I Am Not I

Seeking to reconcile the split between our inner child and our adult self, Jacob Needleman follows the ancient spiritual tradition of engaging in a conversation between a guiding wisdom figure and a seeker to address the trauma and to offer an initiation to a younger self, an initiation he feels is missing from our culture. The time-honored dialogue form is rendered more contemporary by being cast as a screenplay and, as the conversation between the 80-year-old author and his younger selves unfolds, an ambiguity emerges as to whether this is strictly the author's internal dialogue or whether the younger self may be nurturing a rebirth of the author.

On one level, I am not I brings younger readers (teen-agers and young adults) face to face with powerful spiritual and philosophical ideas. But as the book progresses, the dialogue delves into questions and insights that carry astonishing new hope and vision for every man and women, challenging our culture's accepted, and often toxic, ideas about humanity's place in a living universe. As the intensely emotional exchange between guide and seeker toward ever deepening mystic insights.

Jacob Needleman is a philosopher, author, and religious scholar. Educated at Harvard University, Yale University, and the University of Freiburg, he teaches philosophy at San Francisco State University. He is the author ofThe New Religions, a pioneering study of the new American spirituality, The Wisdom of Love, Money and the Meaning of Life, A Sense of the Cosmos, Lost Christianity, The Heart of Philosophy, The Way of the Physician, Time and the Soul, Sorcerers: A Novel, The American Soul, Why Can't We Be Good? , andThe Essential Marcus Aurelius.