Enlightened Spirituality is an extraordinarily comprehensive, subtle, and illuminating website on authentic spirituality. Blending careful scholarship with a genuinely awakened spiritual realization, Timothy Conway's commentaries and teachings offer one of the web's clearest pointers to our true nature. —John J. Prendergast, Ph.D., psychotherapist, senior editor of The Sacred Mirror and Listening from the Heart of Silence (Nondual Wisdom & Psychotherapy series), Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), and 7-time convenor of the Nondual Wisdom & Psychotherapy conferences.

I want to commend you on your hugely informative website. It is a bright testimony to the ecumenicity of your studies and the careful discrimination that has gone into your theology over the years. I trust that it will serve as an Internet beacon of “enlightened spirituality” for all serious students now and in the future.[…] I have been keeping up with your extensive additions to your marvelous web site, and I am very impressed with the breadth and depth of your varied offerings. What a wonderful effort you are making toward the spiritual edification of your brothers and sisters! I salute you. [Update note:] I thought this was a good time to express to you how much your researches and observations have meant to me, and no doubt to many others, over the years. The unparalleled depth and breadth of your researches, and your tireless attention to detail, along with the profound spiritual experience and philosophical acumen you bring to your subject, makes your website a great treasure for all who visit it. —Swami Abhayananda (Stan Trout), ordained sannyasin-monk and author of The Supreme Self; The History of Mysticism; Mysticism & Science; The Divine Universe: An Alternative to the Scientific Worldview; The Wisdom of Vedanta; The Origin of Western Mysticism: Selections from the Writings of Plotinus; Jnaneshvar: The Life and Works of the Celebrated 13th Century Indian Mystic-Poet; Reflections on the Soul; Body & Soul: An Integral Perspective; Mystical Theology; www.themysticsvision.com

Dear Timothy, I want to express my appreciation for your extraordinarily rich website. It is really a remarkably comprehensive source of information about the great wisdom traditions and religions - and I love the section that you have on Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj [at Nondual Spirituality section].... I am especially impressed with the depth, insight and scholarly level of your commentary and essays as well as the integral nature of the content, that along with nondual spirituality, refreshingly includes relational spirituality, soul psychology and your section "Engaged Spirituality - Healing Our World, Our Politics, Our Economies, Our Environment." You clearly point to and come from the One in all of its expanse and diverse expressions. Knowing that That [Reality] which is seen, can only ever be That which is seeing, I am inspired, gratified and delighted to know that That which is seen by you is out there in the world Seeing and Being as and through you. I feel graced by the depth, breath and life of your Self-recognition through these fruits of your love in your generous and luminous offerings here. Thank you so much for all that you share. Love, Namaste and deep bows, —Ellen Davis, advaita (nonduality) sage and professional ballet dancer & instructor, Yoga of Dance; www.ellendavis.org, www.ellendavis.info, et al.

Timothy… Truly an awesome website and a great gift to us all, I'll spend many a happy hour with it. Thank you. —Jeff Eisen, psychotherapist and author of Oneness Perceived and www.omnians.com.

I am so inspired by this connection. You speak with such eloquence and wisdom. Your articles are a breath of fresh air to me. I have been glued to my computer screen, reading pages and pages of your material…. Delving deeper into your site, I am finding more and more gems; a veritable treasure trove of wisdom, inviting me further in. How amazing! You have really done an impeccable job at bringing together such a vast array of information… quite a task, really. You have given voice to so many topics I have wanted to address. So, a deep bow to you for being such a true channel of light. I recognize in you one who has a rare balance of head and heart, wisdom and compassion, seriousness and humor, skillful means and spontaneity, femininity and masculinity, etc. You represent what is to me a very healthy and vibrant spirituality. And I very much love that your practical knowledge of many spiritual traditions has rounded out your perspectives, making your wisdom so much richer and comprehensive…. Your voice comes through clearly in your writing, and I admire the degree of sincerity, insight, compassion and light-heartedness you demonstrate…. And now, time willing, I look forward to reading through all the other material you have posted on the site, all of which I am finding so enlightening… even if I know most of it already.… I never tire of hearing the truth be told. To be reminded again and again is the very heart of my practice. I cannot tell you enough how much it inspires me to find such a shared voice as I do with yours in your presentation of Truth. —Jonathan Weber, advaita practitioner and visionary artist, www.altarimagestudio.com

