Shakespeare, Don Miguel Ruiz, among others. I want to reread some of them or read some of their works for the first time as I scrutinized how applicable each was to the context in the book.
I avoided a 5 rating because I found some statements incredulous and arguments illogical, if not vacuous. Leaving me perplexed were such declarations such as “you have a human body, but you are not human,” “you are not really your body at all,” “you are conscious,” “consciousness exists. You exist,” “There is no singular present. There is no universal now. There are infinite spatiotemporal presents across all of objectively spaceless objectively timeless 4D spacetime,” “In reality, there are no shoulds and oughts. There simply is what is and what's not. Whatever it is, it is what it is.”
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View In It Together on Bookshelves
In It Together argues that the path to inner peace for each and every one rests on an awareness of eternal, universal self-evident truths: That truth can be revealed, that truth is a matter of what is, that the real you means your consciousness vis-à-vis the illusionary rest of your unconscious mind and body, that people are united via empathy whether they like it or not, that truth entails unconditional love and forgiveness, among others.
Hughes judiciously uses thought experiments to enhance the plausibility of his arguments. One links a person’s present real self, that is, consciousness, to their future real selves, which they cannot help but love. Everyone has this mirror image of themselves and is also aware that everyone else has it. Empathy enables this mirror image of self-love to transcend not only time (present and future selves) but also concomitantly to extend it to all other mirror-imaging real selves. The stage is thereby set for universal inner peace, whereby everyone loves everyone else and by extension is willing to do something to mitigate human misery in its multivarious forms while ensuring the integrity of the planet to support life. Eleven suggestions of what to do to achieve the requisite inner peace are provided.
Sections of the book extol the virtues of self-discipline, i.e., spiritual freedom, and personal responsibility for the choices one makes. Other sections note that nothing in the book precludes one’s religion or spiritual proclivities. To prospective secular or scientific readers, a footnote provides a hyperlink to three types of controlled experiments to assuage lingering doubts.
Despite several misgivings and caveats, I give this book 4 out of 5. I rate it this highly because it is professionally written and its arguments spark additional deliberation, whether in agreement or not. I also rate it highly because it draws on and quotes notable thinkers such as Descartes, Ram Dass, Nietzsche, Rev. Dr. John Watson, Voltairine de Cleyre, Albert Einstein, Shakespeare, Don Miguel Ruiz, among others. I want to reread some of them or read some of their works for the first time as I scrutinized how applicable each was to the context in the book.
I avoided a 5 rating because I found some statements incredulous and arguments illogical, if not vacuous. Leaving me perplexed were such declarations such as “you have a human body, but you are not human,” “you are not really your body at all,” “you are conscious,” “consciousness exists. You exist,” “There is no singular present. There is no universal now. There are infinite spatiotemporal presents across all of objectively spaceless objectively timeless 4D spacetime,” “In reality, there are no shoulds and oughts. There simply is what is and what's not. Whatever it is, it is what it is.”
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View In It Together on Bookshelves
