Book Review: Awaken the Power Within

The Self-Help Shelf

http://www.midwestbookreview.com/wbw/jun_18.htm#Self-Help

Awaken the Power Within
Albert Amao Soria
Tarcher/Perigee
c/o Penguin Group, USA
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014-3657
www.tarcherbooks.com
9780143132592, $16.00, PB, 288pp, www.amazon.com

In "Awaken the Power Within: In Defense of Self-Help", sociologist Albert Amao analyzes the accuracy of self-help and positive-thinking claims in this groundbreaking exploration of what works, what doesn't, and why, substantially based upon his own life experience. Born in a poor Latin-American country into a very impoverished family with both parents practically illiterate, he was the oldest of five children and began working at six years of age, shining shoes and selling newspapers to help his family. Unable to finish high school, he nevertheless was able to acquire a diploma by going to night school, which then allowed him to be admitted at the San Marcos University in Lima to obtain a Ph.D. in sociology. All these things were possible in his view because when he was teenager he had access to New Thought" or positive-thinking philosophy. Contrary to the critics who blithely dismiss self-help methods, or the New Age gurus who sell it them as miracles, in the pages of "Awaken the Power Within, Amao writes with sobriety, scholarship, and draws on his personal experience to deftly explore the conditions under which self-help is authentic -- and successful. Accessibly written and thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation, "Awaken the Power Within" is an inspired and inspiring read from beginning to end. While unreservedly recommended for both community and academic library Self-Help/Self-Improvement collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Awaken the Power Within" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Tantor Audio, 9781977356659, $24.99, CD).

Awaken the Power Within You

AWAKEN THE POWER WITHIN YOU

Why do millions of people flock to deceitful self-help programs? Why do they buy books, audiotapes, and videos and attend motivational seminars and workshops without finding a real solution to their problems? This book examines the rationale of the self-help culture in America, which has become predominant a factor in the life style on this nation. It analyzes the accuracy of self-help and positive thinking claims and attempts to uncover the real causes for people flocking to these programs.
           From time to time, appear on the market, self-help books and programs that promise easy-quick solutions to all the problems of life; they offer ideas and techniques similar to the old “snake oil” – a panacea for healing all kinds of ailments. Others advocate enlightenment in a short period of time and offer various “magical solutions” to all human suffering. Moreover, many occult and esoteric schools offer enlightenment and occult knowledge that promise to put their students into positions of power and advantage over others. In addition, there are programs and seminars that suggest making a person millionaire or helping people to earn easy money just by using their expensive systems, and the list goes on and on.
            This book, based on well researched facts and modern scientific discoveries, attempts to demonstrate that most of the methods of self-help (life coaching and personal coaching), complementary and alternative therapies are in essence self-deceptive; if they yield some temporary benefits is because of the placebo effect, auto-suggestion, or collective suggestion.
             Since early childhood we have been indoctrinated with false ideas and beliefs that take away our true nature as self-sufficient human beings. We took for granted the religious beliefs of our parents and grandparents; the deceitful ideas of the mass media and of the so-called “conventional wisdom.” In time this set of false ideas and beliefs became part of our idiosyncrasy; they are oriented to make us to feel powerless and victims of circumstances. It seems that there is a huge conspiracy to inflict on humans a sense of powerlessness. Some religious organizations create a sense of guiltiness; they stand as intercessors between humans and the Divinity; they make us beliefs that we need them to be saved.  The mass communication is oriented to basically manipulate and domesticate ordinary people creating superficial and unnecessary needs.  
             Under this scenario, show up false New Age “gurus,” some religious protestant leaders and sensationalistic and fake self-help authors to take advantage of unaware people to financially profit from them. They offer a panacea or “snake oil” to solve all humans’ problems under the name of self-help. They demand to uncritically believe on them or on their products or services.

The first and the second chapters of this book are devoted to identify sham programs and to determine their flaws. The third chapter is to discuss, based on modern scientific discoveries and worldwide sacred scriptures the basis of reality, the oneness of life, and the role of humans on this world. The fundamental message of this work is provide solid metaphysical and scientific principles to empower humans and to restore to the proper place the Inner Self that dwells in every human being.

