stephen Luff 2008-09-30

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

I found this book an up and down journey. The whole book is devoted to the author's annoyance at all the spiritual paths and journeys out there that didn't deliver for him immediate 'enlightenment'. We've got rants about spiritual gurus, we've got rants about how the author thinks he's an idiot he would of liked to clap around the head when he was younger. More rants about getting side-tracked on UFO Chasing, Aura chasing and other side-tracks.
These are good points but too much negativity and way too much attention goes into how he feels annoyed by this.
He goes on in great detail about being hypnotised by one's own depression :-
K.L. says 'let's be honest, we would not feel good, if we mulled over all of the negatives that happen in our lives, on a constant basis.
Yet this is what I did every day, up until I discovered spirituality'.

So his spiritual involvement and searching provided him with a starting point to begin clearing his head of hypnotic clutter. Yet the author doesn't see it this way. He expected to - discover immediately - just realise your thoughts are not who you really are. This can be a 20 year journey for some(10 for the author) to finally reach that point of letting go completely. To give up totally. To fall into a depression. A black pit of hopelessness. And then finally say I wash my hands of all the .....(insert your own mind clutter)'.

K.L. says 'I learned about how we are all conditioned (hypnotised) , and how easily we believed to be true, each thought that passed through our awareness. This was a major revelation.....'.

Now this is another very useful tip in the journey towards 'experiencing Reality'. Without that pointed out to you one will just continue in the dream-thoughts.

K.L. says 'little did I know that Reality was staring me in the face all along, and all of the head knowledge in the world, was of no use when it came to simply switching my attention, from thought to Reality. I came to grasp that I really didn't need a whole lot of spiritual head knowledge, in order to awaken to Reality.'

Yes Spiritual overload, becomes a fix. You get that buzz and thrill from the book, it all makes great sense. You try out a few things and then that becomes boring - so we order another book(I've got the t-shirt). This is very important to point out to everyone. How many books do you read around the subject? In the author's example he sites a man who only read 'Eckhart Tolle's' Power of Now, and he broke through in to the Real Reality, no other distracting books. Too much information feeds the monkey mind. These are very valid points but way too many chapters of negative ranting goes on and on.


good points

K.L. talks about if you're doing anything like dishes, watching TV, working reading, gardening do so with pure experiencing, we end up with no thinking but pure experiencing.
If we fully experience everything then our thoughts have no room to take us into another dream-like state of dialogue. By observing our thoughts they slow down because of the observing.(Eckhart Tolle 'The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment' is brilliant on this subject]

Buying into our own negative thoughts will keep you in an endless cycle of a depressed thinking mindset.

The spiritual fixation and substitute. This is about using spiritual seeking as a drug - giving us a high on each new topic, subject, step closer to 'enlightenment'. We do need to be very wary of this.

He tells the story of his sister with whom he discusses his own 'latest findings' of great cost and journey to California from Ireland. She phones a few days later after 'observing her own thoughts' and experiences massive energy surges and a spiritual experience of great magnitude. She expresses concerns. So K.L. brings her around to all things spiritual of which she was previously ignorant. He then muddles her head - she loses what she had and spends the next 6 years trying to figure it all out.(Got the T-shirt).
I think this experience affected the author deeply, because when he looked back, he could see that anyone can break through into enlightenment, immediately.
However, I feel one needs a layer of understanding, a readiness; an unwashing of the brainwashing to be ready to accept this greatest human revelation. It all depends where you are in your thoughts. If you've over-complicated things, then that needs to be unravelled. If you have no understanding, the experience can scare you because there's no modern 'crazy man up on the hill who lives alone - and lives to help others understand the meaning behind these experiences.'

My understanding of Eckhart Tolle's journey was to reach a point of hopelessness in living - then wake up a fresh new completely uncluttered being - THEN take 10 years out to figure it out and refine his interaction between being 'eternally present in great stillness' to nimbly engaging the mind as a tool for purposes of daily living and functioning. So after all this refinement he begins to write his book!

