How The Secret Changed My Life: Real People. Real Stories. by Rhonda Byrne

How The Secret Changed My Life: Real People. Real Stories. by Rhonda Byrne
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How the Secret Changed My Life adds nothing new to the Secret franchise, but it’s still fun to read if you enjoy hearing success stories about people who utilized the Law of Attraction.

The criticisms of it have been voiced elsewhere and more eloquently: that it is predominantly focused on material things and that it stresses being happy at any cost.

That being said, I liked the stories.

I liked hearing about how people hit rock bottom and then changed their lives for the better. I really liked hearing that you can do or have or be anything that you want. Who wouldn’t?

Here’s Rhonda in the introduction: “I want you to know how easily you can change your life, and it’s not by running around trying to force it into the shape you want. You change your life in the only way you can ever change it: change your mind, and then your life will change.” loc 47, ebook.

All true change comes from within, I do believe that. Until I typed this out, I didn’t realize just how many times she used the word “change” in those two sentences. Counting back I see… five times? That’s a lot of change, people.

I feel like this book warns the reader away from negative emotions, but they serve a purpose too. It gives you a starting point- if you know what you don’t want, then you know what you do.

I’m not suggesting that you wallow in negative emotion, but feeling it, acknowledging it, then moving on isn’t as bad as this book makes it out to be.

Photo by Andre Furtado on Pexels.com

In this passage, Rhonda is suggesting the use of “Secret Shifters” to control your mood: “The Secret Shifters… are things you can focus on whenever you find yourself feeling angry, frustrated, or any other negative emotion, in order to change those negative feelings in an instant. They might be beautiful memories, future events, funny moments, nature, a person you love, or your favorite music.” loc 409, ebook.

I say: feel whatever you’re feeling and trust that your emotions will eventually rise again like a cork in water. Helping yourself along with “Secret Shifters” or gratitude lists or whatever is fine, but for goodness sake, don’t force it. “What you resist, persists.”

I really agreed with this next passage: “Most of us have the wrong idea about happiness. We believe that if we get everything we want, and if life continually goes our way, we will be happy. And from that belief, we create all the excuses in the world for why we can’t be happy right now. … It’s those very excuses that are preventing you from being happy now.” loc 457, ebook.

I used to do that- looking forward to circumstances or events and ignoring where I was. The journey really is the point, so why not be happy now?

Recommended for readers who are looking for a quick, uplifting read about the Law of Attraction or for those who are interested in getting started but don’t necessarily believe or know how it works. The latter, in particular, may find a great deal of worth in these pages.

As I said, I liked it, but I’d also recommend reading Abraham Hick’s books too: to learn the value of negative emotion, not be afraid of feeling your full emotions, and to learn not to practice affirmations unless you’re feeling “in the zone” so to speak.

Additional reading: The Vortex: Where the Law of Attraction Assembles All Cooperative Relationships and Co-creating at Its Best: A Conversation Between Master Teachers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books publishing for a free copy of this book!  And, thank you for reading.

Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way through Great Books by Cara Nicoletti

Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way through Great Books by Cara Nicoletti
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Voracious is so much fun. It is a foodie’s honest and open-hearted memoir in which she weaves literary themed recipes each chapter and gives a brief summary of the novel that included it.

Pair this with Tequila Mockingbird: Cocktails with a Literary Twist and you’ve got the makings of a bookworm’s dream feast!

The chapters from Cara’s childhood were some of my favorites because they were so relatable. “I cooked and read my way through awkward middle school years, first love, devastating heartbreaks, loss, and change. As I grew older, though, reading and cooking became the forces that broke me out of my shell, allowing me to form strong relationships and connect to the world around me.” pg 5, ebook.

Or this part, when she and her friends find Grimm’s Fairy Tales in the attic: “We were heavily into mysteries and ghost stories at the time, and when we found the book we were certain that we had discovered some dark secret that my parents had tried to keep under lock and key.” pg 13, ebook.

