Amazon Book Reviews by Followers of Prem Rawat

Living a Conscious Life: How to Find Peace, Wholeness, and Freedom in a Chaotic World
Donald E. Johnson

These reviews follow a pattern that occurs whenever Prem Rawat is criticised by one-time followers. In this case, criticism of Rawat was muted but the criticism of Johnson by these "reviewers" was not.

Nora Johnson
2.0 out of 5 stars
Empty Promises, Worn-out Platitudes
Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2024
Verified Purchase
After decades spent selling other people's self-development content, it looks like Donald Johnson decided to reinvent himself as a beacon for those seeking a more conscious life.
He appears to want to be seen as a blend of Tim Gallwey and Napoleon Hill, but he succeeds at neither.
Unfortunately, the book falls short: it overpromises and underdelivers.
Here is how Donald Johnson describes the promises of the book:
"Profound advice, yet with a practical footing"
"Grounded, yet uplifting"
"Factual, yet inspiring"
"Tools that bring success not to one or a few, but to every area of life"
"Peace within oneself, and, at the same time, achieving success in the world"
The book delivers none of these promises. Instead, it offers worn-out self-development platitudes. In trying to be everything to everybody, Johnson ends up being nothing to nobody.
I regret purchasing this book.

Fuss and feathers
2.0 out of 5 stars
Consciousness Commodified
Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2024
Verified Purchase
Did Johnson attempt to merge Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" with Aisno's "The Path to Nowhere"?. It's as if he threw the two into a blender and hit "puree." Impossible, and frankly, a mess. Each chapter reads like a poorly executed New Age manifesto, peppered with pseudo-intellectual jargon that only serves to obfuscate rather than enlighten. "Living a Conscious Life" is a misguided attempt at amalgamating seminal spiritual concepts that should have been left untouched. Donald E. Johnson's "Living a Conscious Life" book would be better called "Consciousness Commodified". It serves as a distressing testament to the depths humanity can sink in pursuit of personal publicity, as it debases the very purity of awareness in a desperate search for gainful validation.

Years Gone By
2.0 out of 5 stars
A Masterclass in Contradiction
Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2024
Verified Purchase
I must confess Donald E. Johnson's book is courageously free of anything that resembles inspiration or even a discernible sense of humor.

The title is a wisecrack, too puffed up and self-important to be embraced at face value, Unfortunately the book casts a wide but porous net in search of an answer which the reader never finds.

If you're looking for a guide on how to talk the talk without walking the walk, this book has you covered. Despite claiming transformative power, "Living a Conscious Life" falls flat for me.

Joyce Kelley
2.0 out of 5 stars
Do what I say, not what I do
Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2024
I read "Living A Conscious Life" and was deeply disappointed by the disparity between the book's promises and its content. My subsequent research into the author's background compels me to raise concerns which, I believe, Select Books, the editorial reviewers, and readers need to be aware of.

Mr. Johnson emphasizes the importance of "letting go of resentment". How does this reconcile with him, at 72 years of age, dedicating an entire chapter of his book to denigrate the teacher whom he left 50 years ago? And publishing on Medium hateful articles about this former teacher, in breach of Medium own community guidelines? What does this say about Mr. Johnson ability to walk his own talk, and to "let go of resentment" as he claims one should do? And last but not least, s\what does this also say for the character and ethics of those who endorse this book?

Here is a quote from Swami Yogananda… I wish Mr. Johnson had a small fraction of Yogananda's nobility of character: "Do not seek to find faults in others, for then your whole life becomes tied with negative traits. Be humble and loving towards everyone. Keep your mind engrossed with the divine and you will not have time to think about these lesser things." I sadly doubt Mr. Johnson is remotely able to grasp what Yogananda is talking about.

Mr. Johnson describes in the book having had a "colorful life," mentioning that, while being a monk, he had sex with his secretary, wore designer suits, and disobeyed authority. And post-monkhood, carrying a gun with a concealed carry permit, having multiple extramarital affairs, divorcing, and profusely using illicit drugs. This "colorful life" label appears to be an attempt to rebrand a long series of personal failures. Would it not be more honest to call this a profoundly troubled life? - Has Mr. Johnson ever lived any part of what he advocates, outside his own imagination? Is there a single authentic sentence in this book, or is it just an aging salesman's desperate attempt to make a buck by writing what appears to be the fad of the moment?

