Roots and Wings: Adventures of a Spirit on Earth

Peter Harmathy teaches fine arts in Victoria.

Jack Haas is an American-born scholar, philosopher, and writer who
currently lives in British Columbia. In his early 20s, he chose to live
as a vagabond, travelling the world and reporting on his many
experiences. He has described his travels around the globe in earlier
books such as In and Of: Memoirs of a Mystic Journey (2002).

Roots and Wings is an autobiographical account of Haas’s physical
travels and spiritual ruminations over the last 15 years. In Part 1, he
takes us on a journey in search of enlightenment, inspiration,
friendships, and chance encounters in India, Nepal, Morocco, France, and
Hawaii. In Part 2, he literally follows a visionary dream to New
Zealand, Israel, Iceland, and Ireland. His epic journeys do not follow
any prescribed ideology, but provide insights into both Eastern and
Western thought. In Part 3, he explores the idea of the human-individual
vs. the God-universal and the human-earth vs. the God-heaven: hence
“roots” and “wings.”

The author’s hyperarticulate, stream-of-consciousness writing is as
esoteric as it is relevant, as frustrating as it is liberating, and as
contradictory as it is unambiguous. Haas is a rare writer of our
day—one who unabashedly rebels against life-not-lived and, through
example, revels in the mysteries of God, the human-universe connection,
and our search for meaning and truth.