New Self, New World Recovering Our Senses in the Twenty-First Century

New Self, New Worldchallenges the primary story of what it means to be human, the random and materialistic lifestyle that author Philip Shepherd calls our "shattered reality." This reality encourages us to live in our heads, self-absorbed in our own anxieties. Drawing on diverse sources and inspiration,New Self, New Worldreveals that our state of head-consciousness falsely teaches us to see the body as something we possess and to try to take care of it without ever really learning how to inhabit it. Shepherd articulates his vision of a world in which each of us enjoys a direct, unmediated experience of being alive. He petitions against the futile pursuit of the "known self" and instead reveals the simple grace of just being present. In compelling prose, Shepherd asks us to surrender to the reality of "what is" that enables us to reunite with our own being. Each chapter is accompanied by exercises meant to bring Shepherdrs"s vision into daily life, what the author calls a practice that "facilitates the voluntary sabotage of long-standing patterns."New Self, New Worldis at once a philosophical primer, a spiritual handbook, and a roaming inquiry into human history.

Philip Shepherd trained extensively with energy-work pioneer Denis Chagnon. He is the author of two internationally produced plays and a documentary for CBC television. The editor of The Compleat Art Critic, he lives in Toronto.

Foreword contributor Andrew Harvey is a renowned mystical scholar and founder of the Institute for Sacred Activism. He lives in Chicago.