Jerome Bayer
2.0 out of 5 stars
A manual to live an unconscious life
Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2024
The real failures of the book have everything to do with the writer's abilities at making sense of how to live a conscious life. It seems that he picked up this topic because I it is trendy, but he knows little about it.

Donald Johnson keeps boasting that he has meditated for 17,000 hours. He seems to believe that 17,000 hours of alleged meditation grants him greater wisdom than someone who has meditated for 15,000 hours. Mr. Johnson approaches meditation much like bodybuilders approach pumping iron, viewing it as a quantifiable measure of achievement rather than a qualitative journey.

If only Mr. Johnson had taken the time to read the works of Swami Vivekananda, he might have encountered a more profound perspective. Vivekananda once wisely stated, "One hour of humility goes a much longer way than 10,000 hours of self-absorbed navel gazing." This insight underscores the idea that the quality of one's meditation, marked by humility and introspection, is far more important than the sheer number of hours spent in practice.

In this light, it becomes clear that true wisdom and enlightenment cannot be measured solely by time. Instead, they are cultivated through a deep, humble engagement with oneself and the world. While Mr. Johnson might be missing the essence of what genuine spiritual practice entails.
It's worth considering that the true value of meditation lies not in the hours logged, but in the transformation it brings about in the individual. A meditative practice grounded in humility, compassion, and self-awareness can lead to a more profound understanding of oneself and the universe, far surpassing any numerical milestone.

Johnson's book may claim to offer transformative insights, but I it reads like a compilation of other people's ideas. From Sai Maa's "Conscious Living" to Tim Gallwey's "Inner Game", to Napier's "Sacred Practices for a Conscious Life," to Prem Rawat's "Hear yourself", Johnson regurgitates the work of others, without fully grasping their approaches, and offering nothing of original value to readers seeking genuine wisdom.

Stephanie Pierce
2.0 out of 5 stars
Mistaking self-absorption for self-awareness
Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2024
Donald E. Johnson, draped in the self-righteous robes of enlightenment, fancies himself a sage of humanity, a shining guru of awareness. Maybe even as the best kept-secret-guru of our times. Yet, his proclamation of having mastered the intricate dance of being human through heightened consciousness reeks of pretentiousness.

Firstly, the very claim to have mastered the art of being human is inherently flawed. Humanity, with its kaleidoscope of emotions, experiences, and complexities, is an ever-evolving journey with no destination. To suggest otherwise is to deny the essence of what it means to be human - the perpetual struggle, growth, and imperfection that define our existence.

Moreover, the emphasis on "awareness" as the key to enlightenment is as trite as it is vacuous. Awareness, while undoubtedly valuable, is but one facet of the human experience. True understanding encompasses empathy, humility, resilience, and a myriad of other qualities that this self-proclaimed master seems to overlook in their quest for self-aggrandizement.
Furthermore, one cannot ignore the arrogance embedded in the claim. To declare oneself a master of anything implies a level of superiority over others, a hubris that blinds them to the richness and diversity of human experiences outside their narrow perception.

Donald E. Johnson has become a prisoner of his own ego, mistaking self-absorption for self-awareness and feeling above the fray for wisdom. His proclamation of having transcended the human condition only serves to highlight his detachment from reality, a reality that is messy, unpredictable, and wonderfully human.

Johnson's claim to have mastered the art of being human through awareness is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to elevate himself above the fray of humanity. Instead of enlightenment, he has found himself mired in arrogance and self-deception, a cautionary tale of the pitfalls of ego masquerading as wisdom.

Celia Stokes
2.0 out of 5 stars
A disturbingly chaotic book
Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2024
When I downloaded this book, I hoped to find answers, solutions, maybe even tools. Instead, in this one-dish menu of a book, the focus du jour is the disturbingly chaotic personal life of Mr. Johnson.