Timothy, you have a lot of engaging things to say and it's been my pleasure to post some of it [e.g., the Sun magazine interview on "Engaged Spirituality" at the Guru Ratings website]. It's great to learn you have a website now—it looks excellent and broad, already well developed, lots of good news. I'll be happy to list you and link to your site. And i'll announce it on my discussion forum. And if you don't mind, i'll link also to your "Warning signs of dysfunctional cults" and "Criteria for Authentic Spiritual Realization" pages from my "Other Approaches to Ratings Criteria" page at www.globalserve.net/~sarlo/Critexpo2.htm, with a few samples. Your signs and criteria would be a worthy addition. —Sarlo, creator of the much-visited and controversial “Guru Ratings” website at www.globalserve.net/~sarlo/Ratings.htm.

I have been a United Methodist pastor by profession [and former businessman] and a spiritual seeker in heart. Thank you for your clarity of teaching and beauty of spirit that comes with your expressed thoughts... [and] for helping me to see myself more clearly. I am so impressed by your teaching about not charging fees and claiming any advantage or superiority over others (a most common trap, I think). Love is embedded in your words. I plan to read much more on your website and beyond. As you have freely given, so may you so freely receive.... Love and Blessings to You. —Mike Newton, North Carolina, http://progressivechrist.com.

Dear Timothy, my name is Yonatan Levy, editor of Israel's largest site concerning spirituality and consciousness. Could we translate and air some of your excellent articles? [Permission was granted.]… I have translated your article on the “12 Spiritual Temperaments” model [posted at website www.nrg.co.il/online/15/ART1/700/138.html]. The article was widely read and well received. Thank you so very much! I also aired your article about healing abusive models of God. I'm sure many readers will find it useful and enriching…. We also published your "Guide for the Perplexed" for decision making. Thanks again - your articles are such a crystal-clear delight. —Yonatan Levy, website editor, www.nrg.co.il:80/online/HP_15.html

I recently came across the wonderful resource of your Enlightened-Spirituality.org site. I am impressed by the depth of the understanding in your postings on that site and the breadth of your scholarship in matters of spiritual practice. In particular you manage to walk comfortably along that fine line of being objectively critical while being positive and inclusive. Your commentaries on pseudo-Advaitans for instance strike me as wonderfully positive articulations of what ultimately matters most in the quest for liberation: the ability to fully embody transcendental understanding in the realm of the body, the realm of the heart, as well as the realm of the mind.... [W]hile True Self necessarily permeates all phenomena, our three-brained human organisms contain the possibility of the active embodiment of the transcendental Self in relative form. The realization of this possibility is by no means guaranteed or necessary any more than it is guaranteed or necessary that a particular acorn thrown from an oak tree will itself grow to become a fully formed oak. We have the power within us to cultivate the conditions for our own realization of this possibility, and we have the power to cultivate these same conditions for others.... What I found particularly appealing in the essays I have read on your website is a clear understanding of the dynamic balance between the phenomenal and the noumenal as expressed in the spiritual life. Your clarity on Advaita Vedanta versus neo-Advaita is the wonderful answer to the questions I struggled with above and I thank you for offering up a more complete and practical version of the Non-Dual tradition. More than anything else, I have appreciated the spirit of fun and lightness you bring to your teaching. —Stuart Goodnick, spiritual teacher, Tayu Meditation Center and Many Rivers Books & Tea store, Sebastopol, California.

