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Finding Center
~ Reviews by Dawn
Brunke
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"Life
is unfolding, consistently revealing the incredibly
beautiful.
What will happen next?
What humor will twinkle in the next moment?
What love will enfold and nourish?
What surprise will awaken and shake us?
…We are the eyes of God, dazzling and bedazzled."
~John
MacEnulty
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Finding
the Love: Emanations from the Still Point
by John MacEnulty (Emanations Publishing, 2001, $17.95)
John MacEnulty developed lymphoma in 1991. As his family wrestled
with the decision to turn off life support and prepared for his death,
a healing miracle occurred. MacEnulty writes the turning point came
for him when he discovered that "my desire to live was no longer
fear driven. The love of my family and friends made me realize my life
was complete, and that it was okay to die. The paradox was that when I
was no longer afraid to die, I was flooded with a desire to live to
experience more of that wonderful love."
Shortly after that awakening, MacEnulty began sending out short
personal essays and reflections, first by hard copy and later through
the Internet. The concept of these "emanations," as he
termed them, was inspired from T. S. Eliot's poetry and the belief
that everything emanates from the deep still point of the turning
world.
I have been on the Eman8tions email list for over a year. Quite
often I have been touched by the daily musing -- is it a poem? a
spiritual story? a mirrored insight? a glimpse into sudden awakening
-- that speeds it way to my computer (as well as to 2,000 other
computers) each morning. All too frequently have I thought, this man
should write a book. Lucky for us all, he has.
"Finding the Love" is a collection of 150 emanations -- a
variety of bright, poetic gems that sparkle with unexpected insights.
MacEnulty's potent phrases and surprising, yet somehow deeply
familiar, ideas slide unobtrusively into the mind, heart and soul --
reminding, nudging, comforting, encouraging and amusing.
The book itself is lovely -- paper that feels good, a pleasant
cover, and each emanation fills the space of a single page. The
subject? Anything and everything. Titles range from Ubiquitous Wisdom
and Simple Answers to Shadow Integration and Trying Not To Be Fooled.
This is a wonderful collection by a wise, humorous, and creative
writer. And, in case you are wondering about the lymphoma, seven years
ago MacEnulty's oncologist pronounced that the cancer was no longer in
remission, but cured. How did it happen? As MacEnulty himself notes,
"The great mystery works mysteriously. To understand it we must
be willing to be mystified."
For more information on ordering the book or joining the free
Eman8tions e-mail list, visit www.geocities.com/eman8tions.
~Review by Dawn Brunke
The
Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom
by Don Miguel Ruiz (Amber-Allen Publishing, 1997, $12.95)
"What you are seeing and hearing right now is nothing but a
dream," writes Don Miguel Ruiz, a teacher of Toltec wisdom and
knowledge. In his first chapter, "Domestication and the Dream of
the Planet," Ruiz explains how humans are dreaming all the time,
how we were conditioned to dream even before we were born, from
society's dream and the greater dream of the planet. Upon birth, we
are raised in the dream, conditioned ever more deeply by our parents,
friends, teachers, and everything around us within the dream.
Awakening from the dream is not easy, especially when everything we
are taught and believe we experience reinforces the idea that the
dream is not a dream at all, but real.
So, how does Ruiz know about this dream? Thirty years ago, he awoke
suddenly after having fallen asleep at the wheel of his car. As the
car crashed into a wall of concrete, Ruiz had a near death experience,
feeling himself out of his physical body while carried to safety by
two beings. Stunned, Ruiz left the practice of medicine and began
studying the ancient esoteric wisdom of the Toltecs in the Mexican
desert.
In this concise and deeply powerful book, Ruiz shares four
agreements -- (1) be impeccable with your word; (2) don't take
anything personally; (3) don't make assumptions; and (4) always do
your best -- by which we may transform life from an unawakened dream
state to one of freedom, personal power, and awareness. Although the
agreements sound simple enough, putting them into practice is another
story entirely.
Ruiz writes eloquently and is encouraging as he explores the
underpinning of each of the agreements. Still, in order to really
understand and begin to practice this wisdom, we must confront the
illusive nature of our dream. The shattering of illusions is rarely
easy, however. Be warned that the wisdom held in this little book may
just change your life forever.
~Review by Dawn Brunke
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Revisioning
Our World
A Revolution In
Kindness
Edited by Anita Roddick (Anita Roddick Books, 2003, $12.95 ~ see www.AnitaRoddick.com)
 The
subtitle of this small but potent little book is: Fierce, Tenacious
and Visionary Views on Kindness. What would a society based on
kindness look like? What would the health system be like if it were
kinder? What if the media were required to be kind? What if
politicians were required to be kind? What would the world look like
if religion were kind? These are a just a few of the questions
pondered by a fascinating group of people from around the world –
celebrities, political prisoners, publishers and musicians to
philosophers, homeless vendors and CEOs. The essays, answers and
quotes collected are for the most part short and direct, not only
exploring the concept of kindness, but offering a deeper perspective
and revisioning of our world.