I know that feeling- when I was ten or eleven, I found a copy of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine that Grandma had loaned to my mother and I had read half of it before Mom discovered me, contently turning pages in the summer sun.

She took it away saying, “This is too old for you.” Some humbug mothers, hmph. I learned to hide when I was reading anything that I thought she wouldn’t want me to. Can’t keep a bookworm down.

In this passage, Cara talks about the culinary conundrum of gingerbread houses: “You toil and sweat, smelling good smells and touching sticky dough and mixing sweet icing for hours and your only reward is visual. It seems so wrong.” pg 15, ebook. I’ve always thought that too!

Photo by EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA on Pexels.com

If I try any of the recipes in here, it’s going to be: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie- Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (pg 34, ebook) or To Kill a Mockingbird: Biscuits with Molasses Butter (pg 93, book).

I think that some of the huge list of offerings in this book are only for “brave” kitchen people. Cara includes recipes for homemade doughnuts, ice cream, chocolate eclairs… things that I don’t think I’ll ever gear myself up to attempt. But, she makes me want to try and I suppose that is half of the battle.

Highly recommended for anybody who likes to eat, read, or do both at the same time. I would guess that’s pretty much everybody.

Thanks for reading!

This Trip Will Change Your Life: A Shaman’s Story of Spirit Evolution by Jennifer Monahan

This Trip Will Change Your Life: A Shaman’s Story of Spirit Evolution by Jennifer Monahan
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This is a firsthand account of Jennifer Monahan’s discovery of her spiritual path and budding abilities as she becomes a modern day shaman.

From the introduction: “Let me start off by saying that I’m nobody special- or at least not any more special than every other person on the planet. But I do believe in magic. And the power of the universe in our lives. This is a story about magic- everyday magic that exists in everyone’s life but that for many goes unnoticed and unappreciated.” loc 26, ebook.

I think that everyone has potential, but sometimes they don’t tap into it because they can’t see how or don’t realize that they can. Jennifer Monahan empowers the reader through her example.

Shamanism, though ancient, feels New Age.

Take this teaching about the mind: “The purpose of the mind, Antonio said, is to train it so that it focuses on those things that make the spirit sing and bring it joy- and to let everything else just slip on by without letting it get caught in the mind… Doing this enables people to live in a state of happiness, peace, and self-love.” loc 153, ebook.

That’s the message of Thank & Grow Rich: A 30-Day Experiment in Shameless Gratitude and Unabashed Joy, Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires, The Secret… I could go on. Perhaps the New Age teachers are on to something :).

My favorite parts of This Trip Will Change Your Life were the messages that Jennifer received during meditation and what she experienced during her vision walks. It is always positive, loving, supportive or healing wisdom that is shared.

Photo by Tobi on Pexels.com

Here’s the universe speaking to her while she breathes: “You don’t have to do anything. Just be. Radiate love out from your core. Focus on that and on being present. Be accepting of people- that is the first step. You’re doing that now; keep it up. Share your joy- find it! Tap into your life.” loc 503, ebook.

I can see this book not appealing to everyone: Jennifer has a few moments of “far out” behavior like talking to her crystals and receiving their wisdom, but if you believe that everything contains a spirit (the philosophy in The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing comes to mind) then it is not such a stretch to entertain the idea that one could communicate with inanimate objects.

Western Qabalists have taught for centuries that everything has a guiding intelligence and that to tap into it, you just have to clear your thoughts, ask, and be ready for the response. But, if you don’t have a fairly open mind about such things, this might not be the book for you.

Overall, I loved the message of this book and the approachable way that Jennifer explains shamanism. “The realization that I’ve come to is that the basic human need is to be loved. And that love needs to come from within. When we feel love for ourselves, we are happy and feel good. We can then send our love unconditionally out into the world.” loc 751.

