In this unique and exhilarating autobiography, Allan Jones – Canada’s first blind diplomat – vividly describes how an untreatable eye disease slowly decimated his visual world, most challeng- ingly during his postings in Tokyo and New Delhi, and how he discovered and took to heart the reve- latory Indian philosophy that changed his life. Advaita Vedanta, the most iconoclastic and lib- erating of the classical Indian philosophies, pro- foundly altered the author’s experience of self and world. He found that the true self, as distinct from the individual ego, far exceeds the boundaries of individuality. It lies beneath sightedness or blind- ness and is absolutely unaffected by the latter. This welcome shift of perspective was reinforced by startling discoveries in contemporary physics, evo- lutionary biology, and developmental psychology that are fully consistent with Advaitic metaphysics. As for the practical applications of metaphysics, this book demonstrates step by step how Advaitic insight and practice significantly reduce physical and psychological tension. The most telling exam- ples have to do with adjustments compelled by ex- treme circumstances. Thus Jones describes how he drew upon Advaitic mindfulness techniques to maintain his white cane mobility skills in the teeth of permanent spinal, nerve, and muscle pain. The arc of Beyond Vision moves from the claus- trophobically personal to the openness of the transpersonal. It begins in a dysfunctional family background, breaking out into a full life encom- passing an adventurous foreign service career, spiritual exploration, and an unconventional kind of marital love. Allan Jones is a former diplomat who served in Tokyo, New Delhi, and Ottawa. He lives in Ottawa. 1 0 M Q U P S P R I N G 2 0 1 8 M E M O I R • P H I L O S O P H Y Beyond Vision Going Blind, Inner Seeing, and the Nature of the Self allan jones How the fearful descent into blindness can unexpectedly open up into a selfhood that is deeper than body or senses. S P E C I F I C AT I O N S June 2018 978-0-7735-5285-2 $39.95T CDN, $34.95T US, £28.99 cloth 6 x 9 400pp eBook available