An Unlikely Tale of Awakening

By Barbi Schulick

“Ethel will make you laugh and move your soul. Follow her journey, and you may find your way home.”

— Jan Frazier, author of When Fear Falls Away and The Freedom of Being

Ethel, a Jewish 70+ no-nonsense New Yorker, becomes concerned with her daughter Debra’s incessant focus on the spiritual quest and a Sanskrit-dubbed Western teacher. One day Ethel gets into her Volvo and heads to the ashram in the Catskill Mountains. Convinced she’ll uncover evidence for her worries, she instead finds herself reluctantly charmed by Anandaji’s earthy manner and intrigued by his Zen-flavored teachings. Ethel’s story takes place over five days and mirrors our own as she plays tug-of-war with the steady pull of truth. She never abandons her prudent skepticism and trademark humor, and through her innocent investigations we come to suspect that the most sublime truths may run parallel to our innate common sense. Backdrop to this theme is a deepening of acceptance between mother and daughter who in turn become each other’s gurus.