Highly recommended for those who are curious about shamanism or finding one’s spiritual calling- whatever that may be.

Recommended read alikes: the books I linked above as well as The Flying Witches of Veracruz: A Shaman’s True Story of Indigenous Witchcraft, Devil’s Weed, and Trance Healing in Aztec Brujeria by James Endredy (another modern shaman), The Way of the Shaman by Michael Harner(classic text, gives plenty of general knowledge and practices) or Active Dreaming: Journeying Beyond Self-Limitation to a Life of Wild Freedom by Robert Moss (incorporates the shamanistic practices of the Aborigines for a modern audience).

Thank you to NetGalley and She Writes Press for a free digital copy of this book! And, thank you for reading.

Tequila Mockingbird: Cocktails with a Literary Twist by Tim Federle

Tequila Mockingbird: Cocktails with a Literary Twist by Tim Federle
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New life goals: buy this book. Read every classic mentioned within and try associated drink. (I was shocked by how few of these I’d read.)

I highly recommend this charming book of literary-themed drinks. For folks who are either underage or choose not to imbibe, there are a few non-alcoholic selections and snacks included.

The book summaries are hilarious and playfully presented. Some of my favorite drink titles: “Paradise Sauced”, “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margarita.”, and “Moby-Drink”.

This is a must-read for any bookworm or aspiring bartender. Five stars. Cheers!

Thanks for reading.

Uncharted: The Journey through Uncertainty to Infinite Possibility by Colette Baron-Reid

Uncharted: The Journey through Uncertainty to Infinite Possibility by Colette Baron-Reid
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In Uncharted, Colette Baron-Reid guides the reader with journaling, visualization, personal stories, and meditation exercises through unexplored realms of the spirit as a method for greater self knowing and actualization.

I enjoyed this book, but it felt a bit all over the place. Let me explain what I mean by examining some of the many subjects discussed:

In the introduction, Colette begins by giving some background information into what’s been going on with her for the past couple of years.

One of those big changes is that she is now channeling an group of beings, whereas, prior to this, she wasn’t.

In this passage, she’s talking about the entity helping her to write Uncharted: “It’s like “they” had the puzzle pieces, and when I was ready for them, they dropped them down on the page for me to discover. I’m not realizing that this is, in essence, what channeling an “entity” is. It’s something I never quite understood, and I’m afraid I didn’t respect its power as I should have. So I hereby surrender my inner critical cynic who doubted others when they shared their channeling stories. I get it now.” loc 55, ebook.

She calls this/these entities, Fred. Throughout the book, Fred pops up and shares a message or clarifies something. I felt as if the channeled messages could have composed a whole other book in addition to this one.

Plus, it’s clear that she’s still honing her ability to talk and understand to this inner knowing. Anyway, it “muddied the waters,” so to speak, of Uncharted from nearly the first page.

Colette doesn’t think much of the ego or what she calls the “small self”:“When you view the world through the limits of your small self, you see only the separated parts of the material world. You are guided by your personal narratives that tell you who you are based on your past experience, ambitions, and goals that were set within the Realm of Form. You’re oblivious to being part of one big matrix of interconnectedness. You forget where home is, and you feel lost.” loc 634, ebook.

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I’ve read all sorts of different teachings about the ego, but I’ve started to lean towards Abraham Hick’s thoughts on the matter. They teach that the ego is the lens through which the divine within you perceives reality and that our desires are breadcrumbs along the path to eternal joy if we allow ourselves to realize them.

Hicks also says that (paraphrasing): “If you only remembered how much you wanted to be in these bodies, you wouldn’t be so quick to fault yourself and your desires. You are the leading edge of thought- you take spirit beyond which it has ever been before.”

In my mind, that is the function of ego: to express our unique personality. Isn’t the desire to be free of ego also a desire driven by the ego?

