Messages

Apocalypse means "revealing."
What is being revealed?  The truth.
As for the date, who knows, who cares.  All we ever have is here now.
But just to be a good sport, I'd say the apocalypse (revealing) is happening now, and on this date, there will be a worldwide awakening - a shift in consciousness.  We will move from separation, to unity.  Like the Cambrian explosion which brought single cell organisms together as multi-cell organisms, we will come together; from separate, competing individuals/groups to the human race on planet earth.

i think what's being said here is that there is no 'ultimate truth', rather only people's opinions of it.
dust in the wind

But are we not all trying to pose opinions of that which applies to all of us?  A universal message?  An ultimate truth that unites all beings?

"Truth is neither holy nor unholy. Truth is neither love nor hate. Truth is neither pure nor impure. Truth is neither simple nor complex. Truth is neither heaven nor hell. Truth is neither moral nor immoral. Truth is neither of the God nor of the devil. Truth is neither virtue nor vice. Truth is neither birth nor death. Truth is neither in the religion nor without religion. Truth is as the outside water flowing, it has no resting place. Truth is life."
-Jiddu Krishnamurti

Truth is life, and it is found in the present.  

Here's a little "truth for you, mon...

The first line of the tao teh ching as translated by Hua-Ching Ni....

The Tao Te Ching is excellent.
Currently, I'm re-reading Gilban's "The Prophet," one of my favorites.

I don't see the internet as the vehicle to communicate the ultimate truth. But that's just my opinion. The ultimate truth comes from inside, imo. The truth is, I have more questions than answers and tend to shy away from those claiming to be spreading the "truth" for mass consumption.

I hear ya, and I'm not here to rock your boat.  Just trying to get some thoughts about this.  I think the internet is the perfect way to communicate and spread the ultimate truth, at the very least to help others get on the path of truth seeking.  Even 100 years ago, prophets would be killed for saying these things, but with the internet, it is anonymous, simple, and less confronting, IMO of course.

I run from those with more answers than questions

Like they called Ken Kesey the man with questions for all the answers

Yes friends, I am full of questions too.  Life is magical and mysterious, always new and surprising.  The magical mystery tour is waiting to take you away, dying to take you away.  Although The Present is full of assertions and "answers," I think it is worth showing to people, so I thought I'd share it with you to know your thoughts and learn from you.

[When others start to see them, people will come together and better define the truth. We will see the issues clearly for the first time and the solutions to our problems; we will then solve them as fast as is possible.]

I'm not criticizing the author's work, efforts, or intentions. While they don't resonate with me they may with some, and that could be a good thing. My take on LW's discomfort (and, speaking for him, I could be wrong) isn't so much with the product, but with what you think has been accomplished. The Present is but one story out of an infinity that can be told, and the fact that it doesn't resonate with any particular person doesn't mean that said person is close-minded. He or she may just resonate better with different stories.

The author appears to know the mind of Albert Hoffmann, but I find confusion and ignorance in the authors comments. The author has no patent on the truth, imo. While reading "the present," I get my monthly fill of pop culture references in a few short paragraphs and little else. I'm glad to see you have connected with this particular works. Unfortunately it rings few bells for me.

I agree with both of you entirely.

Page 262 of The Present
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This time the truth is not dependent on a single leader. In the past, a lowlife could kill a prophet and stop the truth from getting out, but not now.

This book is just the spark that will get people talking about the real truth. I am just a guy with a match that is trying to start a truth fire.

Tuned in: I am just a tuned in guy, throwing out things I can see, that no one else seems to see. When others start to see them, people will come together and better define the truth. We will see the issues clearly for the first time and the solutions to our problems; we will then solve them as fast as is possible.
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Pages 262-263
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Write a book:  As Paul Simon says in the song, "Slip Sliding Away", the closer you get to the truth, the more you slip slide away from it. The truth makes you feel better, so you start doing better in life and are distracted from the truth. It is usually nothing heavy or earth shaking, it is just people lose interest and go off into something else. People slip slide away from it without even noticing they are doing it. That is why it helps to write your own book to stay on track.

The only thing we all have in common is that we play tricks in order to force ourselves to abandon the quest. The counter-measure is to persist in spite of all the barriers and disappointments. Carlos Castaneda

Just start writing what you think the ultimate truth is and why. Work on it a little everyday and it will grow and so will your understanding of the truth. It keeps you on the spiritual path, so it is important and everyone should do it.

What you know: Your book will tell you what you know you know, so you will just concentrate on and research, what you know you do not know.

Your book will evolve and change as you evolve and change.

It is like working on a clay sculpture. You add a little here, take a little there, until it begins to reveal the ultimate truth in a way that you understand it perfectly.

I received the revelations in this book one or two sentences at a time or one idea at a time. One thing would just lead to another and it just built into this book. Most of the time I will get just a little change to something I have already written. I would just write the ideas I received on a note pad until I got a few pages and then I would turn on my laptop and add them to this book.

