This rather credulous account of the founder of Eckankar's apparent spiritual attainment, including accounts of miraculous healings, control of the weather, and more; and his sage spiritual advice to devotees, is made all the more fascinating after one reads more critical accounts written later, uncovering Twitchell's rather 'unenlightened' background and his profuse plagiarizing of the metaphysical written works of others.

That the spiritual movement of Eckankar continues to this day (despite many disheartened defectors, and its label of 'cult') is proof that Twitchell nevertheless touched, however imperfectly, some aspect of our connection to Source that people are hungry for. However, I'd venture to say that the lesson is--no one can have true spiritual growth from cheating off his neighbor's test, or by reading the Cliff Notes! ( )