Forty years of daily meditation practice led me to become professor of comparative religions, (CUNY), to found both the Forge Institute & The Journal of Consciousness Studies, and to a rethinking of the spiritual goal in our complex modern lives. That's why I wrote Enlightenment Ain't What It's Cracked Up to Be: A Journey of Discovery, Snow and Jazz in the Soul . It answers the question, what if you spent years of your life seeking spiritual enlightenment, but were looking in the wrong place over a long time? It's happening right now to millions of seekers around the world. Told in often poetic prose, it capitalizes on author's years of scholarly research into and his own 39 year experience of spiritual enlightenment, and uses both as a springboard for exploring new directions for people looking for a sane and healthy spiritual pathway in our increasingly confusing world.