Memories and Visions of Paradise

Description

Explores the universal myth of Paradise across cultures, uncovering its personal message and social consequences. Reading that Heinberg had edited two manuscripts by Immanuel Velikovsky might make one skeptical about this book, but Heinberg makes his arguments fairly and does not attempt to draw conclusions far afield from his data. Even if his arguments do not convince, they make one think. He posits that "the memory of Paradise represents an innate and universal longing for a state of being that is natural and utterly fulfilling, but from which we have somehow excluded ourselves." Drawing on ideas from Joseph Campbell and Mircea Eliade, he combines religion, literary criticism, anthropology, archaeology, and mythology into a New Age vision that makes the concept of Paradise meaningful in the modern world. Highly recommended for any library with New Age readers.