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Book Reviews
For Voyage Of Purpose |
In March 1983 David Bennett was chief engineer on a research vessel when a terrific storm hit. The small boat he was using to get some of the men ashore capsized and he drowned. Prior to his rescue, he had a deeply intense near-death experience: in the pure light of love, peace and knowing, he was welcomed by his soul family. For the first time in his life, he felt at home. Back in 1983, NDEs were not being written or talked about. David quickly learned to keep mum about his experiences.
"Over the years,” he writes, “I’ve said hundreds of times, ‘Dying is hard, but returning to life is more difficult.’” The course he chose was to work on himself, to understand and clarify his purpose in life, and to serve. Years later he met people who helped him to understand and evaluate his experiences. He also discovered the benefit of sharing his journey with its many ups and downs, including a hard-won battle with cancer. In this candid, inspiring book, written with his wife, he reveals the details of all that became his voyage of purpose.
—review in Light of Consciousness ~ Spring 2012 issue |
Since I’ve already recommended this book to half- a-dozen people, you may be able to anticipate
what this review will say. David Bennett’s account of his terrifying near-death in icy waters is riveting enough, but the path he has taken in his life since is perhaps the more compelling (and definitely more extensive) part of his book. Not particularly a metaphysical or spiritual guy, Bennett’s experience led him to change careers (more than once), spouses, and virtually every aspect of his life. When he was diagnosed with cancer years later it came as no surprise since, he tells us, this future condition had been revealed in a life review during his near-death experience, or NDE.
Bennett didn’t want to come back from the edge, and reading his descrip- tion of his NDE, it’s easy to see why. It’s like reading about the party of the year, but you weren’t there—suddenly you might experience a feeling of longing for what you missed. We don’t know what happens after death, but if this account has universality, it’s nothing to be feared.
In the meantime, and despite lasting physical challenges from the tumor so massive that it broke his spine, Bennett has continued to explore the perhaps unlimited parameters of oneness, and, thankfully, share his findings with us.
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In 'Voyage of Purpose: Spiritual Wisdom from Near-Death back to Life" authors David Bennett and his wife, Cindy Griffith-Bennett have delivered an extra-ordinary absorbing read. This is the story of a regular guy, a macho engineer and diver whose life is dramatically transformed by not one, but multiple brushes with death. It reveals, for the first time, why many who have experienced near death believe that 'dying is hard, but returning to life can be even harder.'
Bennett drowns after being caught up in a violent storm off the coast of California. He describes in fascinating detail his death, the beings of light he experienced, his life review and the vision he is given into his future. The intensity of this incident however, leaves Bennett floundering in a mixture of doubt and skepticism so extreme he tells virtually no one about it and he candidly describes how he spends years learning how to integrate his experience into his life without any form of help.
Years later he is diagnosed with stage IV cancer in his lungs and in his bones. His cancer is so severe that his spine has collapsed. Once more, though riddled with tumors, Bennett miraculously survives. Bennett's incredible 'Voyage of Purpose' teaches him about dying, loving and how to find purpose in life and has earned praise.
It's clear that Bennett is compelled to tell his story and share the simple wisdom of his experiences. The result is a fresh, compassionate and genuine voice about dying which is ultimately a rich and inspirational tool for teaching about life.
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Voyage of Purpose is a spiritual tour de force, filled with the heart-wrenching challenges of David's life and his struggle to find meaning and peace. He drowned in the Pacific's cold and violent waters, and in his ensuing near-death experience he met his guides, underwent a life review, and was given knowledge and unconditional love. The hard edges of his macho personality softened. He realized that life was not a battle to be won, but a jewel to be treasured. Afterwards, using his gifts of acceptance, tolerance, and truth as touchstones for living, he went deeper on a sacred journey, where he found his connection to the Infinite still intact. Here David found the strength and courage to survive the unthinkable, stage four lung and bone cancer, a collapsed spine, and, later, neck. Sprinkled throughout with little-known wisdom from the ages, this book will touch and teach you, make you laugh and cry, with its simple yet profound message. The purpose of our own voyages is to learn how to always hear Spirit's voice and see its signs and also to stay in humility and thankfulness, despite outward circumstances. Using gratitude and prayer, visualization and trust, David followed his inner compass and mastered his healing voyage.
