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Spiritual Enlightenment, the Damnedest Thing: Book One of The Enlightenment Trilogy Paperback – October 2, 2011
Purchase options and add-ons
From a spiritual master unlike any,
a spiritual masterpiece like no other.
AUTHOR, TEACHER AND SPIRITUAL MASTER Jed McKenna tells it like it's never been told before. A true American original, Jed succeeds where countless others have failed by reducing this highest of attainments — Spiritual Enlightenment — to the simplest of terms.
Effectively demystifying the mystical, Jed astonishes the reader not by adding to the world's collected spiritual wisdom, but by taking the spirituality out of spiritual enlightenment. Never before has this elusive topic been treated in so engaging and accessible a manner.
A masterpiece of illuminative writing, Spiritual Enlightenment is mandatory reading for anyone following a spiritual path. Part exposé and part how-to manual, this is the first book to explain why failure seems to be the rule in the search for enlightenment — and how the rule can be broken.
_________________________________
Comments about Jed McKenna's Enlightenment Trilogy.
“Jed McKenna is an American original.” -Lama Surya Das
“Absolutely marvelous, splendid, perfect books!” -Shri Acharya
“These books have profoundly changed my life.” -C. Jensen
“These three books are precious gifts to humanity.” -E. De Vries
“Thank you for the books. I’ve been waiting all my life for them.” -C. Vankeith
“I can think of no other author I’d recommend more highly.” -M.R. Fleming
"I say an eternal thank you for the Trilogy. The books continue to challenge my mind and life. I ordered my 4th complete set. Nothing compares to this writing." -J.H.
"If you are ready, step into Jed's world. It is intelligent and powerful." -J. Katz
Visit Wisefool Press to learn more about Jed McKenna's Enlightenment Trilogy and Dreamstate Trilogy.
_________________________________
- Print length324 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateOctober 2, 2011
- Dimensions5.5 x 0.81 x 8.5 inches
- ISBN-100980184843
- ISBN-13978-0980184846
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
- "Jed McKenna is an American original." -Lama Surya Das
- "Absolutely marvelous, splendid, perfect books!" -Shri Acharya
- "These books have profoundly changed my life." -C. Jensen
- "These three books are precious gifts to humanity." -E. De Vries
- "Thank you for the books. I've been waiting all my life for them." -C. Vankeith
- "I say an eternal thank you for the Trilogy. The books continue to challenge my mind and life. I ordered my 4th complete set. Nothing compares to this writing." -J.H.
Product details
- Publisher : Wisefool Press (October 2, 2011)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 324 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0980184843
- ISBN-13 : 978-0980184846
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.81 x 8.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #115,643 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #204 in New Age Mysticism (Books)
- #533 in New Thought
- #646 in Devotionals
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Impersonating Jed McKenna
(from Spiritual Enlightenment: The Damnedest Thing)
But with the clear certitude of the self’s disappearance, there automatically arose the question of what had fallen away—what was the self? What, exactly, had it been? Then too, there was the all-important question: what remained in its absence? -Bernadette Roberts
NO MAN IS A PROPHET IN HIS OWN COUNTRY. That line keeps running through my mind as I sit over lunch with my sister who I haven’t seen in several years. These days I’m the enlightened guy, but to her I’m just the bratty kid who couldn’t make eye contact when she wore a bikini.
It’s summer ‘01 and we’re having lunch in lower Manhattan. She read a preview copy of Damnedest and has had a few months to digest it. It was very nice of her to read it because it’s really not her kind of thing. She’s a good citizen; a successful executive, wife, mother, Republican, tennis nut, Christian-ish, and all-round productive member of society. (She once told me she was raising her children to be productive members of society and I winced so hard I almost chipped a tooth.) She’s a wonderful person, but not a member of the demographic the book speaks to.
There’s a plate of chilled pasta in front of me and a salad in front of her. We’re both drinking iced tea. She runs the creative side of a medium-sized ad agency and, I have no doubt, she’s very good at it. She’s taking time out of her very hectic schedule to have lunch with me. After this, I’m going to the park to lay in the grass and watch people play with their dogs.
Visiting your sister and having lunch shouldn’t be a confusing ordeal, but it is. Is she really my sister? What does that mean? We share some history and acquaintances, such as childhood and parents. Are my parents really my parents? Genetically they are related to my body, but the person who lived my childhood is no longer here. The past I share with this person is about as real and important to me as if I’d read it in a brochure.
