Galaxy of Fire

The mark of a truly great memoir is how deeply it allows us to look into a life. The actual events may be mundane, but if seen with great clarity and understanding, even an "ordinary" life story can be enlightening. Latham's story had this quality. He holds nothing back--even in circumstances where we might wish that he had. But there was nothing mundane about Jay's life. He lived life full-throttle, pedal to the metal, from Marine boot camp to his treks to the Himalayas to find God.To find God--the phrase is ripe for parody. But Jay did seek God. And I think he found Him, not in the exotic Shiva temples of Uttarkashi, but in the temple of his own heart. We flinch as we read of his trials--his experiments with drugs, his failed love affairs, his disconnection from Western civilization where, more than anywhere else, it is the God of Money that is worshipped. Once, in Rishikesh, a poor man, who was riding with his family on a bus, asked Jay what he was doing in India. Jay told him that he was on a pilgrimage. The man exclaimed that Jay was a lucky man because poor men such as himself could seldom afford such a pilgrimage. He wondered what it could be like. Jay observed the harmony and love the family exuded, and remarked, sadly, "What it is like, sir, is like searching for what I think you already have."That in a nutshell, is the story of Jay's life. Not fitting in the Marines, not fitting in the drug culture, not fitting in the church in which he was raised, and ultimately not fitting in the TM organization, to which he devoted nearly three decades of his life. He found solace in Nature where, at last, he discovered, "God (in actuality, my own highest Self) has never let me downwhenever I have shown courage and sincerity in regards to seeing my path and walking it."ThisLatham, Jay is the author of 'Galaxy of Fire', published 2001 under ISBN 9781887472777 and ISBN 1887472770.