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Unbelievable! But then, what IS believable? There is nothing that can be said about Enlightenment — non-dual awareness — including this statement. Therefore, it is enormously difficult to write a single, encompassing review that captures the astounding nature of this book as well as the impossibility of being able to say anything at all about the Subject (pun intended.) Simply stated, the ego-identity known as Jed McKenna has indeed done it again. This is another direct, compelling, startling and humorous book from the author of the self-shattering Spiritual Enlightenment: The Damnedest Thing. As with the first book, Spiritually Incorrect Enlightenment is about instrumental injunction. To paraphrase Wilber — as I seem to do with some regularity — an injunction is a call, a set of practices, a recipe that says, "If you want to know this, do this." Absolutely no one can convey what It is, or what It is like. If you perform the injunction adequately, you'll likely get direct experience of the domain presented by the practice, and you can then verify or reject the results with others who have completed the injunction. Until you actually engage in the practice, though, all discussion and judgment about the result is premature. So in order to find out if this injunction is for you, get hold of both books by this Author, and read them. The Author clearly acknowledges that when one publishes a book in today's "spirituality marketplace", it will be seen by a rather broad audience. There will be the serious, the seekers, the simply curious and the clueless. A book such as this will apply to some, certainly not to others, and most likely not to a majority. Some readers won't understand it at all and will offer an almost complete rejection of everything that the book tries to communicate. Others will read the book, picking apart all of the notions that don't jibe well with their current set of beliefs, their understanding of the world as it appears to them. Another, quite predominant group will read the book and will recognize and understand what the Author is trying to communicate. However, this group of people will not see how the book could possibly apply to them, or they will be perfectly unwilling to let go of the lives they are living in order to follow their course to Truth. Why change what feels good? People have said, "That (first) book really messed me up, but I'm just going to go on as I have been living. I like my life!" So be it. There is Absolutely no problem with any of these responses, and the Author is in perfect agreement on this — even addressing the latter issue on the very first page, before anything else, lest there be any confusion. But there is another group of readers to which these books call. They will read the books and undergo a transformation that will completely blow away the very notion of reality itself. The match will have been struck and the fire will have begun. For these people, the Author's books may very well be the last book of words they'll ever need to read. Or not; they may go on to read other important works for sheer entertainment or to help in the process of wrestling their leviathans into submission, but the Author's books will serve as a beacon, a reference point to which they can always refer. Nothing will ever again be as it had been, and it will seem like "Relative-World" is melting before their very eyes. The Mind will spin as it sees nested layers of meanings, a play within a play within a play, hidden messages to Oneself that arise just when One needs them, a peeling away of illusion and delusion, until a feeling of openness, emptiness and freedom begins to emerge from the fog of delusion. And someday, with Absolute certainty, it will dawn on one — It was there all along, and couldn't possibly have been somewhere else. You were never without It, so you could never search for and attain It. This is a book about an injunction, a negation process not unlike the teachings of the most venerable non-dual traditions. It says: If you want to see Truth, then you must do the practice. It is truly difficult work, and only you can do it. No one can adequately tell you what something like this tastes like. Neither can the Author. But he does a damn good job. Read the books, first and foremost. At the very least you'll find humorous lines and situations, and you're sure to pick up a few useful pieces of insight here and there. You'll surely be blown away by the revelation revealed about one of the Great American Novels. If, as well, you then want to do the practice, then do the practice and good luck to You (!) If you don't want to do the practice or don't understand why you would even consider it, then simply rest in that — all is good, and always has been — enjoy your Great Search.
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