This volume offers a brief survey of the human condition and of “human healing at many levels.”
Author Richard Francis Moore notes that his book is “an open invitation for anyone to embark on a journey of discovery into their own freedom of thought and their personal healing power within.” Using his own informal process for self-reflection as an example for readers, the author inquires rather than asserts and observes rather than judges, as he reflects on the perceptions (paradigms) that shape our experiences and worldviews.
In this narrative, the term “personal healing” is a catch-all phrase for many explorations into topics such as culturally sanctioned notions of right and wrong, religious institutions, social perceptions of sexuality, life stages of psychological maturity, and even physical health. The book is divided into three “Acts,” which examine the past, present and future.
The well-being of an individual or collective, the author notes, is an integral affair, and each aspect of well-being (physical, emotional, mental, spiritual) is like a spoke in a wheel, interdependent and inter-related. Self-healing, Moore notes, can be “a practical and pragmatic act of good citizenship that spreads healing to others.”
Although the individual explorations are well presented, the book overall seems unfocused, and the author’s emphatic efforts to be completely neutral, discussing diverse ideas without taking a position, feels overly passive. Readers may prefer stronger direction. Moore also shares biographical vignettes, journal reflection questions, and numerous self-authored poems to round out the chapters. The poems are simple rhyming quatrains, and although intended to offer a more poetic/ mystical reflection, lack the sophistication of more accomplished poetry and detract from the core message.
Despite such issues and the narrative’s broad nature, The Paradigm Prophecies offers a timely and realistic approach for understanding others and self. Whatever the notion of self-healing means to readers personally, the book’s ordinary wisdom and heartfelt reminders for deep self-reflection will certainly encourage the inward work necessary to move forward.
