Review: Impossible Compassion

Impossible Compassion

by Edward Mannix


Book Synopsis:


How do we end suffering in our own life and on the planet? How do we bring about seemingly impossible outcomes such as miraculously healing our self from a fatal disease, saving the environment or ending violence and war?

In his second book, Edward Mannix takes on our assumptions about what is possible and impossible for us as individuals and as a species, and he provides us with a new paradigm and new tools that enable us to achieve that which was perviously unachievable.

The new paradigm he presents includes two key concepts the author calls metaphysical causation and interlocking karma. 

Metaphysical causation at first sounds a lot like the Law of Attraction but ends up being quite a bit different. According to the author it is not our thoughts that create our reality, but rather it is our karma or karmic imprints that are projected onto the movie screen of our life by the powerful projector of our soul. By moving the discussion away from the potency of our thoughts to something more difficult to observe - our karmic imprints - the book reveals to us important hidden aspects of the creative mechanism of life, and offers us the opportunity to intervene in this causal process in a new and powerful way. For those readers who have tried the Law of Attraction and found it sometimes effective and other times ineffective, it is likely that the information presented in this text will illuminate why those techniques often fall down. 

Impossible Compassion provides a missing link of sorts, helping us identify and change our karmic imprints through the use of simple tools and processes that fall under the heading of what the author calls directed compassion. By utilizing our own compassion to alter the karmic imprints on the film of our soul - which the book teaches us how to do in specific detail - we can literally re-write the script of our life, leading to rapid and potentially miraculous changes in our external world.

And, while according to metaphysical causation we each sit at the center of and in some way create our own universe, we are also all connected to one another and part of each others' created universes. In his discussion of what he calls interlocking karma, the author illuminates this critical paradox that is so often misunderstood or entirely missed by students and teachers of modern spirituality. In so doing, he gives us further insight into the process of reality unfolding, and it is with an understanding of interlocking karma that we can see how giving our self compassion can influence the physical health of a loved one or help bring about major changes in our collective reality, e.g., ending violence and war. 

Review:

As someone who has a background in psychology and counseling, I truly appreciated the way in which the author approached the topic of compassion. It was a wonderful idea to have the ideas spread out into two steps, the first facilitating the understanding of the second. By breaking up the process, the author has made it more accessible to his readers. 

Mannix provides insight into how our past experiences shape the way we think and feel in the present. We live in such a fast-paced world and often, we forget that we are actually experiencing feelings and personal histories. Being able to decipher when an experience has stayed with us is a very important practice in self-actualization. Likewise, his lesson on self-directed compassion is just as important. If we are not kind and forgiving with ourselves, how can we do that with others?

I do not usually read "self-help" books or the like, and I honestly don't know if I want to classify this book as such either. What I can tell you, is that I truly appreciated this work and find that it can help a variety of readers. It is a great reminder that compassion we have for ourselves will spread inward and outward into those individuals that we meet throughout the course of our lives. 

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