Time and the Soul by Jacob Needleman

Time and the Soul Reviews

• 
  Μαρία

  "Αυτό που έχουμε ανάγκη είναι η σύνδεση με την εσωτερική μας φύση: μόνο τότε θα μπορέσουμε να καταλάβουμε πώς πρέπει να λειτουργούμε απέναντι στην εξωτερική φύση.
  Μαζί με τα προφανή εγκλήματα που ο πολιτισμός μας διαπράττει ενάντια στο φυσικό κόσμο,καλό θα ήταν να θυμηθούμε ότι τα μεγαλύτερα εγκλήματα είναι εκείνα που διαπράττουμε ενάντια στην εσωτερική μας φύση.Από αυτά τα εσωτερικά εγκλήματα πηγάζει όλο το εξωτερικό κακό που απλώνεται στον κόσμο.
  ...Ο κόσμος μέσα στον οποίο ζούμε δε γνωρίζει τίποτα για τη ζωή μέσα στη ζωή.Όπως ζούμε,είμαστε πεπεισμένοι ότι έχουμε μόνο μια ζωή,εδώ και τώρα.Όμως δεν είναι έτσι.Για να είσαι εδώ και τώρα,για να ζεις ολοκληρωτικά την παρούσα στιγμή,πρέπει να έχεις δύο ζωές συγχρόνως: μια εσωτερική ζωή και μια εξωτερική.
  ...Η απάντηση στο πρόβλημα και τη θλίψη του χρόνου,είναι μόνο μία: η εμπειρία του νοήματος.Και η εμπειρία αυτή εμφανίζεται μόνο όταν ο Εαυτός αγγίζει τον εαυτό,όταν η ψυχή αγγίζει το εγώ.Όταν οι δύο κόσμοι συναντιούνται.Αυτό που χρειάζεται,είναι η επαφή ανάμεσα στον εαυτό που μιλάει και στον εαυτό που είναι.
  ...Το σώμα γερνάει,η προσοχή όχι."
• 
  Carol

  Loved Needleman's "Money and the Meaning of Life" years ago ... pleased to re-connect with him around deeper conversations about time, life and meaning. This is NOT a book about tips, tools and techniques for managing time ... those practical self-help guides that my Super-Organized Self first chose to move away from "busy". Maybe its age, maybe observing the foolishness of "controlling/managing" time, maybe just a growing desire to wrestle with bigger questions, but Needleman's thoughts really resonated. Time and the Soul's philosophical view of perennial wisdom has earned a place on my limited "keeper" bookshelf.
  
  "This is the real significance of our problem with time. It is a crisis of meaning. What has disappeared is meaningful time. It is not technology or the accelerating influence of money; it is not global capitalism that is responsible for the time famine. The root of our modern problem with time is neither technological, sociological, economic nor psychological. It is metaphysical. It is a question of the meaning of human life itself." (p.20)
• 
  Emily

  Meh. After Needleman's amazing Money and the Meaning of Life I had high expectations for this book but none of those were fulfilled, I'm sorry to say. Maybe if I had no expectations I would have been blown away - but I somehow doubt it. This has a few juicy tidbits - but for the most part, Needleman manages to say a whole lot of nothing about something that is a whole lot of something. He tells us about this novel he wants to write and how it will explain everything we need to know about finding meaning and curing "time sickness" but really, I think I'd have rather just read the novel in the end. Or a book that actually has something to say about time. This book wants to be a spirituality lesson instead. But not a terribly comprehensible one to me, I have to confess. It doesn't manage to say much about either time or the soul. But read his other book! He has a LOT to say about Money and the Meaning of Life.
• 
  Maria

  The subtitle of this book is "Where has all the meaningful time gone?...and how to get it back." I think the author address the first question, but I felt like I was left hanging on the second. I reached the end of the book and still didn't know how to get my time back.
  
  I appreciated some of the insights the book provided, but I felt that some of it was over my head. Maybe I just haven't read enough philosophy yet. I heard Jacob Needleman on NPR and he sounded very down-to-earth and so I sought out some of his books from the library. This was not the down-to-earth read that I had expected. I will try one of his other books.
• 
  Karen

  If I ever reread this book, I may change my rating. My recollection of it was that it was very heady and hard to get through. The idea of the book sounded very appealing to me, but apparently fell short. The book left no permanent mark on me.
• 
  Scott

  A powerful and worthwhile read that I will continue to go back to. It will challenge and encourage you about the way you relate to time and are either present for the living of your own life or miss out on your life due to your busyness and worry. A must read for sure!
• 
  Naomi

  Needleman presents teaching stories and reflections on the meaning of life and what he characterizes as two types of time. Written to be read and mused over, for those groups interested in exploring more about time this is worth reading together.
• 
  Michael Mahoney

  deep read but good
• 
  Kathryn Mattern

  Needleman doesn't disappoint. This book is very much worth reading for the subtleties of his understanding of the nature of time, consciousness and personal awareness.