The Key: A True Encounter [Paperback]

'The Key' has been around for a number of years now. Originally self-published by Whitley in a standard looking paperback edition and available through his Unknown Country website, the book details Whitley's encounter with a man who walked into his hotel room one night and started to make pronouncements regarding the past and future of humanity and of our spiritual development.

Now, I confess to reviewing the Key on Unknown Country upon first release. I gave it 5 stars. Now, I'm not so sure, because it is impossible to rate something like 'The Key.' It is, after all, a book of revelation - a 'sacred text' to quote Strieber. However, at the time I gave it 5 stars because there's a lot in the book that makes sense and I admire Whitley for publishing it. I believe Whitley to be sincere in documenting his strange experiences and I admire that. Is he right? Who knows? But I shall state in this review - as I did on Unknown Country - that if Strieber is consciously lying, it makes him one of the lowest of the low. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

My admiration for this book, for Streiber, should not be seen as fully endorsing the content. It is important that we think for ourselves and question everything. Something Strieber is always doing. However, let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater, as people are quick to ridicule Streiber. After years of public humiliation and scorn, I would imagine that he has a pretty large defensive shield about him. Getting 'The Key' mainstream is probably going to result in another wave of ridicule from a number of people. Others will take the book at face value and some will undoubtedly hail it as the masterpiece of a visionary soul - not Strieber, you understand, but the Master of the Key.

What you get from this book is what you bring to the table. You will either approach with a cynical attitude and find nothing of any worth, or you could approach with an open mind and see if it connects with you at all. The latter is the best option. I don't know if it is true, I have my own opinions, but they are pointless here. You have to decide for yourself.

There have been a number of writers delivering 'channelled' material to the world in recent times - Gabrielle Bossis, Joseph Brenner, Eileen Caddy, Brian Cleeve, Helen Greaves, Ian Lawton, Dorothy Maclean, 'Two Listeners', Neale Donald Walsh, not to mention a large number of Marian visions. All of these writings need approaching with care and thought. Each seems aimed at a particular audience, though always with a central core seeking to persuade mankind (and individuals!) urgently to change its (their) ways. This particular book is aimed at a very particular readership - it contains talk of alien presence, government secrecy, intelligent machines, quantum physics, etc. - and yet I would urge anyone with any interest in hard core spirituality to give it a read.

The heart of the book is a 100-page 'Conversation' with a night-time visitor to Strieber's hotel room. The surrounding chapters could make us think Strieber is merely having us on; yet the moment one reads the Conversation itself, one is gripped, and such questions don't matter. Indeed, the Conversation itself may at times seem to veer into regions that will not interest all readers; but I would urge people to stay with it, as within a couple of pages, something will have been said of the most powerful and urgent interest.

Be warned that there are some pretty harsh messages amidst these pages, both about this life and the next, so if you're not up for this, give the book a miss. But then you will be missing some wonderful sentences:

"God wants true companions, not supplicants."

"Forgiveness is not an act. It is a state of being."

"Unless you bear the kingdom within you, the kingdom will vanish from the face of the earth."

[Of those who succeeded in transforming their deaths in the holocaust:] "They made of their suffering, with great effort, what one who attains the heart of a child may easily make of the drift of a cloud or the peaceful ringing of a bell upon a summer evening. ...It is easier to reach ecstasy through joy than through suffering."

Christ, Mohammed and the Buddha are all embraced, though not necessarily the religions that have been formed around them. A certain respect is paid to Hinduism also. But the great stress is on surrendering to God, despite the need to operate in this world, squaring this seemingly impossible circle and acting without fear. That we are all one is very much to the fore. And it is described how we are imprinting our 'energetic bodies' with our experience at every moment, and how crucial it is that we do this with intensity and without the least trace of sin. The faculty of attention is stated as vital, and there are simple, easy suggestions for attaining this - meditate, becoming aware of physical sensation. "Find God within and the universe without" seems a first class motto.

Another reviewer has rightly stated that what you get from this book will depend on what you bring to the table. Indeed, one of the American reviewers appears to me to have brought their own agenda to the table - I actually don't recognise the book from their review. We are indeed encouraged to have an observer's awareness of our experience, but is this "to have a strong sense of self"? The book actually carries the line, "To join God, you have to leave your self behind."

Though I have only had this book for a couple of weeks, I am now beginning my fifth read of this conversation. Each reading takes me longer than the last, partly because I take time to consider and challenge every statement. (You will have your own opinions about the text.) But mostly I am slowed by having to stop and lay the book aside, so overcome am I by line after line. The text will not 'bite' for everyone; but if you have even the smallest interest in seeing if it may 'bite' for you, don't hesitate - buy! now!

