Showing results by author "John Coleman"

When I worked as a consultant, I was perennially guilty of “the great unveil” in presentations - that tendency to want to save key findings for the last moment and then reveal them, expecting a satisfying moment of awe.

This revised and expanded edition of The Essential Rumi includes a new introduction by Coleman Barks and more than 80 never-before-published poems. Through his lyrical translations, Coleman Barks has been instrumental in bringing this exquisite literature to a remarkably wide range of listeners, making the ecstatic, spiritual poetry of 13th-century Sufi mystic Rumi more popular than ever. 

I recently worked my way through Edmund Morris’s first two Teddy Roosevelt biographies, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and Theodore Rex. Roosevelt wasn’t without flaws, but he was by nearly all accounts fascinating and intellectually voracious. He published his first book, The Naval War of 1812, at 23 and continued to write on everything from conservation to politics and biography.

A fascinating, engaging, and unique memoir, this story covers John Coleman's life after his cover is blown as a CIA agent in Asia in the late 1950s, leading him to embark on a vigorous pursuit of spiritual truth. In his travels through India, Burma, Japan, and Thailand, he encounters luminous teachers such as Krishnamurti, Maharishi, and D.T. Suzuki. Ultimately, his search for peace of mind and liberating insights comes to fruition in Yangon-also known as Rangoon-under the tutelage of the great Vipassana meditation master Sayagyi U Ba Khin.

One of my favorite regular activities is participating in a book club called Six Pillars, hosted by my friend Stan. Stan initiated the group several years ago to convene friends....