Thoughts on Jed Mckenna

Jed McKenna may be real or the Enlightenment Trilogy might be a wonderful and provocative work of fiction by someone who wants to remain anonymous; a way to get a powerful philosophy into the hands of those who are ready for it.  Either way these books will have an impact upon almost anyone who reads them.

As Cree so wonderfully states, reading these three books is like swallowing bombs.  I would add time-bombs because the impact tends to last and I never seem to know when something else will come up to shake my world.

I believe there is more between the lines than in the actual words themselves.  A friend of mine shared each book with me, as she completed them.  Over the summer and into the fall I was shaken up and turned inside out by the bombs available here.  Small bombs, large bombs and in-between bombs.  Bombs of self-questioning, bombs of insight, bombs of “what the hell is going on”.

It has been almost two months since I finished the last book in the trilogy and I am still shaken (in what I hope is a good way) by the experience.  Although these books provide a profound and exciting way of looking at the world, a good deal of what Jed talks about has been within me all my life.  It is like these books gave the inner me permission to ask out loud the questions that have lain dormant all these years.

As I read it, helping people to attain enlightenment isn’t really the goal of these books.  Jed suggests, more than once, that moving from Human Adolescence to Human Adulthood is the preferred path.  Becoming a Human Adult (Adult Human) in the true sense of the word adult is not easy after many years of (what Don Miguel Ruiz refers to as) domestication.  Overcoming our societies grand willingness to remain Human Adolescents beyond our physical youth, is a daunting task and I have moments when I wonder if I am up to the challenge.

I am grateful to my friend for sharing these books with me.  I am grateful to many here at Gaia: Cree, Kate, Lakshmi and others who have offered thoughts regarding the work of Jed McKenna.  It is nice to know that the strange and powerful feelings that arise from reading these works are happening to others.  There is great wonder and power in clearing out the attic or encountering exploding bombs of insight. 

Although the books point out that each of us is alone in our individual journeys it is wonderful to be able to know that others are on a parallel path and that we can share thoughts with each other that may assist us all in finding our way.