The Road East: America's New Discovery of Eastern Wisdom

"If the concepts of Eastern thought are as foreign to you as hallucinogenic drug trip, the voices of the young men and women on the road East may startle you, intrigue you, or turn you off. But they are passionate voices that need to be heard. They belong to some of the thousands of youths who are discovering Eastern wisdom every year, marking a significant departure from drugs, and a return to spiritual experience in this country. The Road East also explores the minds of these young people—how they came to discover Yoga and Zen, Transcendental Meditation and Krishna Consciousness, Maharaji Ji and Maharishi Yogi. Harrison Pope has explored America's Eastern subculture as a participant-observer. He traveled widely to talk, chant, and meditate with practitioners of a variety of Eastern religions. The growing popularity of Eastern wisdom, Pope feels, "represents a massive new opposition to technology and science, even a rejection of the philosophical foundations of Western though." And he proposes that the study and practice of Eastern disciplines offer a better solution to drug abuse than any program put forth by medical or governmental officials. Pope estimates that over one million Americans—young and old alike—are turning inward and discovering both a philosophy and a discipline not offered in the Western experience."-Publisher.