The next best things to knowing the ultimate truth, is seeking it.

Writing a book keeps you seeking and organized in your search. It leads directly to God/life. Doing it on a computer makes it easy. It would have been difficult in the past, but now you can delete and add stuff easy and you can watch TV while you do it. When it gets complete enough just send it to the contest and the judges will help you refine it.

Judges: Everyone that makes an entry becomes a judge, so by competing with the other entries, the entries keep getting better.  I think someone is going to say what I say in this book a lot better than I do. I am not a writer and just wrote this to get the ball rolling. I expect this first try at it, just to inspire other people that will do it better, maybe you will.
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Here is my take on it.  "The Present" may or may not suffice; I personally think it does, and that is why I provided the link.  Regardless, more entries will be submitted and ultimately confined into one entry that is the most understandable, and the most complete.  It will be written by everyone, and no-one, just as the collective unconscious/universal mind/Holy Spirit is everyone and no-one.

The Present is just a spark, we are the kindling, and the internet is the oxygen that fuels the fire.  Now is the perfect time to spread the truth, because we can reach the masses in the blink of an eye.

Actually, there is an extensive section about drugs in The Present starting on page 141.
Further reading leads you to a section about psychedelic drugs on page 144.
Check out the section from roughly page 141-145 and let me know what you think, especially about the commentary on drugs like LSD which bring us into the present.

And yes, Rubber Soul and onward is my favorite period of The Beatles music.  

insofar as explanations can open people up to the possibility of these orthogonal directions I think they're great. But I think the explanations are not all we can do, and in some way they are secondary. The first thing to do is travel down those paths.

Wonderful post, Amom.
The first thing to do is to travel down the paths.  Showing others to the path can help them along so that they may follow the paths, as the paths are for our steps alone.  I have personally gained great insight from The Present, and some others that I have showed it to are starting to wake up.  Thus, I find the effort worthwhile.

You are right, this work is one of infinity, but from what I see, this book tells it how it is in a way where people in this day and age can understand it.  It is an effort to gather evidence and explain what it shows.  It will not work for everyone, and that is why there is a contest.  If someone thinks they can do better, they should submit an entry.

My goal of sharing this work and this contest with open-minds like the ones in this community is to spread awareness, and possibly find some others who want to show their compassion by helping others along the path.  Maybe we will find a more effective way than the contest?

If not now, when?  If not us, who?

Namaste

Yes, all The Present is, is an attempt to explain absolute truth with conventional truth.  That's all we can do.
Don't you agree that we should try to use skillful means to lead others along their paths?
"The Present" may or may not suffice; I personally think it does, and that is why I provided the link.  Regardless, more entries will be submitted and ultimately confined into one entry that is the most understandable, and the most complete.  It will be written by everyone, and no-one, just as the collective unconscious/universal mind/Holy Spirit is everyone and no-one.
If you are interested in helping others along the path, and you think that the current entries are not worth showing others, then you should submit your own entry.
I submitted my own last week.  It's called "Buddha's Fire Sermon."
The OP was me, not the author of the work in question.  I wasn't clear on how to present the material at the time, and I assure you, I have learned much since the OP.  In giving my love, all I can do is seek and learn.

I also get the impression that the author lacks experience with the active sacrament you mentioned above. And because of that, I'm having a tough time figuring out why the work in question has been brought before this particular community.....  

I have experience with the active sacrament mentioned above, among many others.  Salvia is one of the greatest teachers I have had.  I brought this work before this community because I knew I would find curious, open-minds, with a desire to seek truth.

I believe that most great music maybe channeled & realized that you are just using the beatles as an example.
Not sure if I'm ready to idolize them....?
Yes it's true that there was a real change that occurred in '64....

Aye.  If there is one thing we have learned, it is that idolizing figures is not worthwhile.  Idolize the teachings, the lyrics, the truths.  The Beatles had much inspiration pass through them in the form of sugarcoated truth through beautiful music.  My my, I love The Beatles.  Nothing like a little help from my friends.

Zaka, I am glad the book is resonating with you.

quote from initial post: ....I hope this book helps you grow spiritually like it did for me.

Reading the quote above may give one the impression that READING the linked material helped the guy who started this thread to grow spiritually. However, after reading at the Lycaeum, its become clear that the fellow who started this thread also WROTE the book in question.

Please understand that a third party reading another's work, finding finding it enlightening and posting for others to read  is not the same as an author claiming a book he wrote will enlighten others as it enlightened him to write it. That is just plain disingenuous, imo.

I did not write "The Present(s)."  What brought you to this conclusion?
I have an entry up on the Truth Contest called:  Buddha's Fire Sermon.

One more question, Jethro...