Editor Anita Roddick – who as a young
mother founded The Body Shop over 25 years ago – based her first
store on the idea that “businesses have the power to do good.”
Many scoffed at Roddick’s initial idea to marry capitalism with
social responsibility, though 1700 shops and a global network of
fair-trade suppliers later, Roddick has shown that seeing the best in
others and oneself does indeed have the power to revolutionize. This
is an easy to read book that holds some hearty, soulful food for
thought.
~Review by Dawn Brunke
Coyote Healing:
Miracles in Native Medicine
By Lewis Mehl-Madrona (Bear & Company, 2003; $16.00)
 Physician,
clinical psychiatrist and author Lewis Mehl-Madrona notes that
miracles – as well as stories of miracles – are important for all
of us because they remind us that our perceptions and beliefs are
limitations rather than facts. In this engaging book of inspiring
stories, Mehl-Mardrona combines Native American healing with
integrative medicine while guiding readers to observe the deeper
lessons in all aspects of healing.
So, why is this Coyote healing? Coyote is
the Native trickster, jester, friend and teacher, showing us how to
lighten up and laugh. “Coyote has taught me the wisdom of making
people laugh, of helping people to take themselves and their painful
situations less seriously as a precursor to healing,” writes
Mehl-Madrona. “I work like Coyote. I give people experiences that
challenge their usual worldview. I introduce constructive chaos,
trusting the inner healer in all my patients to reorganize perceptions
and beliefs toward a state of greater healing. I teach people to
welcome the unexpected, learning flexibility and resiliency. This is
the essence of Coyote – the only animal whose territory and range
have spread despite encroaching civilization. Coyote is a survivor, as
we all hope to be.”
~Review by Dawn Brunke
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Side
Effects: A Look into the Drug Industry
Review by Dawn Brunke
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Side
Effects
Written
and Directed by
Kathleen
Slattery-Moschkau, 2005.
Starring
Katherine Heigl.
For
more, see www.sideeffectsthemovie.com
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A
few years after graduating from college with a degree in political
science, Kathleen Slattery-Moschkau was recruited to become a sales
representative in the pharmaceutical industry. She was amazed—what
did she know about selling legal drugs? Just as her counterpart, Karly
Hert (played by Katherine Heigl) in the not-so-far-from-reality Indie
film Side
Effects portrays, Slattery-Moschkau discovered she was chosen
more for how she looked than what she knew. She also found that the
benefits of working for the industry—a company car, fat expense
account, gifts from manufacturers, not to mention a healthy salary and
bonuses—made it difficult to “just say no” and quit.
However,
like Hert portrays in the film, Slattery-Moschkau did come up with an
intriguing solution: to tell the doctors the truth about what she was
selling. This led to yet another surprise, for even when flat-out
denying the superior efficacy of her company’s drugs, Slattery-Moschkau
was shocked to find that her sales soared. “It was like the more
direct and more honest I was, the more they respected what I had to
say,” she said in an interview with USA Today.
Side
Effects
is part expose, part drama—a compelling conglomeration of facts
(offered documentary-style throughout the film), fiction (the
marketing of a fictional antidepressant drug called Vivexx), love
story, and snippets from Slattery-Moschkau’s own experiences during
her 10 years as a pharmaceutical sales rep.
Although
Side
Effects is a low-budget film (Slattery-Moschkau turned down a
Hollywood
offer that entailed modifying it), it is a
decent, well-made movie that held my interest. It seems to offer a
fair glimpse behind the scenes of both the pharmaceutical and medical
worlds, such as showing overworked doctors having precious little time
to educate themselves in the plethora of new drugs saturating the
market. This is unfortunate, of course, but not nearly as unfortunate
as the manipulations choreographed by big drug companies, whose bottom
line appears to reside more with sales and profits than with the
health of patients.
Clearly,
not everyone in the pharmaceutical industry is in it for money and it
is true that many drugs do save lives.
However, the film also points out the other side: that
pharmaceutical manufacturers are not often completely honest in
releasing data—including some very important facts, such as the
number of patients who have died using certain drugs. Many times, in
fact, names of the original researchers of the drugs are not included
in the published reports as their findings contradict the advertised
efficacy and safety of that drug.
Side
Effects offers a
well-grounded, wake-up call to all those who use (and prescribe)
prescription drugs. It’s not an overly sensationalistic movie, and
because Slattery-Moschkau draws from her own personal development, we
also see how entangled and jaded so many sales representatives in this
industry become.
A
bonus to this DVD is Money Talks, a documentary on the influence “Big Pharma” has
on the medical profession, media, and patients. It features interviews
with doctors, researchers, journalists and others in both the medical
and pharmaceutical worlds.
Dawn Brunke is the editor of Alaska Wellness and author of Animal Voices and Awakening
to Animal Voices. See www.animalvoices.net
for more.
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