A New Earth

I started reading this book and hope that you too, are availing yourself of the opportunity to do so and will participate in the on-line class with the author begining March 3rd. This book is not an easy read. You need to read it free of distractions - take your time and savor the words. I'm fairly intelligent and I've found myself having to read passages again and again to fully comprehend their meaning. I've had many "Aha moments" while reading this book. This book is well worth your time and attention and all who try to read it and understand it will be richly rewarded for their efforts. I suggest you buy a copy of the book ($12), a highliter and post it tabs as you will want to mark your favorite passages. Here are a few of my favorite passages so far:

What a liberation to realize that the "voice in my head" is not who I am. (This one brought me to tears. So simple and yet profound.)

In the seeing of who you are not, the reality of who you are emerges.

Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.

Nonreaction is not weakness but strength.

The past has no power to stop you from being present now. Only your grievance about the past can do that.

Spiritual realization is to see clearly that what I perceive, experience, think, or feel is not ultimately who I am , that I cannot find myself in all those things that continuously pass away.

The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about the situation.

Facing facts is always empowering. (THIS, I always knew to be true and strived to always do so but it was nice to see it validated as more people than not can't even stand to hear the truth out loud. Hearing it and facing it forces you to take action.)

Don't seek happiness. If you seek it, you won't find it because seeking is the antithesis of happiness. Happiness is ever elusive, but freedom from unhappiness is attainable now by facing what is rather than making up stories about it. Unhappiness covers up your natural state of well-being and inner peace, the source of true happiness.

In form, you are and will always be inferior to some, superior to others, In essence, you are neither inferior nor superior to anyone. True self-esteem and true humility arise out of that realization.


Here is a synopis of the book:

This book’s main purpose is not to add new information or beliefs to your mind or to try to convince you of anything, but to bring about a shift in consciousness, that is to say, to awaken. In that sense, this book is not "interesting." Interesting means you can keep your distance, play around with ideas and concepts in your mind, agree or disagree. This book is about you. It will change your state of consciousness or it will be meaningless. It can only awaken those who are ready. Not everyone is ready yet, but many are, and with each person who awakens, the momentum in the collective consciousness grows, and it becomes easier for others. If you don’t know what awakening means, read on. Only by awakening can you know the true meaning of that word. A glimpse is enough to initiate the awakening process, which is irreversible. For some, that glimpse will come while reading this book. For many others who may not even have realized it, the process has already begun. This book will help them recognize it. For some, it may have begun through loss or suffering; for others, through coming into contact with a spiritual teacher or teaching, through reading The Power of Now or some other spiritually alive and therefore transformational book—or any combination of the above. If the awakening process has begun in you, the reading of this book will accelerate and intensify it.

An essential part of the awakening is the recognition of the unawakened you, the ego as it thinks, speaks, and acts, as well as the recognition of the collectively conditioned mental processes that perpetuate the unawakened state. That is why this book shows the main aspects of the ego and how they operate in the individual as well as in the collective. This is important for two related reasons: The first is that unless you know the basic mechanics behind the workings of the ego, you won’t recognize it, and it will trick you into identifying with it again and again. This means it takes you over, an imposter pretending to be you. The second reason is that the act of recognition itself is one of the ways in which awakening happens. When you recognize the unconsciousness in you, that which makes the recognition possible is the arising consciousness, is awakening. You cannot fight against the ego and win, just as you cannot fight against darkness. The light of consciousness is all that is necessary. You are that light.