Hi Timothy… It took me quite a while to scan and work through your amazing and incredible website, which I consider to be one of the most honest and authentic demonstrations of the eternal human quest for truth. […] Thank you for being such a noble and competent spiritual athlete. I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed your [site]. I will forward [it] to all my friends, patients and clients as the model of an authentic, truthful and highly integral approach to truth, liberation and unconditional love. […] I am working as a spiritual healer. I was so fortunate to meet [a teacher, Sue Gurnee, who] taught me a way to access “ritam bhara pragya,” that level of inner intelligence that always speaks and reveals the truth. In the last 5 years I was organizing and translating her courses and seminars for Doctors and Therapists in Europe. By now I have fairly mastered the full access to ritam.... I can check out the integrity of any human being on this planet. I can know from a distance the cause of any spiritual, mental, emotional and physical distortion. [NOTE to skeptics: this ritam ability may be quite valid, given that ESP clearly exists in other forms— for instance, Edgar Cayce's remarkable remote diagnostic gifts and the U.S. govt's successful programs from 1972 to 1995 in Remote Viewing (RV) (see this essay on RV ).] I took the freedom to check your integrity which is one of the main criteria whether a human being is in the line of a highly functional spiritual life or the victim of a dysfunctional spiritual endeavor. Your integrity is incredible high. Very few people on this planet are playing in your league. In the last years I was checking via ritam the authenticity and integrity of the most known spiritual adepts of the past and present. Unfortunately … the following quote [from the Buddha] applies to most of them: "After my Parinirvana, in the last kalpa (age) of this world, there will be plenty of these goblin-heretics about, hiding themselves within the very personalities of the saints, to better carry out their deceiving tricks ... In such deceptive ways do they spread their false and destructive heresies!" (from the Surangama Sutra). I am convinced that Spirituality is in crisis today, for almost nobody on the spiritual path is approaching spirituality with the necessary respect and reverence. It’s amazing to see that only very few who claim to be a spiritual teacher have ever asked whether they have the competence, the integrity and the permission to teach spiritual knowledge. Anyway, dear Timothy, it is a great pleasure to come to know you. Your personality and your actions give me great hope for the future of human life on this planet, to be mainly guided by authentic personalities like yours. —Dr. Peter Rohr, Germany.

What readers say about Timothy's book Women of Power & Grace: Nine Astonishing, Inspiring Luminaries of Our Time (Wake Up Press)

[For discount prices and ordering info on Women of Power & Grace, please see our page for The Wake Up Press].


“I absolutely love Women of Power and Grace. I was enthralled. The quality of your work is outstanding.” —Linda Johnsen, author: Daughters of the Goddess, The Living Goddess, Fearless Living, Lost Masters: Sages of Ancient Greece, etc.

“In a day and age when we are lost to the outer forces of materialism and egoism, the courage, unwavering faith, devotion, and joy of these nine remarkable women inspire us to turn inward to reconnect with the source of true wealth and power. ... In rereading for this review, I found the stories as captivating the second time around as the first. ... Dr. Conway offers a thoroughly researched biography of each woman, along with generous excerpts from their own writings and teachings.” —Yoga International

“The author has achieved the feat of writing a book which is intellectual and at the same time intensely spiritual, indeed, a rare achievement that perhaps owes its inspired presentation to those nine Women of Power and Grace who have permeated his text… This reviewer would strongly suggest that readers should go to this text again and again to savour its richness and benefit from the transforming power of these lives.” —The Mountain Path (one of India’s most widely-read spiritual journals, published by Sri Ramanashramam)

“I was delighted to find these beautiful and inspiring female role models performing miracles, healings, and ministering divine love and compassion on a par with ... Jesus and the Buddha. ...Reading this book is like receiving a direct blessing from these Christ-like Saviouresses.” —The Information Press

