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October / November 2017

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26 wholelifetimes.com art & soul I t is a rare experience to read a book in which the author reveals he never believed he would actually write it after signing the contract. This and other unvarnished admissions set a tone of intimacy with the reader. Scott Stabile has aced making the reading experience feel as if the author is speaking directly to you. And it works. No wonder a scene in Big Love takes place while walking the sunny streets and beaches of Los Angeles with another of the all-time great confessional writers, Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat, Pray, Love fame. Stabile has mastery of vulnerability and he has elevated it to an art form. We reel with 14-year-old Scott as he describes the appalling murder of his parents at their Detroit market. We feel with him the pain of his brother's tragic death from a heroin overdose. Our hearts sink at the abject failure of his Oogieloves movie, a box offi ce bomb. Stabile puts his pain right there on the page for everyone to see and shares his healing, all while cheering his readers on and making sure we know we are not alone in the world. One cavil is the recurrent mentions of Facebook, occasionally a bit jarring. Yet, how could a 2017 memoir escape the tether of social media? Of course, everyone who reads this book will fi nd the author on Facebook and "add friend." Chapter Eight, "The Cult of Yes," is mesmerizing. In part, it is the casual manner Stabile uses in dropping this in, nearly at the end of the book, having only left the cult seven years ago. While his cult was not a showy one with FBI raids, suicide pacts, and conversation therapies, it was a cult nonetheless with a guru in charge around whom the cult members orbited like their sun. Reading between the lines of Big Love, one senses that Stabile has much more to say on this subject. And when he does, we'll want to read it. (New World Library) —Brenda Knight BOOKS I n a dramatically and believably told fi ctional account, the pro- lifi c James Wasserman tells the story of events leading up to the Albigensian Crusade, a Crusade against Christians, and the subsequent multi-century Inquisition. During the tense but peaceful century between the 1st and 2nd Crusades (10th-11th C.), hero Roland of Provence is commis- sioned as envoy of the Roman Catholic Church and the French Court to the stronghold of the Hashishim, or Assassins, powerful and mystical Islamic allies in the truce. There, he undertakes a profound spiritual initiation leading to a personal illumination and fateful effort to redirect Christian beliefs and policies in the region. Foreshadowing the coming millennium's Mideast strife, Roland's sincere and enlightened vision was trumped decisively by established church and state wealth and power, having too much to lose. Both the militant Templars and the pacifi st Ca- thars of Roland's native southern France fell prey to the church's ruthless might, fi rst labeled as heretics, then exterminated, for following the Gnostic teachings of Christ the Man instead of the far different teachings of the church established in his name. Historically accurate, this fi ctional tale serves to fl esh out the times in an era notably devoid of personal accounts. Templar Heresy was originally written as a screenplay, Divine Warriors, based on Wasserman's earlier work The Templars and the Assassins: The Militia of Heaven. Perhaps it'll eventually make it to the screen—a riveting tale, rife with military and reli- gious history, tense subterfuge, spiritual awakening, confl icting loyalties, and even a love-angle; well worth the telling. (Destiny Books/Inner Traditions) —Mac Graham By James Wasserman BOOKS By Scott Stabile Big Love: The Power of Living with a Wide-Open Heart Templar Heresy: A Story of Gnostic Illumination

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