What Really Matters: Searching for Wisdom in America

Ever wanted a guide to transformative practice in the US? What's available to the committed seeker? Look no further- Tony Schwartz has written a valuable guide to what New Age practices really deliver- and what they don't.In "What Really Matters", Tony presents different movements and thinkers, chapter by chapter, in an eminently readable and easily digestible format. Covering meditation, dreamwork, creativity exercises, personality and emotional studies, athletics, Michael Murphy's Esalen work, Hameed Ali, and Ken Wilber's integral philosophy, Tony's journalistic journey is recommended to anyone who seeks a distinctly American approach to spirituality.

This is one of the most honestly written books I have ever read. Anyone interested in personal evolution will get clear, concise information on some of the best of what really works, and a wonderful explanation about why it works. Integrative and realistic, it is written from the perspective of someone willing to expose his own personal challenges and limitations. It is one of the most insightful and comforting pieces of work I have ever read. Having read over 300 works on this subject, it takes a lot to impress me - this work has gone beyond doing so!

I found this book two years ago accidentally in a local bookstore that I wouldn't expect to sell something quite like it. And this book is a gate to the whole multitude of new exciting experiences of intellectual as well as spiritual awakening to me, something that I am very much indebted to Tony Schwartz. His journey toward wisdom that precipitated this book has also lead me to the path, revived my own long dormant tradition of meditation, introduced me to the mind land of Ken Wilber and indirectly to a throng of other geniuses in the field, gave me a taste of many different spiritual traditions, awakened me to the things called performance technology, accelerated learning, and Enneagram, ignited my interests in Eastern mysticism -and even Physics and Science- as well as provide me with new insights on the world of right/left brain. This book gave a fresh perspective of meditation, something not so unfamiliar for someone with a Buddhist upbringing like me but unfortunately with little comprehension of its efficacy from a scientific standpoint. Because of this book, I began meditating regularly again and now am even helping others to meditate. This book leads me to a personal quest that consists of an exciting array of other books on the subject of psychology, accelerated learning and philosophy. I now write lots of articles on spirituality that are very well accepted and help people to see the world in a different perspective. And on top of everything else, currently I am doing the final editing of my own first "serious" book on spirituality, something I could never have thought of two years ago.In short this book is a good start for anyone perturbed with the classic question of what really matters in life because it has in it all traditions, conventional or contemporary/scientific, that one needs to know. And they are all written with a touching dedication and journalistic scepticism. This book changed my life in the most significant way. Thanks, Tony.

Exciting and useful personal survey of the strength and shortcomings in the various methods for wisdom in the US. I like Schwartz*s journalistic instinct in seeking an inclusive, multi-faceted approach. It will save other seekers a lot of heartache and time. Nevertheless, I wish Schwart put a bit more emphasis in how to persist in the quest for truth. The constant search for yet another technique in meditation, psychoanalysis, dream work, or Enneagram, means that one may devote less energy in a slow but working approach.

I'm not generally 'hooked' by books about inner searches. Tony Schwartz has done a wonderful job of telling the story of his own search by telling the stories of others and their searches for wisdom. His style is engaging, more like having a conversation, less like reading. I found myself unable to read anything else (I WAS reading two other books, as well, but found myself drawn to his, exclusivly). A wonderful journey.