Throughout the book, Johnson advocates forgiving people with whom you have had differences, and letting go of any resentment. But Mr. Johnson dedicates the entire first chapter to backstabbing former teacher whom he left 42 years ago. What does this tell the reader about how much Donald Johnson lives what he preaches? And then--- how much can we trust his advice in the rest of the book?

The book also dedicates the final chapter to navigating the world of corporate America. What does this topic have to do with Living a Conscious Life?

Did Mr. Johnson run out of clichés about consciousness and simply decided to dedicate the final chapter to discussing the politics of salesmanship in corporate America, without even wondering how readers would feel about it?

The impression left at the end is that Mr. Johnson, a 72-year-old retired salesman apparently trying to kickstart a second career, picked the theme of consciousness as a hook to get a few readers to listen to him talk about what he thinks is the most interesting topic on the planet himself.

Laurie Rowe
2.0 out of 5 stars
Self-indulgent collection of stereotypes
Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2024
The author's insistence on presenting his life experience as a blueprint for mastering the art of being human through awareness comes off as self-indulgent and disconnected from the realities of everyday life. While he claims to address difficult topics, the book merely skims the surface, offering vague platitudes instead of genuine solutions. "Living a Conscious Life" is a veritable buffet of clichés served with a side of condescension. Don Johnson's attempts at providing a roadmap to deeper consciousness fall flat, leaving readers with nothing but a bad taste in their mouths. This book should be called: "Living a Constrained Life: How to Feel Trapped in Your Own Belief System". Are you tired of feeling free and at peace? Look no further than "Living a Conscious Life." This book offers a surefire way to make you feel even more confined within the prison of your own thoughts. With its rigid approach to consciousness and stifling exercises, you'll find yourself suffocating under the weight of its pretentiousness.

Charlotte Rodriquez
2.0 out of 5 stars
A confused and confusing book
Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2024
Donald Johnson's book is poorly conceived, and awkwardly expressed. It might be described as a highly effective sedative. The book is unremittingly, staggeringly, clumsily, almost ingeniously bad. At times, the prose amounts to a sort of accidental surrealism.

In terms of the quality of the content on how to live a conscious life, this book could be rated as somewhere between post-apocalyptic evangelical Christian fiction and vampire romantic novels, but above the "Field Guide to Chicks in the United States" by Joe Bovino.

The product less of an unsteady hand than of a resoundingly tin ear, with prose so categorically graceless as to supersede camp and plunge straight into ontological confusion, the book parades the typically forgettable qualities of other undistinguished works of spiritual fiction.

Asking a decent editor to save this book would be like asking a doctor to resuscitate a corpse that had fallen from the top of the Empire State Building.

Bertha Walker
2.0 out of 5 stars
World record in banalities
Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2024
This book is a prime example of why you should never judge a book by its cover. The cover promises wisdom and depth, but the content delivers a profound disappointment.

Imagine inviting Dear Abby, Dale Carnegie, Miss Manners, Dr. Jekyll, and Mr. Hyde to a round table discussion. You ply them with drinks, setting the stage for a lively and uninhibited debate on "How to Live a Conscious Life." You record the conversation, capturing every piece of advice, every contradiction, and every moment of hypocrisy. Then, you transcribe the entire session and run it through a buggy Beta version of Chat GPT. The result is this book.

Reading it feels like witnessing a world record in banalities, double talk, and hypocrisy. The author seems to have no more insight into living a conscious life than Miss Manners or Dear Abby.

Baylee Thiel
2.0 out of 5 stars
Self-flattery reigns supreme
Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2024
This book is rich in painfully maladroit efforts to lend color to a haphazard narrative preoccupied with self-flattery. Donald E. Johnson has an unfortunate penchant for defensive self-justification … Even more trying are his sour, stilted witticisms, some of which he feels compelled to point out are supposed to be funny … But, in the end, they reveal a surfeit of blinding egomania. This book is a slap in the face to the authors whose work he shamelessly appears to borrow from. Books like Nathaniel Branden's : "The Art of Living Consciously: The Power of Awareness to Transform Everyday Life". These are the real deal.
It is clear that Johnson lacks authenticity. Instead of supporting this "me too" author, I invite you to honor the genuine authors who deserve recognition for their original contributions to the self-help genre.

