Essentials

Essentials is the perfect collection of daily meditations for both the soul and the intellect, full of affirmation and wisdom for the times in which we live. This edition of Essentials is the first trade edition of the book. Presented in a compact format, it is full of insight as relevant to today's confusing and contradictory lives as when it was first written.Privately published by Jean Toomer in 1931 in an edition of 300 copies, Essentials is a timely, timeless collection of aphorisms by the acclaimed author of Cane, one of the most important books of the 20th century. Toomer reflects on topics ranging from the spiritual dangers of industrial society to the failures of modern religious and educational institutions. At the time he produced these maxims, Toomer was engrossed in study with Russian mystic and psychologist G.I. Gurdjieff, who devised a complex blending of Eastern religion and modern psychology. In his accompanying biographical essay, Rudolph Byrd provides background on Toomer's life and the philosophical assumptions that inform his writing, thus providing important context both for those familiar with Toomer and those new to his work. Essentials explores many of the same themes that emerge in Cane: the modern search for wholeness, connection, and resolution in an age of fragmentation, alienation, and exploitation.