Beverly A. Brodsky ~ San Diego, CA
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However you read this book, it is a powerful experience. At the most basic, mundane level, it is an incredible story of the triumph of the human spirit over the most devastating challenges life can throw at us. Abandonment, abuse, drowning and physical death, cancer and the overwhelming pain of a collapsed spine - David Bennett overcame them all. The story, however, is in what they taught him and what he, as a result, was able to learn about the real essence of spirit - his own and the greater whole of which we are all a part - and how we are never alone. Through his near death experience and the sensitivity that brought on, David became a spiritual teacher of the highest calling, and this book is a gift to all who read it.
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Everyone is on a spiritual journey but David Bennett is on the roller coaster ride of a journey and with Spirit. Totally engaging in candor and truth, totally inspiring in the outcomes of the struggles. Voyage of Purpose is the real deal.
Howard Storm ~ author of "My Descent Into Death: A Second Chance at Life" |
Voyage of Purpose is an exceptionally beautiful and well-written book. David’s near-death experience is dramatic, and so is his cure from what should have been a fatal cancer. From such remarkable experiences, this book exudes an abundance of wisdom. This highly recommended book gives remarkable insights to help all of us along our own Voyage of Purpose.
-Jeffrey Long, MD, ~ author of
"Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences" |
"David Bennett is one of millions who have had a near-death
experience; one of thousands who have written about it. You never get tired
of these stories. Whether the individual was frightened or uplifted,
there's something special about "the telling of the tale." David's VOYAGE
OF PURPOSE, though, has a different ring to it. His is a raw and honest
travelogue of a man who hardly had a chance as a child, then became a "man's
man" to make up the difference, took up diving, got caught in a storm that
beat him up so bad he should have wound up in a coffin. In his near-death
scenario he met his Soul Family, an experience that rocked him to his core.
His life changed after that - new job, big move, later a divorce, remarried,
then the discovery of massive tumors and a dissolving spine. What he went
through to regain his health is the stuff of miracles; what he learned along
the way is a message for all of us - about spirituality, about purpose,
about the power of prayer and the reality of unconditional love. David is a
gentle soul today, someone you want to be in the same room with, as just his
presence heals and calms. In VOYAGE OF PURPOSE he shares what he learns as he learns it. He takes you with him into the depths of spirit, so you can
feel your own soul and discover your own truth."
-P. M. H. Atwater, L.H.D., ~ author of
"NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES: THE REST OF THE STORY" |
Voyage of Purpose is a remarkable account of Dave Bennett’s twenty-year journey to find meaning in his repeated brushes with death. Faced with crisis after crisis, he learned to embrace his path rather than to run from it. More than a guide to spiritual growth, this is a riveting story of one survivor’s odyssey to chart his own voyage through suffering and setbacks into a life of meaning and purpose.
-Bruce Greyson, M.D.
Carlson Prof. of Psychiatry & Neurobehavioral Sciences
Director, Division of Perceptual Studies University of Virginia Health System
coauthor of "The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences." |
Voyage of Purpose is an inspirational book that prompts one's curiosity, sense of validation, open-heartedness and peace of mind. Your soul will thank you for reading it.
-Kimberly Clark Sharp, MSW, LiCSW ~
author of "After the Light" |
Dave, you have given my spirit such a lift with your wonderful book!..and I am only half way through it.
The depth and beauty you have expressed is such a rich experience! I have heard you speak many times, enjoyed it every time, with all you share but this is a gift I want to share with many...as a dedicated "bookie" this will be a Christmas present to souls I deeply care about. Thanks to you and Cindy for a richly meaningful , soul uplifting, deeply stirring,inspiring book!
Love and blessings, ~Betty |
In sharing his life testimonial in Voyage of Purpose, David Bennett is fulfilling his purpose and vow as priest in the order of Melchizedek to teach and to heal.
-Rev. Daniel Chesbro ~ author of
"The Order of Melchizedek: Love, Willing Service, & Fulfillment" |