Gladys Barnet
2.0 out of 5 stars
A dull, insight-free doorstop of a book.
Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2024
Donald Johnson writes: "You may have to admit that you do not know everything. .. You may have to acknowledge that those you persecuted for their beliefs knew something you did not'. Boy, do I wish Donald Johnson would apply these wise-sounding words to himself. At age 72, he keeps posting hateful messages on Medium and other sites, about the teacher he left in 1984. All this while preaching the importance of letting go of resentment. Go figure…rarely has someone with such double talk walked the earth.

A myopic, self-obsessed, non-empathic kind of person, Donald Johnson has arranged haphazardly
a series of opinions on various spiritual subjects, adding up to nothing substantial at all …
The book is not an argument for acknowledging complexity of human life, it's an argument for focusing, first and foremost, on the author's self-proclaimed brilliance … The only good thing about this book is that the tepid writing makes no intellectual, ideological or psychological demand of its reader.

Marjolaine Hettinger
2.0 out of 5 stars
Vapid and vaporous
Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2024
The book currently ranks #454,000 on Kindle Books. According to Amazon, this means that it sells less than one copy per day. I surely can understand why.
The title reads like it was written explicitly in the cause of securing sympathy for the author, and boy does it misfire. The book is as vapid and vaporous as the fragrances sold by Paris Hilton. It is proof that the anti-fascist philosopher Simone Weil was right when she wrote: 'There is nothing more comfortable than not thinking.'" One day, archaeologists may consult it in the hope of understanding how and why our species underwent a final mutation into something glossily post-human.
The book reads like a spiritual selfie, a testament to the self-absorption of the author. Though it purports to affirm the human capacity for empathy and curiosity, Living a Conscious Life is built like a machine: calculating, doctrinaire and hollow on the inside.

Reymundo Beahan
2.0 out of 5 stars
Void of self-awareness and humility
Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2024
A hollow PR exercise filled with precepts and quips but devoid of self-awareness or humility.
Reading this book is the closest you'll come to being stuck in an actual traffic jam without leaving the comfort of your armchair … Why this boring also-ran is taking up fresh shelf space in 2024 is a mystery to people with half an ounce of critical thinking capability. All the family friendly five-star reviews have one thing in common: they contain no specifics to anchor their praise, none of these reviewers appear to have read the book.
Mr. Johnson is not a great writer either… to describe the prose of this book as workmanlike would be too kind. It is often lurching and awkward, it frequently reads like someone ran the original English through a machine translator into a foreign language and back again.

Danny Covarrub
2.0 out of 5 stars
Readers feel cheated
Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2024
Donald E. Johnson claims to wake up every morning choosing to "follow a path of compassion, kindness, and peace". Reading Johnson's book, as well has his posts on Medium, I find a discrepancy between his words and actions. Johnson's editorial reviewers they seem unaware of the hateful posts which Johnson publishes online against a teacher he left 50 years ago. Donald Johnson is good at talking the talk. Walking the walk? Not really…… I bear no personal grudge against Johnson; I am merely adhering to his own advice to hold people accountable.
"Living a Conscious Life" should not be expected to provide valuable, practical tools for personal growth. It appears to be an exercise in narcissism, with Johnson more focused on showcasing his alleged enlightenment than genuinely assisting readers. The book, filled with empty promises, leaves readers feeling cheated and disillusioned.

Scarlett Cruickshank
2.0 out of 5 stars
A condescending symphony of sales tactics
Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2024
Donald Johnson writes as if his readers were fundamentally beneath him; as if they, unlike him are already to accept that they must be steered, tricked, or cajoled into some home-cooked esoteric knowledge by those few like him whom the universe has seen fit to appoint as their shepherds. Congratulations to the author for managing to turn the noble pursuit of consciousness into a shameless egotistic pitch. This book is less about enlightenment and more about the author's ruthless pursuit of acclaim. From the over-the-top endorsements to the shameless self-promotion woven throughout, it's clear that the author's primary goal is not to elevate readers' consciousness but to inflate his own ego.

