The Path: A New Look At Reality

by Richard Matheson

Richard Matheson's bestselling novel, What Dreams May Come, the basis for the hit movie starring Robin Williams, touched numerous readers with its convincing portrait of life after death, based on years of research and personal reflection. Like that earlier book, The Path is a work of inspirational fiction that comes straight from Matheson's own deeply held beliefs about spirituality and true nature of existence. The story of one man's encounter with an enigmatic stranger who imparts to him ten lessons about the true realityof the soul; The Path is not so much a novel as a philosophical dialogue about life and the afterlife.

Everyone who read What Dreams May Come and wants to know more about Matheson's personal philosophy should take a walk along . . . The Path.

Genres: Spirituality, Fiction

144 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1993

About the author

Born in Allendale, New Jersey to Norwegian immigrant parents, Matheson was raised in Brooklyn and graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1943. He then entered the military and spent World War II as an infantry soldier. In 1949 he earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and moved to California in 1951. He married in 1952 and has four children, three of whom (Chris, Richard Christian, and Ali Matheson) are writers of fiction and screenplays.

His first short story, "Born of Man and Woman," appeared in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1950. The tale of a monstrous child chained in its parents' cellar, it was told in the first person as the creature's diary (in poignantly non-idiomatic English) and immediately made Matheson famous. Between 1950 and 1971, Matheson produced dozens of stories, frequently blending elements of the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres.

Several of his stories, like "Third from the Sun" (1950), "Deadline" (1959) and "Button, Button" (1970) are simple sketches with twist endings; others, like "Trespass" (1953), "Being" (1954) and "Mute" (1962) explore their characters' dilemmas over twenty or thirty pages. Some tales, such as "The Funeral" (1955) and "The Doll that Does Everything" (1954) incorporate zany satirical humour at the expense of genre clichés, and are written in an hysterically overblown prose very different from Matheson's usual pared-down style. Others, like "The Test" (1954) and "Steel" (1956), portray the moral and physical struggles of ordinary people, rather than the then nearly ubiquitous scientists and superheroes, in situations which are at once futuristic and everyday. Still others, such as "Mad House" (1953), "The Curious Child" (1954) and perhaps most famously, "Duel" (1971) are tales of paranoia, in which the everyday environment of the present day becomes inexplicably alien or threatening.

He wrote a number of episodes for the American TV series The Twilight Zone, including "Steel," mentioned above and the famous "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"; adapted the works of Edgar Allan Poe for Roger Corman and Dennis Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out for Hammer Films; and scripted Steven Spielberg's first feature, the TV movie Duel, from his own short story. He also contributed a number of scripts to the Warner Brothers western series "The Lawman" between 1958 and 1962. In 1973, Matheson earned an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his teleplay for The Night Stalker, one of two TV movies written by Matheson that preceded the series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Matheson also wrote the screenplay for Fanatic (US title: Die! Die! My Darling!) starring Talullah Bankhead and Stefanie Powers.

Novels include The Shrinking Man (filmed as The Incredible Shrinking Man, again from Matheson's own screenplay), and a science fiction vampire novel, I Am Legend, which has been filmed three times under the titles The Omega Man and The Last Man on Earth and once under the original title. Other Matheson novels turned into notable films include What Dreams May Come, Stir of Echoes, Bid Time Return (as Somewhere in Time), and Hell House (as The Legend of Hell House) and the aforementioned Duel, the last three adapted and scripted by Matheson himself. Three of his short stories were filmed together as Trilogy of Terror, including "Prey" with its famous Zuni warrior doll.

In 1960, Matheson published The Beardless Warriors, a nonfantastic, autobiographical novel about teenage American soldiers in World War II.

He died at his home on June 23, 2013, at the age of 87

http://us.macmillan.com/author/richar...

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard Matheson's The Path: A new look at reality is quite an eye, or should I say mind, opener. A brief yet densely packed encapsulation of the life's work of theosophist Harold W. Percival, The Path is cleverly written as a series of conversations between an everyman and a man of extraordinary wisdom, with each lesson building upon the last. For fans of Matheson, The Path also offers a look at the source of the author's own metaphysics. The Path may not be for everyone, but for those ready to ponder the nature of thinking and how those thoughts become reality Matheson's book is the first step in a long journey.

[Sofia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love a great deal of Richard Matheson's fiction works, both in and out of the horror genre, so when I saw this at The Strand in NYC, I had to grab it. The Path is largely based on Harold W. Percival's magnum opus Thinking and Destiny, written over some 30 years in the early 1900s.

The Path condenses the narrative in Percival's work, clocking in at just over 100 pages. Over a series of 10 walks, the narrator and his ~cosmic~ companion discuss various aspects of life & society, touching on themes of liberty & democracy, body/soul identities, the nature of sleep, and death & rebirth. The chapters on democracy are particularly telling in the current north american political climate & the bits about the soul passing through heaven, hell & reincarnation are interesting - I'm not sure if I subscribe to them, but they were unique and fun.

Then the book delves into bits about karmic spillover between lives, claiming that illnesses and diseases are meant to produce "learning" in the body of the person whose thoughts were "improper". I almost DNF this book from this stupid, toxic crap. Why he would choose to keep that sort of bullshit in a book (written in the 90s!!! 80 years after percival initially wrote that shit!) is beyond me.

Wouldn't really recommend for that alone & am pretty disappointed in my man Matheson for spewing that kind of nonsense.

[Stephen Snead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought provoking.

I really don't know if this was good news or somber. I know it's not bad news. If true. Anyway, another sign post along the journey.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought provoking

I have been fond of Matheson's fiction so I was curious about this non-fiction work of his. The book basically encapsulates the philosophy of Harold Percival, from his novel, Thinking and Destiny. In Matheson's book, Percival's thoughts on the true nature of humanity are presented as a discourse between two men that takes place over ten walks together. One man, who appears and disappears mysteriously before and after each walk, is there to relay the teachings to the other man.

While some of the main points of the philosophy are thought provoking, other points are a little confusing, prowling too detailed to truly be addressed in short form this way. I was left intrigued to know more about Thinking and Destiny and may give it a shot.

[Another · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lot of nonsense and a few pearls. Not worth the time to find the good bits among the silliness.

[Logan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have to admit this is one of the few books I have ever quit reading more than halfway through. Having just lost a child to a rare genetic disorder earlier this year, when I got to the part where disease and sickness are blamed on negative karmic energy building up in the blood, I wanted to get up and burn the book immediately. Instead I threw it in the trash.

[Kitty · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am such a Richard Matheson fan that I just had to read it. Of course, this is nothing like his fiction... I just couldn't get into it.

[Kim Sheibley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read, although somewhat of a letdown based on the blurb. I was expecting something different.