INSPIRATION
REVIEWS
Through the Flames: Overcoming Disaster Through
Compassion, Patience, and Determination
T
by Allan Lokos
here is no denying that a good portion of “Through the
Flames” makes for difficult reading. Whether describing the
horrible plane crash that he barely survived or the subsequent and still-ongoing recovery from the burns that should
have killed him, author Allan Lokos’s subject matter is at
once horrific and riveting. It is also brutally graphic; there
is no room for sentimentality here. Much of the first half of the book reads
like a daily journal of pain, surgeries, hope won and lost, fear, relief and
redemption -- and all of it without an ounce of self-pity. If Lokos’s account
isn’t the epitome of prolonged human suffering, I don’t know what is. But
it’s this very suffering that Lokos writes about so eloquently and honestly.
The utter lack of self-pity is perhaps one of the most shocking things about
this book.
Lokos has stated that he probably would not have survived his ordeal if
not for his years as a practicing Buddhist and its emphasis on mindfulness meditation. How he actually
put these tools to work during the long recovery process is at the heart of this book. If you can stomach
the detailed accounts of how he endured the painful onslaught of a burn-ravaged body, the second half
describes how he moved through the pain into a wider understanding and compassion for the entire experience. This is where the story blooms from the purely personal to the universal. After all, what more
proof does one need that things like meditation, Tai Chi, yoga, as well the exploration of the true nature
of pain are beneficial than to bear witness to the positive effects of such practices?
Through the Flames is a beautiful book, one that you will likely not easily forget.
Reviewed by Bryan Voell
The Book of Knowing and Worth:
A Channeled Text
I
by Paul Selig
have not had the pleasure of reading the first two books in the author’s trilogy, before reading and reviewing The Book of Knowing &
Worth. I consider that an advantage. How well does this book stand
up without having read the first two? Perfectly. It has solid legs of
its own. And according to the publisher, represents the “most significant” of the trilogy.
12 | NEW CONSCIOUSNESS REVIEW