I Am Not I

(Paperback)

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Part philosophical dialogue, part script/screenplay, I Am Not I is a conversation between the author (currently 80 years old) and his younger selves. The book serves to reconcile the split between our inner child and our adult self. In this "striking" meditation on the relationship between the adult self and the inner child, Jacob Needleman presents excitingly "original positions" on age old spiritual and philosophical questions-Ken Wilbur Seeking to reconcile the split between our inner child and our adult self, eminent philosopher and religious scholar Jacob Needleman evokes the ancient spiritual tradition of a deep dialogue between a guiding wisdom figure and a seeker. The elder offers an initiation to a younger self, an initiation the author feels is missing from our culture. Rendered as a stage play, the conversation between the 80-year-old author and his younger selves unfolds, and an ambiguity emerges as to whether this is strictly the author's internal dialogue or whether the younger self may be nurturing a rebirth of the author. On one level, I Am Not I brings younger readers (teenagers and young adults) face to face withpowerful spiritual and philosophical ideas. But as the book progresses, the dialogue delves into questions and insights that carry astonishing new hope and vision for every man and woman, challenging our culture's accepted-and often toxic-ideas about humanity's place in a living universe.

Reviews

Praise for Jacob Needleman

His lively prose, storytelling skills, and lucid insights draw us into an animated conversation with a brilliant teacher.
Publishers Weekly

Striking takes some really original positions on topics that have become run into the ground by the same discussions and same assumptions.
Ken Wilber

An immensely learned man who is unembarrassed by the big questions that many of his fellow philosophers prefer to dodge.
Chicago Tribune

For nearly four decades Jacob Needleman has confronted the central questions of our era in light of the vision that lies at the root of the worlds great spiritual traditions. Needlemans work clarifies: it takes topics that exist in disparate threads throughout our culturenew religions, esoteric Christianity, the founding mythos of Americaand frames them in a manner both sensible and deeply questioning.
Parabola

Author Bio

Jacob Needleman is a philosopher, author, and religious scholar. Educated at Harvard University, Yale University, and the University of Freiburg, he teaches philosophy at San Francisco State University. He is the author of The New Religions, a pioneering study of the new American spirituality, The Wisdom of Love, Money and the Meaning of Life, A Sense of the Cosmos, Lost Christianity, The Heart of Philosophy, The Way of the Physician, Time and the Soul, Sorcerers- A Novel, The American Soul, Why Can't We Be Good , and The Essential Marcus Aurelius.