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Scientist and author Karkar explains the benefits that he believes he has derived from contact with a spiritual advisor, Elias Mitri Abu Shanab— a name abbreviated throughout the book as EMAS. The author’s family first came in contact with EMAS when his father and mother were living in Egypt. EMAS, they learned, hypnotized certain people who would, in their trance state, provide reports from the spiritual realm. Thus EMAS had secret knowledge beneficial to those who, like Karkar and his relatives, turned to him for assistance. Karkar attributes some key events in his life to EMAS’ intervention. For example, after almost giving up on getting a visa to the US to study at UC Berkeley, Karkar was suddenly issued one soon after his first physical encounter with EMAS. Later, listening to recorded prayers received from EMAS as he filled out applications, he was accepted in a higher degree program. EMAS accepted favors from those he helped but always stressed that he only assisted people whose motives were morally high and only for positive outcomes.
Karkar’s book is short, highlighting incidents in his life related to his spiritual guide with some repetition of major happenings. His prose is utilitarian, spare, and unemotional. As a researcher and scientist with Christian beliefs, he expresses his personal idea that the power he attributes to EMAS might actually have a basis in the physical realm through particles or electromagnetic waves “that we have yet to discover.” His book is in part a family history, tracing the achievements of siblings and others as they relate to their contact with EMAS. His account, including his imaginative and intriguing theories about spiritual guides and their influence on human behavior, may attract readers interested in the subject of hypnotism and related matters.