The book is written with sensitivity and yet journalistic detachment. The author does not reach out and pull the reader into the morass of grief and despair; such things are alluded to - rather like the above mentioned examples. One finds the symbols of grief: a room left untouched but often visited. A mother who finds places to cry alone. The book feels, upon reading, a sincere attempt to broach and perhaps empirically answer the looming question every sentient being must at least feel a glimmer of at some point in its life. Do the dead retain their consciousness? Where do we go when we die?
Mark Ireland, in writing about his confronting and exploring such questions, is honest about his personal history in ambivalence toward them. The son of a famous psychic, or ‘mentalist’ as some prefer, whose abilities were empirically proven time and again, the author grew up just wishing to be ‘normal’ and to live a ‘normal’ life. A successful businessman, a well balanced human being with good relationships, he did at times feel ‘intuition’ but did not examine or linger on its meaning. Many parents have felt the same “intuitive sense,” whether or not ‘psychic ability’ is something they examine or believe in. The Saturday his son Brandon went hiking, Ireland writes of his own feeling of imminent danger. Anyone who has felt that sort of unexplained yet urgent intuition can identify with the helpless feeling: Ireland tried to change events of that day but it was not to be.
The author speaks of his attempts to understand the question of life and death and life beyond death, in a studious manner. He began to “pile books” upon his desk, reading what the great minds have had to say on the topic. Religion, philosophy, he devoured it all. Also, he began to pore over a manuscript his father, Richard Ireland, had left unpublished. The synchronicity of events became apparent: the student was ready. Teachers appeared. Mark Ireland made contact with those who had known his father, and each new meeting led to another. Each person seemed to have insight into the great mystery the author was attempting to broach. Standing before the wide harsh valley that is literally the mystery of life itself, the author does not seem to have shirked this journey’s demands but rather to have in utmost bravery gone ahead. The seeming resolution: to solve this question as best he could, and share those results with others for their own comfort.
Article comments
1 - CULLEN DORN
Truly, a wonderful review on a book read and re-read with piercing intensity and focus. 'SOUL SHIFT' written by Mark Ireland, should be the topic on talk shows, and in people's inquiring circles. It is a factual, no-nonsense, scientific approach to a perpetual mystery that has haunted its survivors since the beginning of time: "Is there life still?" I highly recommend this book for others to read. You will not be disappointed. Its prose and secular approach will intrigue you to no end.