An Outlaw Makes It Home: The Awakening of a Spiritual Revolutionary
New Morning Books, April 2018
Can drugs, sex and revolution lead to lasting fulfillment and love? This memoir by Eli Jaxon-Bear, framed as a teaching story, using Joseph Campbell's model of the hero journey, answers this question in an exciting, funny and deeply personal memoir.
From being attacked by possemen on a civil rights march in Alabama to becoming a federal fugitive in a cabin in Colorado, Jaxon-Bear's life then leads us to the uncharted Andes, a Zen Monastery in Japan and a Sufi initiation in Morocco. We are taken on a roller coaster adventure of discovery in the search for freedom and finally finding true love and fullfilment. We see the tests and challenges that confront all of us as we navigate through life in the search for happiness.
Hardcover | ISBN: 9780692599877 | Publication Date: April 2018
Reviews:
"An Outlaw Makes It Home, bares it all in this rapid fire compilation of adventures. A serious quest for spiritual wisdom and enlightenment with a startling turn in the heartwarming discovery after an eighteen year search. Jaxon-Bear does not spare himself or try to polish his flaws and mistakes: in that regard, he is a warrior. I consumed this book in huge gulps and would do it again. I urge others to read it." —Peter Coyote, Emmy award winning actor and author of The Rainman's Third Cure
"An Outlaw Makes It Home, can be seen as a coming of age story, a modern journey of self-discovery, but it is also a classic hero's journey: an odyssey and a return home. What a journey, and what a home! Eli takes us from a shattering moment in a Brooklyn childhood through radical and sometimes terrifying times in the 60's, being literally outside the law, escape to Peru, lots of drugs and women, Japan, Morocco, India, learning to be a farmer of sorts back home in the US... all the way to waking up and discovering what home truly is. His honesty about fear and failure are very moving, but what really shines forth from these pages is a fierce love and commitment to the truth. I absolutely loved An outlaw makes it home!" —Nancy Baker, Zen Roshi and a Professor of Philosophy Emerita of Sarah Lawrence College
"I am awed by his mythic journey of self exploration towards awakening. Eli relentlessly pursues justice, challenges his traditional teachings and constantly follows the sacred path of the spiritual seeker. A true Godwrestler of the Yehudi tribe, I bow to Eli for declaring and living his truth: “Any path can lead home. It is the heart of the seeker not the path that is important.” This book is a fast moving page turner, alive and exciting. I applaud Eli's honesty, drive and natural story telling ability." —Rabbi Sue Morningstar, Ashland, OR
"Teachings I'd never known yet somehow recognized as doors of understanding opened my mind and heart. A compelling read, Eli's brutal honesty constantly blowing my mind while traveling through the Revolution of the Sixties... witnessing the Liberation into true Freedom bringing me home to my Self! Thank you for taking this bodacious journey." —Rev. Sue Adams, Minister of The Lord's Chapel, Winchester, Va
