Printed Materials

Books by Richard Dance – Richard has written four thought-provoking books between 1998 and 2003, which speak for themselves:

The Education of Adam Speaker: A Philosophical Adventure

Required text for Spiritual Self Knowledge East & West. $20 plus $4 shipping

A fiction story in which a young American expatriate careens from an international jet-set career to humiliating business failure & loss of love. Then, characters representing ancient philosophers of the East and West mysteriously appear to him as he travels with a guide along a beautiful beach highway in Florida. Through engaging and often humorous dialogue based on actual quotes from their texts, the old wise ones weave together for Adam the startling, deeper purpose of what has happened to him.

The Education of Adam Speaker will appeal to anyone who desires an easy-to-read story format of the world’s great, spiritual self knowledge teachings. In a friendly setting, you will, through the eyes of the main character, meet and talk with Plato, Jesus, The Buddha, Lao Tzu, and several other world teachers.

Reader Reviews:

"Richard has a gift. He is able to translate philosophical wisdom into a context that breathes life into old forms and allows for new growth."

   - Dr. Beverly Lanzetta, President, Interfaith Theological Seminary, Tucson

"Richard, thanks for skillfully portraying the unportrayable, sharing the unsharable. . . Your ability to communicate is one of the best I’ve seen."

   - Dr. George Addair, Founder & Director, Omega Seminars, Phoenix

"Richard’s work is truly remarkable, drawing excellent relationships among the traditions. He makes the ancient philosophers so clear, it’s amazing."

   - Dr. Joan Price, Professor Emeritus, Philosophy & Religion, Mesa College

Mindful Essays Volume 1 - Myth, Religion, & Worldview

Recommended text for Mindful Salon 1. $20 plus $4 shipping

A fascinating series of explorations of the spirit in a multi-cultural, global context. Includes thought-provoking essays on ten topics, A through J. Click on button below for a synopsis of each topic.

Volume 1 Topics >>

Mindful Essays Volume 2: Spiritual Growth & Self Discovery

Recommended text for Mindful Salon 2. $20 plus $4 shipping

Practical and powerful sessions on spiritual journey & self-exploration. Includes eleven eye-opening essays L through U. Click on button below for a synopsis of each topic.

Volume 2 Topics >>

Reader review of Vols. 1 & 2:

"Richard has a gentle and compelling way of communicating the wisdom and wonder of spiritual inquiry, non-dual teachings and myth. Mindful Essays is a great manual for helping anyone to challenge themselves and learn to wake up to their own inner brilliance and work with the reality and tension of opposites."

Quest Mythology in Film: Understanding the Hero’s Journey

Recommended text for Dance’s mythology film class of the same title. $30 plus $4 shipping

This insightful and entertaining book shows how American feature films are often based on a mythological theme known as the Hero Quest. Though the Quest is often about finding some reward or answer through a departure-initiation-return sequence of events and action, in the process the hero ends up finding some previously unknown part of him or herself. Thus the Quest is always about the transformation of consciousness, sometimes of an individual, and occasionally, of the larger group.

Using Joseph Campbell’s seventeen stages of the Hero Cycle as a blueprint, Dance ingeniously interprets a dozen Hollywood feature films in a mythical context, teaching the reader how to not only view but experience movies on levels much deeper than what the surface story portrays. By focusing intently on the Quest sequence of actions in a colorful variety of plots, ranging from the intense individualism of Jodie Foster’s character Ellie Arroway in Contact, to the function of the Muse in awakening the artistically creative hero in Shakespeare In Love, to the via negativa path to enlightenment unconsciously demonstrated by "Jack" in Fight Club, Dance navigates you through the labyrinth of the psyche as it winds its way across the thresholds of its preconscious, conscious, unconscious, and transconscious states in his unique interpretation these excellent films.

Reading this book will enable you to not only see the Quest cycle present in film, but will also allow this insight to carry over into your own life, where you begin to see yourself as the hero or heroine you truly are in the unique procession of events that constitute your own life.

Reader Review:

"After reading your book, I find myself examining my relationships with new insight: Shadows, mirrors, guides, gods, goddesses, tricksters…I initially resisted the idea of analyzing films this way…until something in me responded on a deeper level and it was an amazing feeling. So I crossed the threshold and am on this particular quest, which is mirroring what I am learning about the subtext evident in all these films we are examining. [Quest Mythology in Film] provides invaluable skills for enriching one’s understanding of how all the traditional stories retold by mankind help us comprehend and improve our own lives. Thank you Richard!

dance@mindfulmedicine.com