“Women of Power and Grace is one of the few great spiritual books dedicated to the Feminine aspect of Divinity, and it should be required reading for every soul. This book is a magical gift of love introducing all of humanity to some of the most significant female representatives of God to appear in recent times. What a joy it is to read of the lives and teachings of these several incarnations of Love, and most especially of Anandamayi Ma and Mata Amritanandamayi. Your carefully researched and lovingly presented book is indeed the best treatment of these great saints that I have read; and I shall treasure it and repeatedly return to it over the years with the utmost gratitude to you for your loving labor.” —Swami Abhayananda (Stan Trout), author: History of Mysticism, The Supreme Self, Mysticism and Science, The Origin of Western Mysticism, and many others

“How thrilled I was to see your beautiful book. It is a delight—a feast for the soul. The great Mother-heart of God can be experienced on every page.” —Richard Schiffman, author: Mother of All and Sri Ramakrishna

“Finally there is a voice that speaks for the accomplishments of women in this field. These beautiful stories of potently spiritual women fill a void long-tugging at our souls. These self-realized teachers and world servers truly achieve a state of serenity, compassion, holiness, health and happiness in troubled times.” —Whole Life Times (Los Angeles)

“With lucid and lilting diction, Dr. Conway reveals the nature of the heroically spiritual woman... An inspirational study. ... This is a landmark book full of dramatic tales and powerful teachings.” —Hinduism Today

“A timely, engaging book. These nine women deserve the title ‘inspiring luminaries.’ Their graced lives are powerful because their power is graceful.” —Brother David Steindl-Rast, author: Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer

“Women of Power and Grace is an excellent guide through the varied aspects of the feminine, filled with vision, love, wisdom, and authentic spirituality. This book is an inspirational anthology honoring women who have bridged the realms of spirit and matter.” —Angeles Arrien, Ph.D., Cultural Anthropologist, author of The Four-Fold Way and Signs of Life (winner of the 1993 Benjamin Franklin Award)

“Dr. Conway reveals deeply moving tales of nine female spiritual champions... After reading this book, I can recommend it highly to anyone searching for spiritual growth. Contemplating the lives and efforts of these women and their words, we are transformed.” —One Church

“This is an important book. I congratulate you on the accomplishment.” —Prof. Huston Smith

“A deeply moving history of nine truly outstanding, grace-filled women of Spirit, whose lives completely defy our conceptions of human limitation.” —Arizona Networking News

“These [are] extraordinary figures. ... Women of Power & Grace [is] a pleasant relief from much of today’s cynicism and dismissal toward spiritual-religious personages.” —Rapport: The Modern Guide to Books, Music and More

“Timothy, I'm reading your book now and I have to tell you it's WONDERFUL. Your writing style is so very accessible, and addresses any and all 'doubts' and questions that the reader might have. And the experiences are framed so beautifully and tenderly. It's clear that this is a work of divine inspiration and love. I'm quite inspired and moved by the stories. You are a wonderful writer and I feel that this book should be required reading in all public schools! It truly awakens the reader to the Divine, as well as to the Divine Feminine. It's a 'must read' for anyone on the spiritual path.” —Lance White, aka Zany Mystic, host of A Fireside Chat internet audio show at www.bbsradio.com.

“Women of Power and Grace is an inspiring account of the lives and spirituality of nine contemporary women-mystics, not only written for our edification, emulation and meditation, but also functioning as a commentary on St. Paul's words: ‘There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are varieties of service, but the same Lord...’ (Corinthians, Ch. 12) We can draw strength and inspiration from these women. Timothy's loving and compassionate literary style helps us receive the grace of a deepened sense of gratitude for all human beings, where the Divine Spirit truly resides.” —Sister Mary Bernard Vidal, O.S.B., Benedictine nun and former Abbess

“A well-written book, a work of deep devotion and dedication. ... These lives are historical and contemporary, and not myths or legends. The miracles [of these women], therefore, cannot be denied, and pose a challenge to the modern skeptical mind. The author is to be congratulated for his painstaking effort.” —Prabuddha Bharata: A Monthly Journal of the Ramakrishna Order (Calcutta)

“A welcome addition to the study of God-intoxicated women. There is much with which to be inspired in both their lives and teachings.” —Vedanta Kesari: A Monthly Journal of the Ramakrishna Order (Madras)

