Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post - Spiritual Enlightenment: The Damnedest Thing > anyone read it?

Glass Joe · 03-08-2007, 03:39 AM

Hey Royce_aus,

I said I was going to add some more comments after I went through these two books some more, so I wanted to post something to this thread before I forgot.

However, I don't think I have that much to comment on yet, because I'm still going through them and I'm still not sure what to say about them. The books are very hard to categorize and also hard to summarize into a few paragraphs.

But now that I'm getting more familiar with the books and more used to their ideas, I'm not looking at them through rose-tinted glasses anymore. For instance, I'm starting to develop my own disagreements with some of the ideas, but I'm not sure yet. My disagreements may be totally wrong. But whether my disagreements are right or wrong (probably wrong, or more likely simply irrelevant), I'm looking at the books with a more critical eye, and also researching some of these ideas on my own elsewhere, which I think is good.

Also, my emotional reactions to these books have been like night and day. One day I feel like such a loser and a chump for all the time I've wasted and all the wrong turns I've made. And the next day I feel so lucky and fortunate for all the progress I've made up to this point, and for how this book crossed my path at the perfect time.

BTW – THANKS ROYCE_AUS!!!

Here are some general thoughts on the books so far...

1. Multiple paths

The first book briefly addresses multiple spiritual paths (wisdom, action, meditation, devotion) and how his ideas apply to them. I won't go into detail about the paths themselves, but here's a wikipedia article that goes over these four paths if you are unfamiliar with the idea. Personally, I think this book applies to those on a more knowledge-centered, wisdom-centered approach rather than an action-centered or heart-centered approach.

The book itself says that the path you choose doesn't really matter (a wake-up call is still a wake-up call). But I think the author addresses the existence of multiple paths for a reason, and also says that he never had any desire or reason to question Sonaya's more action-oriented path. The author's job (and the character Jed McKenna's job) seems more focused on helping people on the knowledge-centered path to get unstuck and out of a rut.

I'm mentioning this distinction about paths here because this book probably won't be all that helpful to people on other paths. For instance - Jed telling you that ALL your beliefs are excrement, isn't a very heart-centered approach.

2. Intention-Manifestation and Nature of Reality

Jed even mentions that his book will find you when you are ready, and says things like "When the student is ready, the teacher appears". He even uses the phrase "resonates with me", which in turn, resonates with me.

He also makes some references to how he already pretty much knows how the universe works, and how his life goes with the flow, and how he doesn't have to worry about money, because he knows that money will find him. He also talks about how he already knows how to manifest a desire before he even is consciously aware that he desired something. He doesn't go into that much detail about this type of stuff, but it seems like he already knew this stuff before actually "waking up".

Also, even though Jed talks about manifesting desires, the nature of reality, resonance, seeing patterns, and going with the flow, he doesn't make the mistake of equating self-improvement and peak experiences with "waking up". He goes to great lengths to make the distinctions between (a) being fully awake, (b) starting the process of waking up, and (c) upgrading your dream character and/or doing anything that can fall under the umbrella of attaining more-blissful peak experiences.

I know Jed is a fictional character, but I'm mentioning this because I think the author is saying that it's beneficial to understand your relationship with the universe, and understand the nature of reality, and have some peak experiences, and already have some level of faith in LoA/I-M/whatever before entertaining ideas about self-annihilation. But then again, now that I think about it, the author also talks about the benefits of discovering Truth first, and how you can spend the rest of your life (without any inner conflict) doing the more spiritual (and probably more fun) stuff afterwards. I can see how both ways can work. So I guess it depends on whatever you feel particularly drawn to at the moment. It's all good.

3. Richard Rose

I don't remember how I found these sites, but there are some blogs and web pages that speculate that Jed McKenna is actually Richard Rose. Personally, I don't think so, because the movie references in the book seem way too current to come from Richard Rose himself (who passed away in 2005). But who knows?... Maybe Richard Rose wrote these books earlier in his life and then someone else recently edited them and published them for him before his death.

Personally, although there are a lot of similarities between the fictional Jed McKenna and the real-life Richard Rose, I think the books are more likely a tribute to Richard Rose, written by one of his friends or former students, rather than written by Richard Rose himself.

Regardless, it's not that big of a deal, I just thought I'd mention Richard Rose here just in case you never heard of him before. (I sure didn't) So if you liked Jed McKenna's books, you'll probably also like reading Richard Rose too.