Dolores Hayes
2.0 out of 5 stars
Tenuous grasp of consciousness
Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2024
The author's grasp of consciousness is tenuous at best. The prose is riddled with clichés, and the characters are about as compelling as soggy cardboard. Do yourself a favor and find something more deserving of your attention. Read instead "Live a Conscious Life" by Carolyn Mody. She is the one who came up with many insights that you will find diluted in Johnson's book. be fooled by the grandiose claims of "Living a Conscious Life." Despite its pretensions, this book is nothing more than a mishmash of New Age jargon and pseudo-spiritual nonsense. The author's supposed wisdom is nothing but smoke and mirrors, designed to conceal the fact that he has nothing meaningful to say. Far from being a "user's manual for human beings," this book is more like a manual for mediocrity. Save yourself the time and effort and look elsewhere for genuine guidance on achieving inner peace

Jane George
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not written from experience
Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2024
Johnson is as unacquainted with consciousness as a hog is with mathematics. It is abundantly clear that he does not write from experience. What he writes is fiction, and therefore the book must be judged as fiction, with all the weaknesses of fiction are inherent in it.

This book is a clear case of the Dunning-Kruger effect, which is defined as: "A cognitive bias where people with little expertise assume they have superior expertise or ability… This overestimation occurs as a result of the fact that they do not have enough knowledge to now they do not have enough knowledge…" The book describes Johnson's world… no wonder I could not wait to move off his planet.

Angelica Goodwin
2.0 out of 5 stars
A mirage of meaning
Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2024
Donald Johnson's "Living a Conscious Life" promises readers a profound journey towards self-awareness and success, but fails to deliver on its lofty ambitions. What should be a thoughtful exploration of the human condition instead devolves into a hollow spectacle of empty promises and recycled clichés. Johnson's attempt to weave together diverse topics with depth and meaning falls short, as he offers little more than superficial insights and trite affirmations. The book's purported blend of wisdom, humor, and practical exercises feels forced and contrived, resulting in a reading experience that is as unfulfilling as it is uninspiring. "Living a Conscious Life" is little more than a mirage of meaning, leaving readers thirsting for genuine insight and practical guidance. There are other much richer books on the same topic that I have enjoyed reading, like "Conscious Feeling" by Clinton Callahan, or "Sacred Practices for a Conscious Life" by Nancy Napier.

Marcus Modinsky
2.0 out of 5 stars
Uninspired and Derivative
Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2024
Johnson's book offers no new techniques or perspectives, just the same pseudo-spiritual old advice that's been regurgitated countless times ni many self-help books before.
"Living A Conscious Life" fails to deliver anything innovative or fresh.
The book rehashes familiar techniques and offers nothing new and borrows shamelessly from Tim Gallwwy's "Inner Game". If you've read any self-help books before, you've already seen everything this book has to offer. Save your time and money - nothing new to learn here.

From the United States
Janis Patrick
2.0 out of 5 stars
Heartwarming cliches galore
Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2024
The title, with its awkward feint at boldness while clinging to the safety of cliché, suggests the anxiety of a spiritual politician who really, really wants to run for Scotland's consciousness wizard of the year, and knows he needs the grievance vote.

At around 270 pages, the book isn't particularly long, but it's padded with such banalities that it feels like it never ends … Take out the gauzy abstraction, the heartwarming clichés, and what Donald Johnson is describing is unconscious and soporific.

Baron Oberbrunner
2.0 out of 5 stars
How to Pretend You Have It All Figured Out
Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2024
If you're in the market for recycled self-help buzzwords packaged in a veneer of superiority, look no further. Steer clear of this manufactured facade of wisdom. Donald E. Johnson's claim to provide a practical footing across the vast landscape of human experience is as hollow as his promises of enlightenment. Instead of offering genuine insights, the book regurgitates tired platitudes and shallow exercises that do little to address the complexities of real life.

Raegan Cassin
2.0 out of 5 stars
Toxic blend of materialism and pseudo-spirituality.
Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2024
Donald E. Johnson's premise that enlightenment is the ultimate gateway to wealth is not only reductionist but downright offensive. He peddles the idea that a person's spiritual evolution is directly proportional to their financial status, as if inner peace could be quantified in dollars.