The problem is that these people, my family, are all related to my shell, and I’m not. They’re looking at the outer Jed McKenna and assuming an inner Jed McKenna. I’m inside Jed McKenna looking out and I can’t really remember what he’s supposed to do or say. It’s all fakery. I’m an actor playing a role for which I feel no connection and have no motivation. There cannot be anything genuine in my dealings with people who are dealing with my outer garment. (The whole thing is further entangled by the fact that there’s no “I” inhabiting my shell, just a fading echo, but let’s not go down that road just now.)
Actually, it’s not really confusing. I possess not the least shred of doubt about who and what I am. The tricky thing is that who and what I am is not related to this pretty, professional, salad-eating woman across from me. By coming to this lunch I have inserted myself into a situation where I do not belong. I am an impostor. I have some residual fondness for my sister and if she died I’d be saddened to think that she was no longer in the world, but the simple fact is that our former relationship no longer exists.
Okay, so why am I telling you this?
Because that’s what I do. I try to hold this enlightenment thing up for display and this seems like an interesting aspect of the whole deal. How do you relate to the people who were most important to you before awakening from the dream of the segregated self?
She asks why I’m in town.
“My astrologers told me it was a good time to get away and not try to accomplish anything. They said that ketu and rahu wouldn’t be letting me get anything done for awhile anyway—”
I look up and see that she has stopped chewing in mid-mouthful and is staring at me incredulously.
“What?”
“My astrologers—”
“You’re not serious. You have astrologers?”
Oh yeah, I guess that sounds weird. I was vaguely aware that I was trying to be funny by starting a sentence with “My astrologers told me—” but what’s a little amusing to me is otherworldly to her. Might as well have fun with it.
“I have dozens of astrologers. I can’t swing a dead cat without hitting someone who’s doing my chart or explaining how my future will unfold; advising me on pretty much everything.”
Her expression doesn’t change. “You have astrologers?”
“Lots. Gotta beat ‘em off with a stick.”
“And they tell you… they tell you what the future holds? What you should do? When you should do it? What you should avoid? Is that what we’re talking about?”
“I suppose.”
She resumes chewing but the wide-eyed gaze remains. There’s a chasm in this conversation across which there’s no point trying to communicate. She knows I’m into some serious weirdness, but not how much or what kind. I don’t really have astrologers, of course, but in those days it did seem like I was surrounded by students of Eastern and Western astrology who were always very eager to share their readings.
“What do you do with all that information?”
“Me? Nothing. I mean, I don’t ask for it. It’s not like I wake up and summon the court astrologers to plan my day.”
“It sounds like you do.”
“I was speaking lightly.”
I’m trying to skip playfully along the surface of this conversation. I don’t want to sink down into the kind of answer I’d give a serious student. The truth is that I don’t possess any mechanism that would allow me to be curious or concerned about the future, but saying that doesn’t make for breezy conversation.
“Jesus,” she says, shaking her head. “My little brother has his own astrologers.”
“Well, they’re not really mine. They’re just in attendance, so to speak.”
I’m used to conversing with people who aren’t awake and aren’t happy about it. Everything else is chit-chat; talking for the sake of talking, reinforcing the illusion of self. I’m not against it, I just don’t care to participate in it.
“So, you obviously have a great deal of influence over your students,” she says as she sips her iced tea. I mull her statement over and decide that I don’t have a response. I take another bite of pasta, wishing I’d ordered something with meat.
“I mean,” she says, “they obviously hold you in very high regard. That’s quite a responsibility.”
She thinks, quite understandably, that she’s my big sister and we’re having a nice little catch-up lunch. She’s been thrown a curve with this little-brother/spiritual-master thing and she’s trying to handle it. Does she think I’m a fraud? Does she think I’m running a game? Does she think that underneath it all I’m still really her little brother? I don’t know and I don’t much care. The fact that she’s read Damnedest doesn’t mean that she and I can speak; it means she should know we can’t. She doesn’t seem to be clear on that. Maybe she thinks the enlightenment thing is just my day job and that I can step out of that role to be with someone who knows the real me.
“I don’t know. I suppose it’s a responsibility.”
“You don’t know? Obviously these people are strongly influenced by you. You don’t think that’s a big responsibility?”
I shrug. The first thing she said to me when we got together was that I wasn’t dressed well enough for the restaurant. Such a statement is so alien to me that I could only shrug. Now it seems that every statement she makes is so alien to me that I can only shrug.