03-08-2007, 03:39 AM	#43 (permalink)
Glass Joe Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 65	Hey Royce_aus, I said I was going to add some more comments after I went through these two books some more, so I wanted to post something to this thread before I forgot. However, I don't think I have that much to comment on yet, because I'm still going through them and I'm still not sure what to say about them. The books are very hard to categorize and also hard to summarize into a few paragraphs. But now that I'm getting more familiar with the books and more used to their ideas, I'm not looking at them through rose-tinted glasses anymore. For instance, I'm starting to develop my own disagreements with some of the ideas, but I'm not sure yet. My disagreements may be totally wrong. But whether my disagreements are right or wrong (probably wrong, or more likely simply irrelevant), I'm looking at the books with a more critical eye, and also researching some of these ideas on my own elsewhere, which I think is good. Also, my emotional reactions to these books have been like night and day. One day I feel like such a loser and a chump for all the time I've wasted and all the wrong turns I've made. And the next day I feel so lucky and fortunate for all the progress I've made up to this point, and for how this book crossed my path at the perfect time. BTW – THANKS ROYCE_AUS!!! Here are some general thoughts on the books so far... 1. Multiple paths The first book briefly addresses multiple spiritual paths (wisdom, action, meditation, devotion) and how his ideas apply to them. I won't go into detail about the paths themselves, but here's a wikipedia article that goes over these four paths if you are unfamiliar with the idea. Personally, I think this book applies to those on a more knowledge-centered, wisdom-centered approach rather than an action-centered or heart-centered approach. The book itself says that the path you choose doesn't really matter (a wake-up call is still a wake-up call). But I think the author addresses the existence of multiple paths for a reason, and also says that he never had any desire or reason to question Sonaya's more action-oriented path. The author's job (and the character Jed McKenna's job) seems more focused on helping people on the knowledge-centered path to get unstuck and out of a rut. I'm mentioning this distinction about paths here because this book probably won't be all that helpful to people on other paths. For instance - Jed telling you that ALL your beliefs are excrement, isn't a very heart-centered approach. 2. Intention-Manifestation and Nature of Reality Jed even mentions that his book will find you when you are ready, and says things like "When the student is ready, the teacher appears". He even uses the phrase "resonates with me", which in turn, resonates with me. He also makes some references to how he already pretty much knows how the universe works, and how his life goes with the flow, and how he doesn't have to worry about money, because he knows that money will find him. He also talks about how he already knows how to manifest a desire before he even is consciously aware that he desired something. He doesn't go into that much detail about this type of stuff, but it seems like he already knew this stuff before actually "waking up". Also, even though Jed talks about manifesting desires, the nature of reality, resonance, seeing patterns, and going with the flow, he doesn't make the mistake of equating self-improvement and peak experiences with "waking up". He goes to great lengths to make the distinctions between (a) being fully awake, (b) starting the process of waking up, and (c) upgrading your dream character and/or doing anything that can fall under the umbrella of attaining more-blissful peak experiences. I know Jed is a fictional character, but I'm mentioning this because I think the author is saying that it's beneficial to understand your relationship with the universe, and understand the nature of reality, and have some peak experiences, and already have some level of faith in LoA/I-M/whatever before entertaining ideas about self-annihilation. But then again, now that I think about it, the author also talks about the benefits of discovering Truth first, and how you can spend the rest of your life (without any inner conflict) doing the more spiritual (and probably more fun) stuff afterwards. I can see how both ways can work. So I guess it depends on whatever you feel particularly drawn to at the moment. It's all good. 3. Richard Rose I don't remember how I found these sites, but there are some blogs and web pages that speculate that Jed McKenna is actually Richard Rose. Personally, I don't think so, because the movie references in the book seem way too current to come from Richard Rose himself (who passed away in 2005). But who knows?... Maybe Richard Rose wrote these books earlier in his life and then someone else recently edited them and published them for him before his death. Personally, although there are a lot of similarities between the fictional Jed McKenna and the real-life Richard Rose, I think the books are more likely a tribute to Richard Rose, written by one of his friends or former students, rather than written by Richard Rose himself. Regardless, it's not that big of a deal, I just thought I'd mention Richard Rose here just in case you never heard of him before. (I sure didn't) So if you liked Jed McKenna's books, you'll probably also like reading Richard Rose too. Last edited by Glass Joe; 03-08-2007 at 03:47 AM.