James Broughton, poet and film maker, author of Packing Up for Paradise:

This book is tremendous. There is nothing like it. A true "guiding light." Should be required reading everywhere. Not only is it lucid, persuasive and profound, it is also splendidly written. Besides it is wise, seductive, brave, and holy.

Karla Kuba, novelist, author of Marchlands:

This is an unsentimental book that takes you into James Thornton’s sacred world and allows one to form or deepen one’s own world. He does this with short, easy-to-digest chapters, and in fact I love reading one or two before bedtime. The depth and breadth of wisdom is unique and joyous. He writes, "There is always the terror of stepping out of our old protective skin. But a new one will reliably extrude itself….Our heart is broken open, again and again, until it is big enough to hold the world." So, you see, beautiful writing and beautiful wisdom. If you are a person who hesitates to buy books about the soul, fearing new-age trends (I am one of those people who does not go in for cliched new-age topics), please be assured that this book is not trendy or maudlin. It is a profoundly joyful book, and Thornton’s natural vignettes are thought-provoking and calming and illuminating.

Jonathan Kaufelt, Attorney, Santa Monica Ca:

There is nothing else out there like this book. The Bible for the new millennium. It opens up the truths in the hearts of the great religions, makes them available and up to date, and leaves me feeling very positive. A truly important book.

Yoga Journal, May/June 1999:

Am I willing to let go of suffering? James Thornton suggests we ask ourselves this question as we move across the threshold for a voyage into the contours of our inner landscape. This poetic and evocative book is like having a wise friend along on an arduous journey. He frames his guidance under three headings: the way of the mind, or bringing the body along; the way of the heart, offering gratitude and asking for blessings; and the way of action, which is not attached to any outcome. It is full of exercises, meditations, and helpful suggestions for re-envisioning our future on earth and becoming all that we can be.

Los Angeles Times, February 28, 1999:

When James Thornton goes into the wilderness with a question, like "Who am I?" or "How can I face my demons?" or "Can I survive alone?," he gets an answer. When he says, "Give me a sign," the mountains or the coyotes or the birds oblige. Doesn’t seem fair, does it? Luckily, he’s generous, and in "Field Guide," he shows us, in plain language, how to pick the woods and the question and, perhaps more important, how to receive the answer. "We describe our conflict and look for comfort," he writes. "We dissipate the energy that our experience had accumulated to teach us something. When we are alone, we learn to listen to ourselves and take our own counsel. We come to trust ourselves, and the lessons offered by our life emerge." Thornton offers tips on how to listen, how to trust in the answers we receive, how to still the mind and achieve a balance with the heart, how to offer your experience, your feelings and your efforts up to the Divine, how to practice loving kindness and how to give up the fruits of your actions. Participating and even changing the world has always been important to Thornton, so this is not a book about dropping out and perfecting yourself. It’s about confidence and change; the joy of discovering wisdom in everyday life.

The Amicus Journal, Spring 1999:

In elegant and deeply felt writing, the book traces three paths, inspired by Thornton’s Buddhist and Hindu teachers and his own meditation practice, to "a new wisdom of the Earth." First, Thornton teaches how to "follow your breath into your body," to quiet churning thoughts and find inner sureness. Second, he helps the reader toward clarifying a personal sense of the divine and identifying a divine being to whom one can "offer" one’s experiences of daily life. Finally, he describes how to embody the soul in one’s work. Each section includes simple practices that readers can follow to bring the soul into the doings of mind and heart. Thornton proposes that if "enough individuals gain access to wisdom," humans might emerge as a new species, Homo gaians, who no longer struggle to consume the organism known as Gaia but instead behave fittingly as part of it.

The Publisher, Toinette Lippe, Bell Tower/Random House:

When I read James Redfield’s novel, TheCelestine Prophecy, it was the promise of the book that caught my attention: For centuries we have been endeavoring to bring about a real shift in consciousness without any tangible result. But now the number of people on the planet interested in spirituality has reached a critical mass and for the first time this shift is possible. And when I first read James Thornton’s manuscript, I realized that at last someone had written a book which explained just how to put into practice what Redfield had been hinting at. I was particularly moved by Thornton’s descriptions of how he aligned his hearing and his vision to that of the natural world around him, so that he was able to merge his consciousness with the land and the creatures that dwell upon it.