Soaring Soul by Sonja D. Szimon Search Amazon for other books by or about Sonja D. Szimon. Rating: Reviewed by: Maurice Williams

Judging from the chapter names: "In the Beginning," "Genesis," "Fear," "Loneliness," "The Quest," etc., this book has the structure to contain an uplifting series of essays. The mentioning of how a caterpillar, through metamorphosis, becomes a butterfly is a good comparison of how a person can grow to one's greater potential. The symbolism of Pegasus carrying the reader (the Soaring Soul) off to a better life fits this structure very well.

However, the author introduces a number of concepts that are not held by most people. Szimon mentions metaphysics at the beginning of her book. Metaphysics is a good term. Its dictionary definition is "The study of things in regard to their ultimate cause, their underlying but unseen nature." In simple words it means a view of everything that exists. All persons, without exception, have a perception of reality. They don't all agree, so metaphysics has become a branch of philosophy where brilliant minds argue different opinions.

Szimon's metaphysics becomes apparent from what she proposes in her book. Humans have made multiple sojourns in this life. Before one is born, that person has already selected his parents. Life on Earth originated from a lost colony of aliens who became marooned on our planet and lost some of the evolutionary perfection they had before they reached Earth. There is not a supreme power governing all that exists. Claiming that what happens is HIS will is burying our heads in the sand. If we cite HIS will, what's the use of having our own will? "Man, who had consented to have an equal duty-share with Woman, managed to shun common assignments, most of which fell upon the woman's shoulders." "It was Eve who, through the original sin, adopted a creative stance in Paradise where nothing had ever happened. Through her curiosity, Eve opened a gate for change and renewal. Her act is all the more significant as she also co-opted Adam on this, Adam who had never been very resourceful. . . It is the woman who pays and will keep paying for her original creative initiative."

These are provocative statements, and they are not accepted by most people. Czimon merely states these opinions: she doesn't attempt to show that they are correct. The reader is challenged with statements most people would doubt. The reader will stumble at that point. When readers encounter more provocative (and unproven) statements, they may set the book down.

Szimon uses a technique of having a dialog with an imaginary person, presumably meant to represent the reader. Philosophers sometimes used this technique to voice objections to what they claim. The dialog is with an imaginary person who presents reasonable objections to what the author proposed, and the dialog becomes a reasonable argument used by the author to prove that his position is correct. Szimon does not do that. Her other person, an imaginary woman Szimon calls "Neutrino," doesn't argue anything. Neutrino merely accepts everything the author says.

I think this is the major flaw in Szimon's book. Metaphysics is a difficult subject, especially if it flies in the face of scientific theories of how the human race originated and in the face of the Judeo-Christian view of God. I, for one, am not looking forward to Pegasus stopping by my door and returning me to where the aliens once were. I doubt if many readers of Soaring Soul would be interested in making that trip.