J. D. Messinger
I bought this book at the suggestion of Miriam Knight, and found it engrossing. This is not a conversation between the author and God, but rather between the author's mind (from the World of Form) and the author as a soul (straddling into the World of Light).
There are multiple bottom lines, I will list just four that jump out at me from my notes:
01 Finding your authentic self — and hence finding sustainable happiness and positive effect — must be rooted in a deep critical appreciation of how false our current world is, particularly its materialistic and reductionist nature, the false assumptions about scarcity, valuation. This sets the stage for personal liberation.
– The author does not belabor the evil in our current industrial-era world that some call Vampire Capitalism — but does concisely lay out how the World of Form is an artificial world in which scarcity, time, distance, and speed are among the many contrived concepts that serve to enslave the average person to a lifetime of largely meaningless working to live instead of living to work (at one's calling). Peter Drucker, Buckminster Fuller, and Russell Ackoff would all embrace how the author describes a world in which we have all been herded into an artificial construct, the commons have been fenced, private behavior once natural has been criminalized, and all the joy and creativity has been sucked out of education, the media, and more crafts. The World of Form is a false world, a false God, with false priests, rabbis, and immans (a few exceptions notwithstanding. Here are just a few books that totally reinforce the author's message on this core foundational aspect of the book:
The Manufacture Of Evil: Ethics, Evolution, and the Industrial System
Griftopia: A Story of Bankers, Politicians, and the Most Audacious Power Grab in American History
Breaking the Real Axis of Evil: How to Oust the World's Last Dictators by 2025
Grand Illusion: The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny
– The whole point of the book is to help any individual discover that they are a soul within the World of Light, perfect in every way, and that their highest calling and greatest potential within the cosmos lies in rejecting the World of Form, embracing the World of Light, and being one with all others, which is to say, forgive everyone else's trespasses, love everyone else as you should love yourself, and let the harmony of the World of Light come forth in your everyday being. This is not a Zen book but it resonates. The first half frees you of illusory bonds; the second half empowers the liberation of natural joy. Here are four books that come to mind among many others (see my comment for a number of useful links to my Amazon book review lists focused on goodness):
The Bhagavad Gita: A Walkthrough for Westerners
Philosophy and the Social Problem: The Annotated Edition
The Zen Leader: 10 Ways to Go From Barely Managing to Leading Fearlessly
The Power of the Powerless: Citizens Against the State in Central-Eastern Europe
02 Pain is physical, suffering mental, and both are the primary means by which elements of the cosmos might learn. Persisting through the pain and suffering, being resilient and having faith in the goodness of the larger cosmos and the good intentions of one self, combined with a rejection of the attachments imposed by the old paradigm (materialism, trade-offs sacrificing family to corporation) are the journey — the way.
03 Energy is the fundamental element such that matter also contains dark matter or energy spaces — science is a religion, religion is a science, and everything is connected in a spiritual non-material manner. The brain is an energy field, thoughts do travel without industrial-era tools. Energy cannot be destroyed, only transformed. Change is transient in the World of Form, it is a non-concept in the World of Light.
04 Love really does conquer all, beginning with complete acceptance of one self and then all others. There are no accidents, war is a clear indication that humanity is out of balance (including excessive control by the 1% of both money and communications media), trust and confidence in one's authenticity as well as faith in the goodness of the larger cosmos are essential to making the leap — find and fulfill your purpose.
The author strongly recommends two books, Phil McGraw's Self Matters: Creating Your Life from the Inside Out and Dawn of the Akashic Age: New Consciousness, Quantum Resonance, and the Future of the World — I have reviewed the second.
Not visible to the reader are the very many books and personalities that the author absorbed during his decade long personal quest in the aftermath of his near death experience. I suspect there is some overlap in our reading, and have posted a new collection of book review lists, search for < New Group of Book Review Categories Focused on Goodness > to get to it, all reviews lead back to their book's Amazon home page.
Best wishes to all,
Robert David Steele
THE OPEN SOURCE EVERYTHING MANIFESTO: Transparency, Truth, & Trust
