Sorting the Chaff from the Wheat

If there's anything Jed McKenna helps his readers do in The Enlightenment Trilogy, it is exactly that: Sorting the chaff from the wheat. In a world with shelves full of phony spirituality, which is often more useful as a drug to alleviate the pain of this life, or obfuscate it with rose-colored glasses, these books stand out as a hard-hitting alternative. There were always some "bonus materials" which were included in the e-book versions, but which have now been published in print as well, and this little volume is absolutely worth its weight in gold. To give a bit of the flavor, I'll quote some typical statements towards the end of the book:

... Most people get through the day by believing that if they don't break too many rules too much, they automatically get promoted up through the ranks; be it one life and straight to the top or a climb of many smaller steps. This comes to us from Maya's Ministry of Deferral & Procrastination, which promotes a doctrine of plausible denial and applied non-aggression, and where the motto is Rock the Cradle, Not the Boat. (p. 179)

My assistants and proofreaders warn me that people don't like to hear themselves portrayed so negatively. That surprises me. I would think that most folks, if they took a minute to sit down and really think about it, would blubber in joyous relief to find out that what they've been calling life was really just the most meager level of subsistence and that there were infinitudes more to this whole thing then they'd been led to believe. (p. 181)

Although my primary epiphany could be summed up as Truth Exists, it was actually much more complicated than that. The flip side of Truth Exists is This Ain't It. (p. 189)

These quotes are indicative for the quality of the book. It is truly hard-hitting from beginning to end. No sacred cows are spared, and he is consistently funny in the way he points up the fallacies, with which our ego, or "Maya" keep us wrapped around the axle, so we can't see for the life of us what's going on. Meanwhile he delivers among others a very clear expose of why it pays to get in the observer seat, and watch ourselves play the role which we think is our life, for it is the way to bring the ego's machinations to the light, and exposure is the only thing which will de-fang the ego in the long run. It cannot stand the light.

Besides other things, this book, and the entire series always seems helpful again in having a healthy respect for the ego, which can help us towards clarity as to why we do not want to hear the things that either Jesus, or the likes of Jed McKenna had to say, and why also Buddhism has nothing to do with who and what the Buddha was, and what he had to teach, just like Christianity has nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus. Simply put, we prefer to keep on dreaming. In the The Book of Thomas this theme is picked up among others in Logion 13, where Thomas after having spoken privately with Jesus, is asked by the other apostles what Jesus said, and he responds that they'd stone him if he told them. Accepting the atonement for ourselves, as the Course calls it, or reaching Human Adulthood, as McKenna calls it, is possible only if we are under no illusion as to why we resist it so much, and get very honest with ourselves and with that Internal Teacher, that quiet voice that will lead us to the truth if we let ourselves be led.

To conclude, I'll cite two priceless paragraphs on Buddhism, from page 47 of the book, noting that these comments apply to a lot more than just Buddhism:

Typical of their insistence on reconciling the irreconcilable is the Buddhist concept of Two Truths, a poignant two-word joke they don't seem to get, and yet this sort of perversely irrational thinking is near the very heart of the failed search for truth. We don't want truth, we want a particular truth; one that doesn't threaten the ego; one that doesn't exist. We insist on a truth that makes sense given what we know, not knowing that we know nothing.
Nothing about Buddhism is more revealing than the Four Noble Truths which, not being true are of dubious nobility. They form the basis of Buddhism, so it's clear from the outset that the Buddhists have whipped up a proprietary version of truth shaped more by market forces than any particular concern for the less consumer-friendly, albeit true, truth. (p. 47) 

I would hardly know what to add to that, so I won't try, except to say, run, don't walk to your nearest bookstore to get this little gem. Jed McKenna's Notebook: All Bonus Content from The Enlightenment Trilogy By Jed McKenna