In accepting this lunch engagement, my hope was that I could slip back into my old persona enough to manage a civil meal. That was too hopeful. I can no longer impersonate myself and I am simply unable to formulate a reply to anything she has to say; I’ve forgotten my lines. We don’t share a common tongue and there’s no way I can make her see that. From her point of view she’s saying perfectly normal, conversational things. “Yes, I suppose it’s a big responsibility,” I say, trying to say something that sounds like I’m saying something.
She lowers her voice. “You hear a lot about people in your position taking advantage of that responsibility for,” she lowers her voice, “unsavory purposes. I hope you would never do something like that.”
I could simply tell her what the preview copy of the book was meant to tell her, that we are no longer related because what I am now doesn’t relate. But why say it? To satisfy myself? It wouldn’t. To inform her? It wouldn’t.
“You mean sex stuff? That sort of thing?”
“Whatever. Power corrupts. I just hope you’ll be careful.”
Sweet. Big sister giving little brother some advice on how to shoulder the burden of power. Being in advertising, perhaps she thinks we have something in common; wielding the power to influence people’s thoughts. Maybe she thinks we’re in the same business, I don’t know.
I set down my fork and sit back. “Well, when I walk through the house, I always have someone precede me with a boom-box playing Darth Vader theme music to lend a weighty and ominous air to my approach. And I certainly don’t dress like this. I have, you know, the robes, the beads, and I always carry fresh flowers. Just trappings, all very tiresome, really, but the underlings expect it. There was a little resistance at first to having them call me Shri Shri Shri Shri Jed, but they got the hang of it. And remembering to speak in the first person plural there and singular here can take a little getting used to, but we are—I mean, uh, I am—happy to make the effort. Noblesse oblige and all.”
She stares at me for a long moment, then bursts into laughter. I guess some ice has broken because we are able to continue in a lighter and friendlier manner, and eventually say goodbye with genuine fondness.
I doubt I’ll ever see her again, but I’m happy knowing she’s still in the world.
_____________________
Jed McKenna is the author of The Enlightenment Trilogy (Spiritual Enlightenment: The Damnedest Thing, Spiritually Incorrect Enlightenment, Spiritual Warfare) and The Dreamstate Trilogy (Jed McKenna’s Theory of Everything: The Enlightened Perspective, Play: A Play by Jed McKenna, Dreamstate: A Conspiracy Theory).
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Customers find the book insightful and enjoyable. They appreciate the author's engaging writing style and humor. The writing is clear and easy to understand. However, opinions differ on whether the storyline is plausible or fictional.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book insightful and engaging. They appreciate the author's clarity on spiritual topics that often elicit skeptical responses. The book encourages questioning and seeking truth. It provides guidance for self-discovery and consciousness growth. Readers find the underlying philosophy easy to incorporate into daily life without further study.
"...the book is full of great "ah hah" moments and nuggets of thoughtful insights, some subtle, some very obvious...." Read more
"...It's clear, challenging, ruthless and uninterested in my excuses, weaknesses and games...." Read more
"The author makes it very simple. It's all about Truth, and it's up to each and every one of us to learn, or rather to unlearn, all the nonsense we..." Read more
"...Eventually, they change the whole game. This is not a book for today. It came far too early in time...." Read more
Customers enjoy the book. They find the content great and entertaining, with tidbits of wisdom. Readers describe it as a fun addition to the library. The first book in the trilogy is good, while the second gets sketchy. Overall, they consider the book an important read and a must-have for anyone on this journey.
"...As much I like this book, the second is a must read...." Read more
"...That aside, the book is well-written and fun to read, and Jed McKenna is an interesting character who jumps out of planes and says excellent stuff..." Read more
"...the fictional character of Jed McKenna, the non-guru, for his creative expression and keen observations, but take it all with a grain of salt...." Read more
"Really enjoyed this. And I love the way he told his story through conversations. Great book. Def recommend for all." Read more
Customers find the writing style engaging and inspiring. They appreciate the author's grounded, easy-to-understand teaching that makes perfect sense. The book starts with simple concepts and uses other people's experiences and stories to explain them. Readers mention the writing has a pungency and truth that sticks with them.
"...Personally, I found the author's style quite enjoyable...." Read more
"...damn it. His "method" is simple, challenging, tough and brutal...." Read more
"...The concepts of this book build on each other. He starts the book with simple concepts and uses other peoples experiences and stories to enhance the..." Read more
"...As much I like this book, the second is a must read. It helps clarify and point to the reality of what most people actually want...which is not..." Read more
Customers enjoy the humor in the book. They find it entertaining and readable, with great "ah-ha" moments and thoughtful insights. The book is described as poorly crafted satirical fiction.