              In summary, this book surveys the false assumptions of unauthentic self-help culture that keep humans enslaved in herd mentality and demonstrate that –all the power dwells in you, only in you.  

                                                  
                                        

                                     Albert Amao Soria, Ph.D.

                                                             www.amazon.com/author/amao

                                                                   www.albertamao.com 

FOREWORD TO AWAKEN THE POWER WITHIN

                                           

    Foreword

This is one of the most illuminating and unconventional books about  self-  help that you will ever read. Author Albert Amao eludes either/ or thinking on nearly every page. He rejects the false and intellectually withering choice of “take it or leave it,” which often clouds our political, cultural, and social dialogues.

Rather, Albert examines the question of what really works in self-  help, at once rejecting overdone promises that emanate from certain quarters of the field (and he names them), while at the same time eschewing the practice of lumping together all  self-  help under the overused label of “snake oil,” as do many academic and journalistic critics. Rather, Albert writes from three fresh and original points of view:

1) As an author, Albert has personally experimented with the therapeutic philosophies he critiques in this book. This gives him rare insight into the agencies and pitfalls they present. Born into an impoverished urban family in Peru, Albert movingly writes of how his life took an unexpected and fruitful path because he had access to self-help literature as a boy. Specifically, he read works of New Thought, which deals with the question of mind causation.

2) He is deeply sympathetic to the needs and wishes of the individual self- help reader— he does not mock, distance himself from, or place himself above the “motivation junkie,” as Barbara Ehrenreich and other critics sometimes term the dedicated seeker. Rather, in understanding the drive and dignity of the therapeutic and spiritual inquirer, Albert can clearly evaluate, as a sociologist and critic, what programs are promising (such as Napoleon Hill’s Think & Grow Rich), and what modalities rest on oversold claims and are bound to leave readers dejected and confused.

3) Finally, Albert writes as a dedicated, lifelong spiritual seeker. He is not only deeply serious about conventional self- help philosophies, but is a student and searcher within mystical, metaphysical, and occult lines of thought. I first met him at a summer conference of the Theosophical Society in America, where I was delivering a talk on my first book, Occult America. At the time, Albert was a completing his previous book, Healing Without Medicine, an evaluation of placebo and mind-  therapeutic phenomena. As you will see, Albert locates some of the deepest and most effective aspects of  self- help practice within the continuum of traditional esoteric thought. This is historically accurate. I’ve argued that you cannot fully understand today’s  self-  help culture without realizing how it arose, in its earliest iterations, from mystical and occult movements, which today would seem as culturally out of place as magician’s robes at a business motivational conference, but the thought lineage is nonetheless there, particularly with regard to the  positive- mind movement, and its key contention that thoughts are causative.

You need not share Albert’s interests in the esoteric (as I do) in order to profit from his insights. Whatever your intellectual and therapeutic tastes, this book gives you a deepened perspective on the culture of self- help and self- improvement, now an $11 billion yearly industry; a better understanding of what works and what does not; and a new sense of the hopes and needs of  self-  help readers, who are rarely seen or understood in critical literature.

To evaluate an ethical, spiritual, or therapeutic philosophy, and to grasp its values, weaknesses, and strengths, one must — as Albert  does—  bring a participatory element to the investigation. William James believed this deeply and lived and worked by this ethic. I attempt to, as well. Albert’s role as a critical observer- participant allows him to open windows that many conventional observers are unaware of. His revealing perspective will not only add to your own but may, depending on your outlook, enrich your personal experiments into  self-  development.

—  Mitch Horowitz New York City

Mitch Horowitz is a PEN  Award–  winning historian whose books include Occult America and One Simple Idea: How Positive Thinking Reshaped Modern Life. Former vice president and  executive editor at TarcherPerigee, his latest book is  The Miracle Club: How Thoughts Become Reality.