I did like Colette’s definition of co-creation, which is one I’d never heard before: “Here’s how it works between you and Spirit. You, as an individual, are always cocreating. The divine creative force is always there with you, along with spirits and allies who enthusiastically join in as you co-create reality. And you are never alone.” loc 712, ebook. Encouraging, I think.

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I also liked the lesson on fate, our internal “stories” and the subconscious mind: “Listen, it’s not fun to admit that while your story about yourself has been influenced by other people and things that just seemed to happen “to” you, it was also co-written by you personally to a large degree. Fate played a role, to be sure, but you can take much greater control over your “fate.” As Carl Jung is supposed to have said, “Whatever is not brought from the unconscious into the awareness seemingly comes to us as fate.” loc 1568, ebook.

The fact that shadow dwells hand in hand with light is something that I’ve learned through my own meditation practice.

Here’s what Colette has to say about it: “In the Realm of Light, we recognize that light always exists in duality with a shadow- there’s no avoiding it. There is always a dark side to everything, a contrast between what is nourishing and loving and what is draining and entangled in fear, anger, or hatred. Those emotions will always exist, but they don’t have to overwhelm you or scare you away from the process of co-creation and transformation.” loc 1892, ebook. I believe that is true.

As for the movement through Colette’s “realms”, it reminded me of shamanistic work by Robert Moss. I’m not sure about the order in which she explores things (seems like every teacher has a different way to do it), but I think that, if your intention is greater self knowledge and if you practice what Colette teaches, you will find it.

In fact, if you try just a fraction of what she suggests in Uncharted, you will learn something about yourself. She gives plenty of exercises to attempt in here if one particular method doesn’t speak to you.

Recommended mainly for the New Age enthusiasts because of the subject matter, methods, and channeled material, but also for anyone who is curious about finding and embodying one’s authentic power.

Some similar reads: Thank & Grow Rich: A 30-Day Experiment in Shameless Gratitude and Unabashed Joy by Pam Grout, Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires by Esther Hicks, and Active Dreaming: Journeying Beyond Self-Limitation to a Life of Wild Freedom by Robert Moss.

A big thank you to Hay House and NetGalley for a free digital copy of this book!  And thank you for reading.

Living with a SEAL: 31 Days Training with the Toughest Man on the Planet by Jesse Itzler

Living with a SEAL: 31 Days Training with the Toughest Man on the Planet by Jesse Itzler
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Jesse Itzler leads an interesting life. As a successful businessman and entrepreneur, his off-the-wall ideas for solving difficult situations and for stirring the pot have served him very well.

In this book, Living with a SEAL, he documents a month of training with a real life SEAL (who is called just “SEAL” throughout the book).

The workouts were insane, potentially life threatening, but Jesse achieved some astonishing results in a very short period of time. He also bonded with his trainer and learned, through daily interactions, that the sort of conditioning that it takes to make a killer like his SEAL, takes place mainly in the mind and such training can leave its marks on the psyche.

Jesse explains his motivation:“I don’t know if I was thinking about my mortality, or fretting over how many more peak years I had left, or anything like that. I think I was just thinking that now was as good a time as any to shake things up. You know, to break up that same routine.” loc 91, ebook.

SEAL thinks very carefully, bordering on obsessively, about safety and potential disaster scenarios for Jesse and his family. In this passage, he’s purchased an inflatable raft so that, if another 9/11 happens, that Jesse and crew could get out by taking the river.

Here’s what Jesse’s wife, Sara, thought of this: “I’m supposed to grab my son, strap a fifty-pound pack on my shoulders, carry four oars, walk a mile to the river, inflate this survival raft, and then paddle to New Jersey… in the middle of a national emergency?” There is dead silence in the room. … I think to myself, she has a point. Finally SEAL interjects. … “Sara, don’t EVER underestimate the power of adrenaline,” he says.” pg 961, ebook.

