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‘The decisive question for man is: Is he related to something infinite or not? That is the telling question of his life. Only if we know that the thing which truly matters is the infinite can we avoid fixing our interest upon futilities, and upon all kinds of goals which are not of real importance. Thus we demand that the world grant us recognition for qualities which we regard as personal possessions: our talent or our beauty. The more a man lays stress on false possessions, and the less sensitivity he has for what is essential, the less satisfying is his life. He feels limited because he has limited aims, and the result is envy and jealousy. If we understand and feel that here in this life we already have a link with the infinite, desires and attitudes change. In the final analysis, we count for something only because of the essential we embody, and if we do not embody that, life is wasted.
In our relationships to other men, too, the crucial question is whether an element of boundlessness is expressed in the relationship. The feeling for the infinite, however, can be attained only if we are bounded to the utmost. The greatest limitation for man is the "self"; it is manifested in the experience: “I am only that!” Only consciousness of our narrow confinement in the self forms the link to the limitlessness of the unconscious. In such awareness we experience ourselves concurrently as limited and eternal, as both the one and the other. In knowing ourselves to be unique in our personal combination – that is, ultimately limited – we possess also the capacity for becoming conscious of the infinite. But only then!’
It is only by transforming yourself that you will be able to transform others. We radiate the frequencies we have within our own personality. Thus, if you want to see a more loving world, be a loving person. Your soul partakes of the soul of all humanity which, in turn, partakes in all reality. As such, ‘You are both individual and one with All That Is.’ By choosing the path of love and trust, you transform, even in the smallest way, your droplet of consciousness within the vast sea of life. This, in turn, hastens the next stage of human evolution – not just for yourself but for all human beings.
Gary Zukav’s spiritual journey is unorthodox. Early in his life, the Harvard graduate voluntarily served in special forces during the Vietnam War and campaigned for civil rights in the deep South, yet the difficulties he encountered along the way left him troubled by sexual and drug addictions. In 1975, his life would undergo a dramatic shift when his roommate, Jack Sarfatti, introduced him to quantum mechanics. The encounter led to the publication of the popular science work The Dancing Wu Li Masters (1979), which succeeded in winning the prestigious National Book Award in the US, however, his second title far surpassed the first in fame. After living as a ‘secular monk’ for two years in the California wilderness, Zukav published The Seat of the Soul (1989). Departing from his earlier work on physics, this new title sought to answer the fundamental questions of human existence. It quickly ascended to the top of the New York Times Best Seller list, a position it retained for 31 weeks.
In this 25th anniversary edition, Zukav includes prefaces by two of the work’s most prominent fans: Oprah Winfrey and Dr Maya Angelou. The former has had Zukav as a guest on her show 36 times – more than any other guest – and has called the work her favourite outside the Bible. But more than just celebrities have been touched by Zukav’s words: millions continue to praise the work that helped to spark the incredibly prolific career of one of the most prominent living spiritual thinkers.
We are all on a path of evolution. While biologists might have discovered the purely physical side to this process, it is wholly incomplete. According to Zukav, humanity has reached a stage of evolutionary development where it can see behind the physical and gaze upon the spiritual principles determining our evolutionary path, however, to see this we must move beyond our ‘five-sensory’ view of the world and embrace a ‘multisensory’ perspective.
To see beyond the physical, we must expand our minds and recognise our emotions and intuitions as keys to understanding the nature of the universe. Like light, emotions are waves of energy with different frequencies. We are constantly creating the world around us through the frequency of our emotions.
Everything in the world is ruled by the law of karma and reincarnation. Our higher self (soul) incarnates multiple times as separate personalities to learn the lessons it needs to heal its own splintering and lower vibrations. Through the slow process of learning reverence for all life, the personality and the soul are unified; negative karma is atoned for; and higher states of evolution can be attained. Humanity is at the precipice of just such a transition.
If karma is dealt with in this life, we ascend to the next level of spiritual beings and choose to incarnate as a guide or teacher. At this level, a person is no longer separated from their soul, as they have healed the splintered aspects of their personalities. Through guidance, we gain what Zukav calls ‘authentic power’, or the alignment of the personality with the soul. Unlike worldly power, authentic power does not seek to dominate others for the sake of its own security. Rather, it is a creative force for good. Every choice is an act of creation and by choosing to love and trust, we grow in consciousness, becoming master over our own emotions and the world we are slowly helping to shape.
Through his writings and appearances on Oprah, Zukav has promoted spirituality without religion, acceptance without condemnation and self-focus without selfishness. The revelations in Zukav's ambitious work provoke an unrivalled revolution in our understanding of the cosmos and seek to allow us to gaze upon the very engine propelling the universe.
Copyright © 1989 by Gary Zukav. Foreword copyright © 2014 by Gary Zukav. Preface copyright © 2014 by Harpo, Inc. Preface copyright © 2014 by Maya Angelou.