You quote Joseph Campbell in your linked work in an effort ot define the truth, yet also appear to have a disdain for mythology. As Joseph Campbell was the ultimate researcher/proponent on the contribution of mythology in the evolution of mankind, I'm wondering how you reconcile those seemingly polar-opposite positions?

It is finding the middle ground between science and religion.  Neither have the whole truth, but together we can begin to see.  It is making the two one.

Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind. - Albert Einstein

[...for the first time? C'mon now, there is nothing new in "The Present" that hasn't been "said" by many, in many ways, over a long period of time. Calling it revelatory is your personal view, unless you can point out to me what part of it is.]

...for the first time? C'mon now, there is nothing new in "The Present" that hasn't been "said" by many, in many ways, over a long period of time. Calling it revelatory is your personal view, unless you can point out to me what part of it is.

Specifically, I'd say this book is revelatory in the sense that it deals with our situation as a human race right now.  The more recent the work is, the closer it is to our current level of awareness.  It sort of combines the "old" things that have been said many times with the "new," or our present situation.

I'll mention a few things that I specifically found new and revelatory.  In the version (without religion), The Beatles section was very new to me, and one of those things that clicked right away, because I love The Beatles and have been familiar with their music and their message for a long time.  This section helped me enjoy and listen to The Beatles in a whole new way.  The version (with religion) is revelatory to me, because I have never seen the Bible interpreted in that way.  It made a great deal of sense.

Aye, I'm very sorry that I have not been keeping up with this conversation.  I have been quite busy, and this website has been giving me problems over the past few weeks.  It seems to be working now.

I'll gladly respond to all the posts in the next few days.  You have all had some very interesting input.   :idea:

Peace

A very positive attitude kosmo.  An open mind and being honest with yourself are necessary to read this book.

laughingwillow, if you do not want to give out your e-mail address, you can always make an anonymous e-mail.  I use gmail for that purpose.  I would really like to hear your opinions about this book; I'm sure you would offer some great opinions that we can all learn from.

I did talk to the author, and these were his words regarding reformatting the content:

"That has not been a big problem because most of the world can open Microsoft word. Everyone can open it if I save in text format but then there are not drawings and pictures that are needed, also I cannot work on it in any other form and I work on it everyday.

I do not know what .xml is or how to work with it. I am not very computer savvy. You just have to tell people to find a computer that has word. I do not want to complicate my life, for just a small percent of people if I do not have too."

Like I said, if you can provide me with your e-mail and a desired format I can try to send it to you myself.  If you have any other suggestions, I'll can do what I can to help you receive the book.

I am not the author of "The Present."

...for the first time? C'mon now, there is nothing new in "The Present" that hasn't been "said" by many, in many ways, over a long period of time. Calling it revelatory is your personal view, unless you can point out to me what part of it is.

Well, "The Present" takes all those things that have been said many, many times in many different ways, and brings them all together.  It reveals that all of the past prophets were essentially saying the same thing.  The whole book is new; it seeks unity.  Although the author may be touching on the same subjects that have been touched on over a long period of time, he seeks to bring them all together to eliminate the mind's illusion of separation by showing us what is 'most likely to be' true beyond a reasonable doubt (using evidence and logic), and what is a myth (un-true).

You offer some great input, kosmo.  I'm curious to read your opinions regarding "The Present."  =)

The quest for the truth is never-ending, one must always seek.
The author never says he "knows" the truth; he says it is self-evident for him in the present.

Some direct quotes from the book, as requested:

"Hammer or nail: In the past, you had to choose between being the hammer or the nail. Naturally, most people would choose to be the hammer, even if the beast was holding it, especially if the beast was holding it.  Just recently, science has offered people another choice, but it is cold and incomplete. Science and religion have been the only two choices people have had, so they had to choose one, even though neither gives people the ultimate truth they are seeking.

New choice: This book offers a third option for the first time. It is new revelations of the truth that are a combination of science, religion, art, philosophy, past and present, common sense and everything else that reveals the truth. With the new truth, you do not have to be the hammer or the nail; you can be something much more and get rid of the hammer and nail altogether.

Everyone can be right: For the first time people have a third choice that incorporates the others. A choice that does not require them to give up their current belief system. It says everyone is right, if you know how to see the truth. It has to be the way, because any other way would cause conflict not peace.

It also makes sense and gives people a complete picture of the ultimate truth. You do not have to give up religion and science to embrace the third way, you get into them more. You just get into everything more. The present encompasses everything.

It is all true. If you know what the truth is, you can see it in everything."

The main purpose of this book is this:

"This book is not a good read.  It is not meant to entertain you.  It is meant to transform you from a unfulfilled mortal animal, into a fulfilled immortal spiritual being.  If you want to be entertained, read a good work of fiction."

It does not reveal the truth; it attempts to help one find it within themselves.  It should be "recognized as a beginning place for a search for truth that never ends."