SEAL is a man who gets things done, sacrificing his own health to finish tasks that he’s started: “I found out SEAL once entered a race where you could either run for twenty-four or forty-eight hours. Shocker: SEAL signed up for the forty-eight-hour one. At around the twenty-three-hour mark, he’d run approximately 130 miles, but he’d also torn his quad. He asked the race officials if they could just clock him out at twenty-four hours. When he was told they couldn’t do that, he said, “ROGER THAT,” asked for a roll of tape, and wrapped his quad. He walked (limped) on a torn quad for the last twenty-four hours to finish the race and complete the entire forty-eight hours.” loc 1483, ebook.

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Amazing what people can accomplish when they set their minds to it. Personally, I would have stopped when I broke myself, but then, I suppose I wouldn’t make a very good SEAL.

The extreme exercise that SEAL demanded of Jesse had some surprising mindfulness benefits:“…with SEAL around, I’m learning how to be more present. It’s primarily because I have to. If I don’t, there is no way I will be able to finish the tasks at hand. I just go one step at a time. One rep at a time. And when I’m done, I worry about the next step or rep.” loc 1909

I was continually impressed by the physical displays of power and endurance from SEAL. But then, he’d have an interaction with Jesse or his family and I’d question the man’s paranoia levels and ability to function in society.

In this passage, he’s encouraging Sara to mix up the times that she goes to get the mail: “Sara, you need to mix up your pattern.” “Pattern?” “Yeah, your pattern. … The time you get the mail. That’s your pattern. It’s the same every day. It’s predictable.” “I get the mail after lunch,” she says, “That’s the most convenient time.”… “Exactly. You know that. And I know that. The mailman most definitely knows that. So I bet EVERYONE knows that.”… “Just do me a favor. Change up the pick up time.” loc 2161, ebook.

Photo by Element5 Digital on Pexels.com

Living with a SEAL is a lot of fun, but as I said, there are hints of a darker reality that SEAL has learned to endure. It is never graphic or spills over, but you can feel it boiling under the surface.

Recommended for runners, people who like to read memoirs, and those who are interested in the sheer power of the mind and body. Some read alikes: Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall, Explorers of the Infinite: The Secret Spiritual Lives of Extreme Athletes–and What They Reveal About Near-Death Experiences, Psychic Communication, and Touching the Beyond by Maria Coffey, or if the extreme nature of these books are just too much, pick up Confessions of an Unlikely Runner: A Guide to Racing and Obstacle Courses for the Averagely Fit and Halfway Dedicated by Dana L. Ayers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Center Street Publishing for a free digital copy of this book!  And, thank you for reading.

Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places by Colin Dickey

Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places by Colin Dickey
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Incredibly scary and a perfect read for the month of October, Colin Dickey examines ghosts, haunted buildings, and other urban legends throughout the United States. But, it’s not just about ghost stories, he also delves into the true histories of everything from cemeteries to asylums.

When I picked up Ghostland I thought: how creepy can the US be, it hasn’t been around all that long, comparatively speaking. And I found out: really, really creepy.

You don’t have to believe in ghosts to enjoy this book. Here’s what the author had to say in the intro: “Even if you don’t believe in the paranormal, ghost stories and legends of haunted places are a vital, dynamic means of confronting the past and those who have gone before us. Ultimately, this book is about the relationship between place and story: how the two depend on each other and how they bring each other alive.” loc 23, ebook.

I learned a lot of quirky, historical details about the United States. For example, did you know that Spiritualists were a huge part of the suffrage movement?: “Early suffrage meetings were heavily populated with mediums and trance speakers; in some places it was difficult to find suffragists who weren’t also Spiritualists. Spiritualism had given many of these women practice and confidence in speaking to groups with authority; by allowing others (the dead) to speak through them, American women began to speak for themselves in greater numbers. Spiritualism was only one of many factors and social movements that drove women’s suffrage, but it was a vital and important one.” loc 961-978, ebook.