“These women are the spiritual Olympians who remind us what is possible as part of our human spiritual potential. ... Their lives light the way for us to discover a reality described in the Bible as “being in the world -- but not of the world. ... An excellent gift.” —Spirit Link

“What a great, great book. Inspiring to all women [and men] aspirants.... A 'must-buy'... should already be in your library.” —Jeremy Silman, www.jeremysilman.com

“These women exemplify the best characteristics of the classical descriptions of mysticism...It will be refreshing for women to see the Divine in a feminine incarnation. This book can serve as a source of encouragement to women from all religious traditions.” —Dialogue & Alliance (International Religious Foundation)

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Unsolicited reviews from readers posted at Amazon.com (where WP&G book has a perfect 5 star rating)

[5 stars — highest rating] A life-changing experience, Nov. 26, 2002 — Women of Power and Grace indeed! This is the story of nine beautiful souls, all female, all of the modern era, all filled with the love of God.... Each Saint plays out her individual Divine Romance with mind-boggling determination and Christ-like resolve. From Shyama Mataji, a Hindu, who chanted God's name 23 hours a day, to Therese Neumann, the Catholic stigmatist, who fasted the last forty years of her life, you'll thrill with the depth and amazingly personal relationships each of these Holy Women develop with God. Inspiring is too lame a word. Read it, you'll be glad you did. Who knows, it could change your life. —From reader/reviewer Moksha, CA

[5 stars] Wonderful! July 11, 2014 — I bought this book about 15 years ago. It had a profound effect on me and I carried it around with me quite a lot. We hear a lot about the male spiritual teachers but very little about the truly powerful female spiritual leaders. This book opened my eyes and my heart to learn more about them. This book gives wonderful stories and backgrounds about each of these amazing women, followed by quotes from each of them. This book became my favorite go to book for quotes to end my yoga classes with. This book brought me to the feet of the Divine Feminine in such a beautiful way that I will cherish forever. I was recently asked, if I had to give up all of my books and only keep one for the rest of my life, which book would I choose? What an impossible question! But, my heart chose this one. This is the book I would keep with me forever. —From reader/reviewer J. Bignell

[5 stars] Great book for reading with the family, Aug 23, 2001 — I enjoyed this book when I read it and now we are reading it out loud together as a family. I felt it was important for my children to learn that there have been women on this planet who have done the same kind of important spiritual work for which traditionally only men have received credit. My whole family is enjoying it. Very inspirational, clearly written with philosophical background to give a context to the biographical stories. Especially nice is the fact that different religions are represented. —From reader/reviewer E. Lisot of Texas

[5 stars] Fantastic Work! April 16, 2000 — I am absolutely enthralled at the superb quality of work found in this book. It gives a fascinating introduction to these Great Saints, and includes an in depth survey of their teachings. Absolutely recommend this book to seekers on the spiritual path. —From reader/reviewer Balakrishnan Shankar of GA

[5 stars] July 18, 2014 — A very remarkable book. I have ordered this several times and then given it away only to miss having me own copy. Astounding and memorable in a deep way. — From reader/reviewer Nishkama

[5 stars] Deeply moving and potentially life-changing. April 22, 2013 — This book is a rare treasure. Profoundly inspired and inspiring. A must read for anyone, male or female, who is serious about coming into full Self/God realization, especially the chapters on the Indian saints, from Anandamayi Ma to Amma. Immensely beautiful. Thank you!!! —From reader/reviewer Felix Wolf

Unsolicited review posted at Barnesandnoble.com:

[6 stars —highest rating]— August 6, 2001—This book is the best of any kind I have ever read. The most life changing book you can ever read! I loved it and am reading it for the second time through. —From reader/reviewer “gentlezebra@yahoo.com,” Idyllwild Art College

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Elsewhere on the Internet, one finds Women of Power & Grace listed on many required and recommended reading lists by spiritual directors and college/university instructors.

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