Extreme Spirituality

Extreme Spirituality is any experience -- firewalking, piercing our skin, or humbly serving others -- that shows how our egos mask, limit, distort, or diminish our knowledge of a greater reality. Over twenty extreme spiritual practices are highlighted, showing how even unpleasant or dangerous situations can help us experience how love, wisdom, compassion, and interconnection reveal aspects of our divine nature and provide a clear distinction between our egos and our "higher-selves." Using many different extreme spiritual practices as examples, this book logically and enthusiastically teaches people how to assume a spiritual perspective in any situation. As a result, even sorrowful or frustrating situations don't have to cause as much suffering, because we can choose our reactions to them and use them as insights for spiritual growth.

Andrew Weil, one of America's best known advocates of alternative medicine and holistic healing, attended Harvard Medical School. He has worked for the National Institute of Mental Health and the Harvard Botanical Museum. He is the founder of the Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center and Associate Director of the Division of Social Perspectives in Medicine, University of Arizona. Weil's books include Spontaneous Healing and Natural Health and Eight Weeks to Optimum Health.