The Inner Life Paperback – April 26, 2021

The Inner Life by C.W. Leadbeater is one of the most important books I've ever read.This book, along with his other sizable work The Hidden Side of Things, were absolutely essential for me to read in my several years of studying Theosophy.These two books are absolutely essential if you want to understand what Theosophy is all about (not to mention life itself!).Literally everything is covered and Leadbeater writes in a matter-of-fact, easy to understand style that is an absolute breath of fresh air in the Theosophical and Occult world.I unfortunately started my studies by reading The Secret Doctrine by H.P. Blavatsky.I read the entire first volume (about 800 pages!) and by the time I finished the book a couple of months later, I was completely lost.Don't get me wrong, The Secret Doctrine is very important, but man my life would've been 1000x easier if I had started with The Inner Life and The Hidden Side of Things by CWL.Also, I purchased the hardcover edition of both these books to have extra copies for repeated reading and studying.I was actually very surprised by the quality of the hardcovers. Very good sewn binding and good quality boards/covers.These will be getting much use in the future because I will be studying these books repeatedly for the rest of my life!

'The Inner Life' is a door-opener to all worlds beyond the visible and the physical. It’s a book that talks about things you perhaps won’t think can be true if you have not done research about the author.In fact, the insights of a clairvoyant into the reality of our universe are so strikingly different from what mainstream science and school wisdom tells you that you may doubt this book is written in a scientific intention? But when you read the first ten pages you will perhaps arrest your hurried judgment because of the truly scientific style of the author, a style that is so dry and unpretentious that it’s not easy to read for non-academic readers. This book has very little to do with the trials of theosophy. It’s the meticulously honest account of a psychic who looks beyond the fence of ordinary reality and who didn’t really care about being promoted to ‘popular status.’ Much to the contrary, Leadbeater fostered a rather elitist philosophy that I found very healthy by and large, for not all truth is for all people, and wrote in this book:—To be psychic means to be able to bring through into the physical consciousness something of the wider life; it is therefore / in the condition of the physical vehicle that there is an inequality between the psychic and the ordinary person, but when the physical is dropped that inequality no longer exists.There are many observations in the book that can neither be verified nor falsified, except you are yourself a clairvoyant, and not just a clairvoyant but one of the highest initiation.Leadbeater was on level five which means a direct perception of the aura, of the after-life through trance, and visions of the future without needing to dream, but in the trance-state or in wake consciousness. It is this level of perception that for example the seer Nostradamus was gifted with. The trance state is superior to dreaming because it can be brought about voluntarily by the subject, and it can be directed.I think it’s important that you know this before reading the book, because if you have never done studies in theosophy or in esoteric religious teaching (such as Sufism, or the Cabbala, for example), you may come to think that this man was an impostor or that he had paranoid delusions. No, he didn’t have a deficient ego nor was he insane. This is widely recognized by biographical research, and I have studied several biographies of him, and also the beneficial role he played in the life of the young Krishnamurti.

This is a thick book, over 700 pages, but what a delightful and rich reading it is! It’s comprehensive, covers all the important concepts of Theosophy, yet a lot easier and fun to read than some of his other books, partly due to the nature of this work as the fruit of the “evening talks” with the students at the Headquarter at Adyar, thus the writing style feels more “conversational”.Theosophy is a grand system and worthy study for those who have the great fortune to be attracted to it. However, the inadequate order of one’s reading in its vast library can create a roadblock. My first one was “The Astral Plane”. As the book didn’t have an introduction and I had never heard of Theosophy before, I was completely lost. Later on I discovered the context and read some other Theosophy books, then re-read my first book again, and it began to make sense. So if you find the first book in your hand is difficult to understand, try another one. In the last section of this book Mr. Leadbeater addressed this point:“It is desirable that one who wishes to study Theosophy thoroughly should acquaint himself in the course of time with the whole of Theosophical literature. This is no light task; and the order in which the books are taken is of importance if a man wishes to get out of them the best that he can.” And he went on to give detailed recommendations.I found a website [...] where you can read Theosophy books online for free, and it also has a “Recommended Sequence of Reading” list. Personally I like paper books better for serious study, but at least I can from this site get a quick glance of the huge list of all literature or preview what I am interested. Here is a quote from this site:“For good understanding of Theosophy each book should be read minimum seven times. Reading more number of times than that would further deepen and widen understanding.”Happy reading!

I'm happy I found this book on Amazon. I owned it a long time ago, but gave it away. Now it is back on my bookshelf. I was able to buy this book at an exceptional price. It arrived quickly, in perfect condition.

An excellent book for those with a basic understanding of an inner life already.A concentrated read worthy of slowly reading and thinking about.

Absolutely fascinating read the book was thoroughly enjoyable from from to back a must have for the aspiring occultist. In awe 😀

No issues

A good read and excellent service.

Amazing Read.

Reading it now so far it's good