The Key is a transcription of a two hour late night interview of a mysterious gentleman named Michael who the author dubs as Master of the Key. It took place in Toronto, Canada in 1998. It takes up about 100 pages. This interview provided the geophysical model for ecological collapse used in Global Superstorm.

Whitley's commission in this work is an outreach to a unique admixture of sci-fi fans, conspiratorialists, abductees, and sundry coast-to-coastAM listeners. This group of believers, skeptics, thrill-seekers, and eco-lovers will each read, absorb and interpret his words from a very different, often opposite, life experience. The answers are tailored so as not to exclude. If the words were to be delivered to an exclusively metaphysical audience, the clarity of wording would be able to be magnified. Also remember that Earth languages are designed to facilitate commerce, not to glorify and characterize infinity. Thus nit-picky critiques of wording are out of place both because of audience diversity and linguistic impossibility. Consider The Key to be what may be the final wakeup call for those who have the ears to hear. The author considers it to be valuable personal guidance that has proved itself year after year.
Life is about choice. If you neglect the Creator, and your own divine nature, there will be consequences--major short- and long-term consequences. The focus of the book is to clearly make this assertion and provide you with tools that will help. The book is many things--a prophecy, a warning, a seeming contradiction, but most of all a metaphysical message to crystallize the polarizing energies of this era. It's time to ascend to the status of radiant beings or do nothing and sink into a doubting, self-satisfied existence of the status quo.
If we unite in prayer, all things are possible, otherwise we are doomed to devolve rapidly into a condition so dire there will not even be an alphabet--a totally fresh start for those who need it. Big changes are coming, big changes in consciousness, climate, economy, you name it, it will change. Soon we will all have good reason to give passionate prayer a try. Start mediating now so you will be able to keep your cool with a quiescent mind. Time is growing short. Learn to break the links of societal conditioning and emancipate yourself from inappropriate and unforgiving thoughts and inbred condemning attitudes. It is possible to lead a loving life free of the fear that breeds separation.
Though Whitley's source, Michael, may be unconventional or uncommon, don't forget authors like Gary Renard and Glenda Green--miracles are the spice of life. Extended discussions with mysterious beings are both possible and unforgettable. Some may find the message flawed, but what is most flawed is human perception. There are thousands of niche authors of the past decades like Helen Schucman, Ken Carey, and Whitley Strieber who have had the moral courage to stand up to ridicule and abuse in an effort to publish metaphysical gems on the faith and inner knowing that their sources are impeccable.

Tidbits from Michael:
You're chained to the ground...Mankind is trapped...Man is soul-blind and God-blind...You think of yourself as different from God. This is an illusion...Surrender to God...To surrender to God is to make your energetic body transparent, so that the light of God shines through you...Surrender to God and your enemies will become your friends...It is not that man is the servant of God, but that man is God, as we all are...You must meditate. Who does not meditate, disintegrates...God is a science, the science of self-knowledge and self-discovery...Awakened man makes his own light, as part of the radiant choir who sing forever the song of God...You must live many times in order to build up a radiant body that is complete. To be born into this world takes but an hour. But to be born into the next takes many lifetime...To remain a separate being after death, there must exist the ability to maintain the structure of the radiant body by the action of attention.
I'm here on behalf of the good...Those whose lives are directed toward ascension...All are responsible for all. All are dependent upon all. Humanity is one...Mankind is meant to ascend...Fear rules this world...Forgiveness is not an act, it is a state of being...Seek the kingdom within and you will find the kingdom everywhere...But if you cannot find the kingdom, you cannot gain the kingdom...Unless you bear the kingdom within you, the kingdom will perish from the earth...You can go to heaven immediately, right now, with your next breath. You can remain there forever, even while living this life.
The planet is at present a death trap...The greater part of human industry and culture along with the species' most educated populations will be destroyed in a single season...It's all part of the plan of your evolution. Pisces, the little fish , will be poured onto dry land by the stream of Aquarius. Then, how will you live? How will you breathe? You will make a leap of evolution. You will square the circle or die....the mission of this age...is to open the elemental body to ecstasy...The elemental body will become transparent to the radiant body, which will shine with the light of God...The body of man is being altered so that the barrier that presently prevents you from knowing one another's thoughts will fall...The future of mankind is either to ascend or go extinct...Your surrender to earth will be your ascension to heaven.

I am here to bring you a promise from on high: If you surrender yourselves to God you and the earth will be saved. Otherwise you will be extinct before the end of the age...