"...the book is full of great "ah hah" moments and nuggets of thoughtful insights, some subtle, some very obvious...." Read more
"...You will laugh. Entertainment is not trivial. It is Lila, just like all the rest of this. Maybe the All is a pinball wizard. Who can say?" Read more
"...Funny! Yes Jed can sure crack a joke and knows who to use irony and sarcasm too. Jed made me think and laugh too...." Read more
"Like the humor. Seems like Jed's been a seeker and learned a lot on the way. Kind of squeezed the joy out of life...." Read more
Customers appreciate the book's clarity. They mention that McKenna is clear that waking up is not for everyone.
"...It's clear, challenging, ruthless and uninterested in my excuses, weaknesses and games...." Read more
"A clear,humorous,paradigm blowing book ...." Read more
"...spiritual read it is raw, ruff around the edges, unpolished, smooth, clear, a light in the darkness, it’s nothing and everything" Read more
"McKenna is very clear, the whole waking up thing is not for everyone, and if you enjoy your dreamstate, by all means carry on...." Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the storyline. Some find it plausible and engaging, while others think it's a work of fiction that is contrived and unbelievable.
"...The book is readable and entertaining, and most likely fictional, but don't let that last part bother you...." Read more
"...Not sure if this is a true story or a fictional story to teach spiritual enlightenment. I was so excited about this book but wow so boring...." Read more
"...The book reads like a story. There are characters (probably made up names), development, drama, conflict and resolution...." Read more
"Really enjoyed this. And I love the way he told his story through conversations. Great book. Def recommend for all." Read more
Customers have different views on the book's readability. Some find it readable and entertaining, while others find the writing challenging, difficult to understand, and boring.
"...Personally, I found the author's style quite enjoyable. The book is readable and entertaining, and most likely fictional, but don't let that last..." Read more
"...I was so excited about this book but wow so boring...." Read more
"...It's clear, challenging, ruthless and uninterested in my excuses, weaknesses and games...." Read more
"...His writings, although unpalatable at times, echo those of Ramana Maharshi, Adyashanti, Krishnamurti, Ouspensky, etc...." Read more
Reviews with images
Highly Recommended for those Committed to Truth.
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2009This is a difficult book to review, largely due to the subject matter (spiritual awakening, which is something about which most people have a lot of cherished and pre-conceived ideas), and partly due to the author's style, which many seem to find confronting, abrasive, or otherwise troublesome.
Personally, I found the author's style quite enjoyable. The book is readable and entertaining, and most likely fictional, but don't let that last part bother you. A great deal of the world's greatest spiritual stories are fictional or partly fictional, and they were written to take advantage of the human tendency to learn by way of storytelling. Metaphor, analogy, koan, parable, these are all non-literal ways of teaching, or making a point about something. The idea that this book is probably fiction shouldn't faze anyone.
A significant number of people find this book highly objectionable for various reasons. The author does note that there is nothing people hate more than having their view of reality messed with, and this book is deliberately written to mess with your view of reality. If you don't want your view of reality challenged or your cage rattled, then please don't waste your time and money on this book! You won't like it, it will probably tick you off, and you may feel the need to come to Amazon and write a review in which you accuse the author of all sorts of unpleasant things, engage in name-calling, and complain that the view the author paints of his reality doesn't appeal to you. (For evidence of this, just look at the reviews for this book.)
If you DO want a wake-up call, or clarification on the topic of spiritual awakening with a fairly stark, no-bull approach, this is the book for you. Even if you don't agree with everything the author says (and, honestly, why would you have to?), the book is full of great "ah hah" moments and nuggets of thoughtful insights, some subtle, some very obvious. This is a multi-layered book, and it works on a good many levels.