One night, my ride home from work was late and I found myself alone in the library with all of the lights off and it was so spooky. I felt like I was being watched and jumped at every little creak in the stacks.

In this passage, Dickey explains why: “Few things are more unsettling than being somewhere emptied out, after everyone else has left. If you’ve ever worked a closing shift, or as a security guard, you know the way a place can change after the doors are locked and the lights are dimmed, when the lighting so carefully designed to spotlight the latest gadgets goes slack, when the mood lighting gets moodier. It’s as though you don’t belong there.” loc 1250, ebook

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The most disturbing moments, for me, were the true history portions of the narrative: “Early madhouses were often revealed to be nightmares of abuse and neglect. Reports of incontinent patients hosed down with icy water, naked women chained haphazardly to the walls, fleas and rats rampant, and other horrors gradually prompted a desire for something more sanitary and humane.”loc 2205, ebook. Eeeek. Is it any wonder that these places are haunted?

Dickey includes a poem by Goethe in his examination of the “ruins” of Detroit: “Goethe wrote in 1827: “America, you have it better Than our old continent, You have no ruined castles And no ancient basalt. Your inner life remains untroubled By useless memory And futile strife.” That was then. Now, almost two hundred years later, we’ve started to catch up to old Europe. We have plenty of ruined castles now, plenty of wasted strife to call our own.” loc 3217, ebook. I would have disagreed with that sentiment but then I readGhostland. Now, I know better.

Recommended for folks who are looking for a spooky, non-fiction read for Halloween or any other time that you’re looking for a good scare. Pick this one up with a hot drink and a warm blanket… you’re going to need it. Some read alikes: Hunt for the Skinwalker: Science Confronts the Unexplained at a Remote Ranch in Utah by Colm A. Kelleher (one of the scariest books I’ve ever read) or Mysteries and Monsters of the Sea by Fate Magazine (similar to Ghostland but nautically themed).

Thank you to Viking Publishing and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book for review purposes!  And, thank you for reading.

The Joy of Leaving Your Sh*t All Over the Place: The Art of Being Messy by Jennifer McCartney

The Joy of Leaving Your Sh*t All Over the Place: The Art of Being Messy by Jennifer McCartney

I laughed, but I’m not proud of myself. This satire for fans or non-fans of the book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondō, takes no prisoners in its scathing examination of the minimalist movement. As it clearly states in the intro, this is not a self help book. As a librarian, I’d add that it is under the Dewey Decimal classification 818s (humor) rather than the 130s (self help), so that claim would be true.

First, let’s make one thing clear, I’ve loved ‘de-cluttering’ various rooms in my house and finding those objects that ‘spark joy.’ But, I couldn’t help but laugh at the process of it through the lens Jennifer McCartney provides.

Here’s what she has to say about ‘life changing magic’: There’s nothing wrong with wanting to improve your station in life or making changes to things you’re unhappy with. I guess. But be wary of neat slogans and books that promise life-changing magic. The only real magic in the world is from unicorns and the high you get from poppers. pg 19

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I’ve never felt like a failure at the ‘tidying process’ but Jennifer’s book should appeal to those who do. Here’s her advice for how to ‘Be Free’: “Let go of caring, let go of guilt and feelings of failure. Breathe in good messy, breathe out boring tidy.” pg 28

In her book, Marie Kondo writes about thanking her small purse for its service at the end of every day. Jennifer has different ideas about the care and functionality of your handbag: “…you should always purchase the biggest purse you can carry. Here’s a good purse test: Can it fit a bottle of wine? No? Move on. Yes? Buy it.” pg 75

At times, Jennifer is downright dismissive of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing‘s teachings about every object having a “spirit” and she’s particularly vitriolic about the way Kondo rolls her socks. If that is going to bother you, you may want to skip this one.

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A humorous read alike: The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck: How to Stop Spending Time You Don’t Have with People You Don’t Like Doing Things You Don’t Want to Do by Sarah Knight. Warning: contains approximately a billion f-words.

