Using poetic, flowing language, Michael Sharp spins a tale of creation that is both familiar and new in the first volume of his fourth book, `The Book of Light.'
Having been raised as a Christian and not having explored the metaphysical concepts set forth in either this book or any of Sharp's previous publications, I approached this book with some mixed feelings. However, I did not find Sharp's picture of creation entirely foreign or completely contradictory to my own beliefs and I could certainly appreciate his command of the language and his style of writing. I found myself entranced with the imagery he created within the pages of `The Book of Light,' re-reading passages and forging ahead to discover each new step. The mantras repeated throughout the book are words to live by, no matter what your faith background may be.
Sharp introduces the book by saying it is an attempt to answer the really big questions all human beings have asked at some point in their lives: What is the nature of God? What is the nature of creation? What is my purpose? and more, adding that his hope is that readers will finish the book with a new perspective on spiritual theories.
The book begins at the stage of creation when there was only awareness and consciousness in the form of "a single speck of light, a single perspective of self and a single monadic spark."
But this existence could only last for a period of time before the entity became bored with this state of being and began to wonder what could conquer the boredom.
Sharp says when you have an eternity to ponder, boredom is inevitable and from this boredom comes the opportunity to create new and wonderful things. Every step in the unfolding of creation as laid out in `The Book of Light' is brought on by trying to solve the problem of boredom.
And so a new toy was created, a "Plastercine of Paradise," but eventually boredom set in again and a new inspiration was sought. The only solution was to add another "eye" to creation.
With each new "eye" or "monad" that comes into being and brings with it the creation of new and exciting dimensions, there is no inequality or hierarchy. With each level, narrower viewpoints emerge, but this is not a negative circumstance.
Sharp says we are all equal in creation and we are all capable of getting everything we want as long as everyone is having fun. This insistence on everyone being motivated by fun reminded me of the greatest happiness principle endorsed by the founder of Utilitarianism, Jeremy Bentham, who said we should decide if our actions are moral by asking ourselves if they will result in bringing the greatest amount of happiness to the greatest number of people.
In fact, this was not the only aspect of `The Book of Light' which seemed familiar to me. Although Sharp wants his readers to gain new insights into important spiritual questions, he admits "new" is a bit of a misnomer since many of the ideas are "old;" they are simply put together in a new and interesting manner.
For anyone who has asked themselves these questions, `The Book of Light' is a fascinating read that will not only benefit your life, but also the lives of children with leprosy since 100 per cent of the author royalties of the North American paperback edition of this book will be donated to charity.

The Book of Light is probably the best Kabbalahist descriptions of the creation of consciousness that I have ever read. The author writes in an easy to understand conversational tone taking the point of view of the I (the I am, the Alpha and the Omega) to describe the reason for the creation of consciousness and the gradual unfolding of the various dimensions.

The author starts with the I discussing its existence and setting the stage for the purpose of consciousness. Next, this book describes the unfolding or Separation of the Waters where the plans and initial rules of energy are related. Finally, the author examines in depth how these aspects eventually made way for dimensions, how they exist, and what they represent.

I was really impressed at how the author not only explained these normally complex concepts in a way that beginners would have no trouble understanding but also managed to keep the concepts fully intact without any generalizations or reduction of the material. I was also impressed that the author managed to do so in a very precise well thought out manner that takes the reader from very simple ideas to much more complex aspects without overwhelming the reader with buzz words or overly large amounts of text.