The Sound of the Earth: A Man's Mid-Life Passage and Spiritual Awakening - Softcover

Sprager, Hart

Softcover

ISBN 10: 188082311X ISBN 13: 9781880823118

Publisher: Midpoint Trade Books Inc, 1995

Synopsis

“A man’s book — earthy, raw, passionate...not for the timid”

When you ask Hart Sprager what his book, The Sound of the Earth, is about his response is, “On one level it's a story about the climax of my mid-life crisis, my pilgrimage to India, and a confrontation with harsh reality. On a more profound level, it's about giving up attachment to the inner child and honoring the inner adult.”

At age fifty, Hart appeared to be a man who had achieved the American Dream, a fortunate being who had slipped into the elusive fast lane that runs between the extremes of solid security and exhilarating adventure. He had a loving wife, a daughter, a son, a dog, two cars, and a house in suburbia with all the trimmings. He had achieved initial success in multiple careers — in the film world, the Foreign Service, and academia. He had traveled and lived in parts of the world others only dream of visiting.

But for Hart the American Dream became a nightmare when he woke up and realized that he had been consumed by conspicuous consumption, possessed by possessions, deceived by ambition, and was still craving for more — more of everything. Profoundly shaken by that paradoxical realization, he jumped off the edge of his life, went to India, encountered teachers in the form of great spiritual masters and simple peasants, passed through the dark night of the soul, and came face to face with himself.

The Sound of the Earth is an account of his adventure. It is the account of his outer journey from heights of the Himalayas, to the squalid slums of Bombay, to the sacred shrines of Bodhgaya. It is the story of his inner journey from the head to the heart, his passage from mid-life to manhood, his initiation into life.

About this title

About the Author

In the introduction to his book, The Sound of the Earth, Hart Sprager explains that by the time he was fifty he had changed professions better than nine times - actor, film maker, story consultant and writer, foreign service officer, university professor, producer/director of television commercials, columnist for a Texas newspaper and commentator for National Public Radio, actor (the second time around), and full time vagabond. What he didn't explain is that during his thirty year journey through nine career changes he lived in every part of the U.S. except the deep south, in Latin America, the Far East, the Mediterranean, and South Asia.

Hart started in Hollywood in the mid-fifties as a regular performer on the George Burns & Gracie Allen TV Show and appeared in films as well. He went from acting to directing prize winning documentary films. Next, he worked as a story consultant on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Maverick, 77 Sunset Strip and other popular TV shows of the day. Story consulting led to writing, and writing led to travel.

After John F. Kennedy was elected, George Stevens Jr. brought Hart to Washington to join a group of young talented film makers who began making government films that could be considered prize winners instead of prize turkeys. Before leaving the US to serve ten years overseas in Brazil, Japan and Mexico, he worked on the Academy Award winning JFK film biography, "Years of Lightning, Day of Drums."

Hart left the government in the mid-seventies. He taught at the University of Texas School of Communications where students in his documentary film production class won student Academy Awards in two consecutive years. He ran his own film production company in Austin, wrote a humor column for a local paper, and became a commentator on NPR's All Things Considered.

In the early eighties, Hart went back to acting for three years, appearing in films and TV shows like Dallas and Who's The Boss. Then wanderlust set in and he was on the road again, first living in Greece for a year, and then going to India (which is essentially the setting of The Sound of the Earth). After returning to the US from India, Hart did a year-long retreat under the guidance of his Tibetan meditation master, Gen Lamrimpa. It was a year during which he remained silent, sat on his pillow, and meditated. He calls it "... the most productive year of my life."

The Sound of the Earth is Hart's third published work. His first, The Chicken Stealer Sex Fiend, was published in Brazil but almost the entire first printing was burned on the orders of the publishing company's CEO who considered it pornographic (the whole story is worth hearing). His second, Samatha Meditation, is an edited version of lectures on the Tibetan mediation practice given by his teacher Gen Lamrimpa. Until they were destroyed in the great Oakland fire of 1991 he had a number of unpublished works as well.

Currently, Hart is living and writing in India.

Review

"...honest, vivid...illustrates our human connectedness, no matter what our age or gender, to journey to the interior of the heart with an open mind." -- Yoga Journal

"...speaks to all who want to make sense of their place in this world. It is filled with adventure, peppered with humor, and seasoned with insight." -- Georg Feuerstein, Ph.D., Author, Structures of Consciousness

"A marvelous account of a pilgrimage by a rare man." -- Sam Keen, Author, Fire in the Belly

"Very well and amusingly written. This is the first time I’ve seen anyone give an entertaining account of a retreat." -- Roger Walsh, Professor, University of California, Irvine, Co-author, Gifts from the Course in Miracles

About this edition

• Publisher: Midpoint Trade Books Inc
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 188082311X
• ISBN 13: 9781880823118
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 297