(1 August, 2015)
I just wrote a book! It probably would have been in my interest to make this announcement a little earlier, but I’ve been so caught up in it… It’s hypnotic, y’know.
I’m very excited because I have believed for a while that a book can do a LOT more to help people than a collection of blog posts. I’ve gone over the material again and again, and I’ve given myself time to process what I want to include and whether I’ve written the right things. What’s fantastic about this is that I’ve been able to connect dots that the brief process of writing a blog post would be less likely to facilitate. I’ve been forced to really understand and explain the material, and I see now that there is tremendous value in this.
Writing this book has been a very interesting exercise in intuition and self-trust. In late 2014 I wrote the outline for a book which I worked on slowly for a few months. Early in the Summer of 2015 I decided that I would put that project and hold, and wouldn’t release it for at least 1-2 years. But a few weeks ago, in mid-July, I felt compelled to work on a chapter of the book titled “Realness,” and it quickly became much bigger than I imagined it could have. At first I thought I’d settle on a 15,000 word chapter… Then it blew up to a 26,000 word first draft of a small book… Now the second draft is 42,000 words. I’ve worked on this book as quickly as possible, letting come out of me whatever I feel compelled to write about. I’d say this approach makes sense, considering that one of the main themes of my book is learning to trust the universe more. :)
You may recall that in my First Blog Post I came very close to releasing this book but decided to cancel it. Well, it came back… And it’s way better this time!
Contents of the Book
What has resulted from this writing process is a collection of the most important things I’ve learned about personal development in the last two years. These things are organized into four models of conscious growth I have learned, practiced with, and thought about extensively. This is in addition to my own “Five Ways to Realness” which, though no longer on my home page, you will see to the left as the first five article category archives: Honesty, Openness, Adventure, Foresight, and Love.
The four models of growth I discuss are: (1) Polarity, (2) Objective vs. Subjective Reality, (3) Levels of Consciousness, and (4) The Truth-Love-Power model. Admittedly, I originally learned about all four of these through Steve Pavlina’s blog at stevepavlina.com (#4 forms the basis for his book Personal Development for Smart People), and (3) is based on David R. Hawkins’ book Power vs. Force. However, I do not merely regurgitate what they have written (though they’ve written some good stuff!): most of what I write is based on my own experience of these four models. Their writing has helped to clarify that experience.
Polarity is a concept that recognizes the potential for light (love) and darkness (fear) in all of us, and emphasizes that focusing on one of these is key to reaching your potential and becoming a more powerful person. I have written about Polarity in several different articles, including the following: Enemies of Consciousness, Belief Experimentation, Unconstrained Love, Finding Balance, and Belief Experiment #1: Unconditional Safety.
Objective reality is the perspective that we live in a world composed primarily of physical matter. From this physical matter- specifically, the brain- consciousness arises. We thus are primarily biological beings. Subjective reality is the opposite perspective, which states that we live in a world composed primarily of consciousness. Everything- all matter- is contained within consciousness. We thus are primarily spiritual beings, whose true identity lies in consciousness itself. The discussion of objective and subjective reality is by far the longest and most jam-packed of all the four models of growth.
I have written extensively about these concepts before: you will notice a “Subjective Reality” category archive on the left side of this page. The best articles of mine I can recommend are Subjective Craziness, Subjective Reality: An Overview from the Inside, The Power of Beliefs, and Belief Experimentation. Building Trust with the Universe and A Brief Declaration of Consciousness relate strongly to the contents of the book as well.
(3) quantifies different levels of consciousness by describing the experience of different levels of awareness. This model emphasizes why conscious growth is so important, and it makes growth easier to understand. In the book I discuss what it is like to transition from one level to another, and how you can tell whether you are due to level-up. I have not written about this on my blog before, though you will find Pavlina’s article “Levels of Consciousness” and Hawkins’ book to be very helpful to my discussion of this topic in the book.
Finally, the Truth-Love-Power model is Pavlina’s own masterpiece. The idea is that all conscious growth efforts require aligning with the three principles of Truth, Love, and Power. Truth represents reality as it really is. To Love is to connect. Power is your ability to exert your will and to produce results.
I illustrate each of these models with theoretical examples as well as examples from my own life. There is a chapter dedicated to telling the story of the struggle I had with depression two years ago and what I think of that struggle now. I placed this chapter at the end of the book because it ties together many of the ideas introduced and explained earlier in the book. For some people I think this chapter will prove immensely valuable.
Through this book, you will:
This is not a step-by-step book. The purpose of this book is to teach you general principles about conscious growth and the workings of reality so that, ultimately, you can apply these principles to enhance your life and, in time, drastically change your life.
While you can begin using these principles right away, this book is about the long haul. What you learn here will prove useful to you for the rest of your life. You may start to see results shortly after deciding to use what you learn, but if you commit to these principles long-term you will have a life down the road that you might be unable to imagine at present. This life can be extraordinary, and you will appreciate waking up to it everyday. You might just become the person you’ve always wanted to be, and deep down know that you can be. Of course, to commit to making these changes is to choose a life of the hard (yet ridiculously rewarding) work that is personal development.
Note: This book, unlike the rest of my work, is copyrighted. I own the rights to it. If I send you the current draft and you leak or distribute it somehow, I will have your head (actually I'd prefer your fingers, but "head" was a better fit in that sentence).