It would not be quite accurate to say that the material in Illusions is shopworn, but it is becoming common currency in the reading offered to American mass audiences: enlightenment, miracles, reincarnation, out-of-body experiences….

There is nothing particularly wrong with [Bach's] anecdotal enlightenment, except that there is nothing particularly right about it either. It leaves the recipient where he was before the process began, except that he may have a dim recognition of the existence of other places. The problem, like the advantage, is that it is too easy; Lao Tzu might have said: "The Tao that is facile is not the true Tao."…

Perhaps the ultimate enlightenment—nirvana—comes when you perceive that the self, too, is an illusion, a game, or perhaps merely a temporary ripple on the surface of the continuum. Bach gives no evidence that he has any idea of this level of enlightenment...