So overall some great points - they are however scattered throughout the book. I was hoping for the complete journey up to and after the great moment of shifting into 'awakened Reality'. A few chapters at the end to encaptulate, summarise and condense the 'uncluttered path'. Unfortunately we have the author still ranting about something negative on spirituality right up to page 151 in his final sub-heading 'eliminating the trash'. the book ends on Page 154. Far far too many chapters on negative rants(the points are sometimes good - but get smothered by the rants).
To get the best out of this book get some paper while you read and jot down the few good points as you go along. They are not summerised at the back in detail.

Finally - if you feel this review is too long for your taste then I offer this:- why just cheerlead a book without offering some kind of structured review? I've written a few of those in the past and they don't really offer anything. The book the 'Secret' has over 2000 reviews in America's Amazon.com , Far too many are 'get the book its great'. I ended up in a huge debate with someone who objected to my 'fluffy' review on the 'secret'. I learned something after that. And finally, if this review was too long then you gonna find 'finding reality' a long long read before you get to the end. I found the book gave me an unpleasant journey. Perhaps that was its intended purpose.

However, the book was a stepping stone. I read a one star review by [elsewhere "elsewhere"] of Wales[on Finding reality] and he mentions John Wheeler. So I used the search inside and read a few pages. I learnt so much from those few pages about 'awakening' P16 top paragraph Awakening to the Natural State. So if I hadn't read this book I might have not found John Wheeler straight away. I've ordered the book, but I'm already practicing what I learnt in the search inside!! Now that's brevity!

Gene Ryan 2008-08-29

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

This is one of the most honest books i've ever read, the writer genuinely wants to simplify awakening so that the ordinary guy can awaken quickly, without much seeking. He flips from conversational and humourous, to passionate and inspiring. I liked the personal touch he used to highlight the quest of the average seeker. His book is in touch with the ground level spiritual seeker in a way that no other teacher has even touched upon! He appears to be on a mission to spare the reader any inconvenience, cost or misunderstanding in thier search, and goes to great lengths to hammer home awakening with ease. He makes it all so easy. Finally we have someone with a simple and workable message.

PAUL 2008-08-08

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

This book is a new and refreshing approach to enlightenment and it brings a fun element into the subject. I very much enjoyed reading his before and after awakening story, which was funny at times. Like the author found from his own search, I've also grown tired of `teachers' who confuse awakening with heavy wording and contradictory philosophies.
There is no confused wording in this book, he's a straight talker like no other i've ever read, and he does his damndest to clear up as much confusion and misdirection as he can. This book will be very much to the taste of all those who are willing to be honest with themselves and take a good look within.
It's nice to read a book on the subject by someone who puts a bit of life and enthusiasm back into it all, and isn't trying to be the worlds next new guru, but instead comes across as just an ordinary person like you and I, who went through an un-needed search and then got spat out the other end awakened. I think you should find this book to be extremely helpful in your search for enlightenment.

Jim Nobody 2008-08-08

2 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

There is too much of the author's personal story, and stories of 'others', which really isn't what this subject is about... that's all.

Larry 2008-07-20

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

Just the kind of realist this subject needs. He asks you to go beyond authority, belief or path and into reality; the present moment. You have to be ready to let go of what he calls second hand opinions when reading this book, because he completely shreds some misleading teachings, and much of the confusion which surrounds spiritual awakening. He brings you straight into his world, giving a very detailed and witty account of his own search and awakening, hiding nothing from the reader.

His basic message is this - Have you found what you are looking for? If not, are you willing to merely follow someone else's philosophy for the rest of your life? It's either philosophy or reality, that's the basic theme of this book, and he's hardcore when it comes to that. I found it to be insightful, inspiring, very useful and funny but it could hit close to your spiritual nerves. Read it if you you really do want awakening and are sick of being led astray by others.