Testimonials

This is an extraordinary system and book—certainly not the ordinary self-help kind! The dispassion techniques have been especially helpful for me. They have shown me how to be more open and insightful to various situations, instead of right away forming some kind of opinion or judgment. Steve writes with much clarity and has lots of examples of situations that we may face in our lives. I keep the “reminder checklist” index cards for each dispassion technique by my computer and read them daily.—H.M.

Over the years, Steve has provided considerable help to countless people who have been at a loss in dealing with their own self-defeating emotions, misconceptions about themselves and others, and how to get unstuck from seemingly intractable patterns of thought and living. This marvelous little book explaining his system addresses a wide variety of problems which every intelligent person will identify with, and takes into consideration the natural laws which govern the mind and the emotions. It is written in clear and simple language, organized with much care and logic, and is replete with generous examples and charts. A unique and welcome addition to the canon of self-knowledge literature.—W.T.

So many books have been written about self-awareness and self-mastery, but few give any truly practical teachings to attain them. This is one that does—and in spades. It is clearly laid out in a kind of “workbook” format to define the common obstacles to realization (you’ll doubtless recognize some of your own in the Table of Contents) and provide specific techniques to overcome them. The result is increasing freedom from our self-imposed limitations and ego-conditioned responses to life. Anyone willing to apply the powerful dispassion and meditation techniques in this book will be well on her way to achieving Right Action at its highest level.—M.S.

I first learned about the PLS about fifteen years ago when it existed primarily in outline form. I used to do its meditations regularly, but then stopped for a long time. Recently I’ve stated again, and the meditation section of Steve’s new book, as well as individual consultations with him, have proved invaluable. I’ve never met anyone who translates complex conceptual material into practical applications better than he does. The PLS idea that the world is really a movie is very powerful. I do a lot of teaching in my job, and invariably before every class I’m tormented by doubts about my competency and command of the material. The idea that these thoughts are just a bad movie and I don’t have to take them seriously helps me enormously!—L.K.

I came to the practice of meditation over ten years ago after a crazy emotional meltdown triggered by a nightmarish family Christmas gathering. I was forty-two years old. Shortly after that horrible experience, I threw myself into reading everything I could get my hands on about meditation. (At the time, I had no idea why I chose meditation over, say, recreational drug use. I know the reason now: it’s because every human’s natural inclination is to throw everything in his mental and emotional life out the window to see what’s left over, to discover “Who am I?” without concepts about family, religion, society, the past, etc.) It was then that I met Steven, who introduced me to the ideas and principles of the Personal Liberation System that he had developed for his own use after years of study and refinement. I investigated many of the writings he mentioned as source material for the PLS, and I fell in love with the teachings of Ramana Maharshi, especially the ideas about “mind as a movie theater” (Chapter 15 in Steven’s book). Now, ten years on, and after much study and meditation practice, I find the principles in the PLS to be universally present in all the best spiritual teachings. Through consistent practice of the PLS meditation and dispassion techniques, I have internalized these principles and now automatically apply them to every situation that arises during the day. As a result, my life is infinitely better—more calm, peace, and self-knowing, less agitation and stress. The practice of meditation has significantly reduced my overall reactivity, and in those instances when I do react, it helps me recover a calmer disposition sooner. I highly recommend the PLS.—G.J.

The book’s chapter on non-seriousness is seriously changing my life (hahaha). I’ve been mediating on things not being so serious, and focusing on staying with higher nature feelings and not living in my own or other people’s lower nature feelings. It’s really helping, especially the “other people” part that Steven reminded me about in a consultation. It’s so freeing to know I can stop fretting about the lower nature elements in [my ex-boyfriend’s] psyche and stop regarding them as serious.—M.E.

After using the PLS meditation techniques every day for about two years, I had the most amazing and profound experience. The lens through which I saw the world, and of which I was more or less unconscious, suddenly fell away. It was as if I was looking at everything for the first time and seeing it as it really is. I will always remember that day—it was as though I was from another planet and someone dropped me here, and I was seeing everything unfiltered, without any conditioning. It was the most exhilarating and liberating experience I have ever had, and the essence of it has been permanently anchored in me ever since. As a person who has tried a fair number of feeble new age-y meditations techniques, I can tell you that the PLS one is the real thing.—S.F.

I find that the sum of all the PLS techniques—dispassion, minding my own business, having no expectations, plus the higher understanding and knowing that meditation brings—makes me so much more loving and accepting of others and myself. People do all kinds of crazy stuff, but now it agitates me very little. I don’t even really think of the craziness as “them”; I see that it’s just their lower nature energy expressing itself and temporarily eclipsing their higher, better self.—L.S.