Thanks for reading!

The Out of Body Experience: The History and Science of Astral Travel by Anthony Peake

The Out of Body Experience: The History and Science of Astral Travel by Anthony Peake

I found this to be a fascinating study into the various forms of out of body experiences and the science behind them. Unfortunately, the second half of the book that deals with quantum mechanics and multiple dimensions went over my head.

So, The Out of Body Experience may lend itself more towards engineers and mechanical-minded types rather than artists, but that’s ok. Engineers need interesting books to read too. 🙂

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Peake is very clear about the goals of this book: “In its pages I will review the evidence that such altered states of consciousness are subjectively real experiences; I will delve into the science by which consciousness can seemingly locate itself outside of the body and I will, finally, present my own hypotheses as to what may be happening when a person experiences such perceptions.” loc 98, ebook.

I felt like he accomplished all of that, but I was left with a sense of confusion/awe rather than clarity/awe. I had the same feeling when I tried to listen to a lecture by Amit Goswami. I knew enough to know that I had no idea what he was saying.

In this passage, he’s talking about shamanistic out of body experiences, something I do know a bit about: “Indeed, in my discussions with my shaman contacts, it became clear that what is encountered is a series of worlds full of archetypes pulled up from the deepest areas of the subconscious mind. However, what is of significance is that these beings seem to have motivations of their own, as if they have an existence independent of the shamanic traveller.” loc 261, ebook It is pretty trippy stuff.

Peake also tackled why remote viewers have trouble proving the validity of their experiences with verifiable facts in lab settings: “I am absolutely convinced that Ingo Swann believes he actually perceives information by remote viewing. In his books and articles he comes across as a genuine and honest individual, but the evidence seems to contradict this. … In my opinion he is remote reviewing, but not doing so in this dimension.” loc 1157, ebook.

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Frankly, I always wondered about that too — why can’t remote viewers see whatever they want whenever they want or why are they sometimes completely wrong? The US military spent a pile of money developing a protocol that only works some of the time, but, the fact that it works at all blows my mind.

Peake presents the hypothesis that lucid dreaming and out of body experiences are two sides of the same coin: “The hypnagogic and hypnopompic states are really the same phenomenon that places consciousness in that liminal region between sleep and wakefulness. The only difference is in the circumstances. The hypnogogic state is experienced on going to sleep and the hypnopompic state is experienced on waking up. We define an OBE when a subject is unaware of their soma.” loc 1541-1558, ebook.

So, in layman’s terms I think he’s saying: out of body experiences happen when you’re awake, lucid dreaming happens when you’re asleep, but otherwise it is the same type of non-ordinary consciousness.

One more interesting fact, just one though, because otherwise my brain might explode:“Now, the fascinating thing about (the) electromagnetic spectrum is that the human eye can only see a very small section, the part we call ‘visible light’… If the electromagnetic spectrum were a roll of movie film that stretched for 2,500 miles (this is the distance between London and Jerusalem), the visible spectrum would be the size of one film frame, about three inches. This is just how little we human beings see of the real universe that is out there and yet most of us believe that ‘seeing is believing’! If we could see radio waves we would see a sky full of galaxies, not stars.” loc 2024, ebook.

Can you imagine — a sky full of galaxies? I can.

Recommended for the seriously scientific minded.

If you’re more into the history of the phenomena rather than the science, just stop reading before the second half of the book.

Some of the reads mentioned in here that you may want to pick up: Journeys Out of the Body by Robert A. Monroe,Wisdom of Near-Death Experiences by Penny Sartori, or for some general remote reviewing information: The Seventh Sense: The Secrets of Remote Viewing as Told by a “Psychic Spy” for the U.S. Military by Lyn Buchanan.

Thank you to NetGalley and Watkins Publishing for a free digital copy of this book for review purposes!  And, thank you for reading.