I have, in fact, read all three of the McKenna "awakening trilogy", so this review doesn't come without that framework. This book stands alone, and is the foundation for the other two books, which simply build on this one.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2014I met this book purely by accident. which is another way to say it made its way into my hands exactly at the perfect moment. All I will write here is only valid for those that make their ways until the very end of the book. Not many will, hence, this advice may be lost. If you leave this book before the end of it, do not suffer, it is how it was supposed to be. Eventually, either you will be back to it, or you won’t find any need for it, for a number of possible reasons, one for one very specific reason in particular. If you don’t get to the end of this review, you can skip the book entirely for now. Jed may not be a person, and almost anonymity makes even a more dangerous book. But its the only way it would be published, so bear with it. It is dangerous for the same reasons that Osho was considered dangerous. And for the opposite reasons too. If you are a spiritual seeker, you will most certainly feel exasperated. And grateful. If you’re not, very hardly you will begin here, and that’s not a bad thing. It is outrageous. It is precious. In exactly the same measure. Few book will demand more unattachment to be read. Few will challenge you more. Jed makes painfully plain all the hardships of the path. The steep, slippery path it is. Few authors have made that clear how difficult and doubtful is this journey. Thats why it makes so much sense. Like one - just one - author before him, Jed describes the dark, deep complications and pains of a staircase he knows too well. You will agree with many things. You will cringe on many others. And probably you will agree and cringe by the wrong reasons, as you will, eventually come to realize, but only afterwards. There was only one author that used that kind of language (albeit very different for the times were others) and that kind of straight painful truth. And the name of the author was Helena. Petrovna. Blavatsky. This is reason enough for reading the book. At the same time, is reason enough not to. For HPB books were read much more times than understood. But, when correctly understood, by very few exceptional individuals, some books have the power to change more than minds. Eventually, they change the whole game. This is not a book for today. It came far too early in time. It will be much more fruitful in fifty years from now. But its a damn good thing to know it’s already here. Enjoy. Or not. But don’t blame me. Nor Jed. It’s all your fault. Or glory.
Gratitude. AUM.
Top reviews from other countries
- Samrath MondairReviewed in the United Kingdom on August 17, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars Simple truth
This book is easy to read, interesting and points to the truth. It's important to read with an open mind (very), after reading it what do you see?
-
Gabriela ChaconReviewed in Mexico on November 1, 2019
5.0 out of 5 stars NO ES PARA CUALQUIERA
Todavia lo estoy asimilando ..... de una profundidad inusitada en cuanto al tema de búsqueda espiritual..
- Sandra BarbourReviewed in Canada on April 9, 2019
5.0 out of 5 stars Not For the Faint of Heart
This book is for those who are truly searching, not just for spiritual enlightenment, but for the ultimate truth. It reveals the difference between the current metaphysical journey to enlighten "self" and the true journey of oneness - which, according to Jed McKenna, does not have anything to do with "I" and everything to do with "no-self." He teaches that the only true enlightenment is when self becomes non-existent. He explains, in great detail, the trappings - and the traps - of most metaphysical modalities and completely blows the concept of "duality" out of the water. Wonderful book, but only for those who are ready to give up everything to find true peace, wholeness and oneness with the universe.
-
Elmar GányiReviewed in Germany on August 22, 2019
5.0 out of 5 stars Alles, was Du brauchst
Dieses Buch ist gnadenlos, radikal, es gibt kein Entrinnen.
Es ist für Leute, die an der Schwelle sind, nur einen Schritt entfernt von ...
Es bleibt kein Stein auf dem anderen!
Zusammengefasst:
Alles muss „sterben“!
Die before you die!
Absolutes Muss für Alle, die den Weg ernsthaft zu Ende gehen wollen!
- Frank ProcopioReviewed in Australia on August 11, 2017
5.0 out of 5 stars They say it's just like the dream you had last night that you may ...
Books on non-duality attempt to discuss a concept that is really very non-discussable. What they are saying there is no me and no you. This thing we think of as our individual mind doesn’t exist. There's is no separateness, no separate you and only ONE incomprehensible single something!
What we are seeing through these eyes now is an illusion, a complete fallacy. They say it's just like the dream you had last night that you may have thought was real at the time, but then woke up to realize it wasn't. What a crazy hypothesis!
Does everybody see how incomprehensible this stuff is?
It is totally beyond all capabilities of this thing we supposedly know of as the mind to understand. These books are trying to describe the non-describable.
So let’s say You happened to become non-dual/enlightened, then what the hell happens to me?
How can we both exist in your non dual vision?
But books like this talk about other people, what they are going through and how they're evolving. This is in total conflict with the non-duality concept of there not being a multitude of individual identities running around everywhere seeking enlightenment! There is only one!
These books are just entertainment. They put nice ideas in our heads and probably make us see things differently, but they cannot give us the final truth. It's beyond words.
But still, they are a great buzz to read and I highly recommend this one.