The Open Secret [Paperback]

At first the assertion seems utterly ridiculous; that you exist seems so palpable and so clear that the assertion to the contrary drags you rather forcefully to the conclusion that the author is mentally ill.

However, if you give yourself time to chew it, and allow yourself to enter in to the idea you will see that this assertion can in fact be correct.

Why do I say "can" be correct?

The "illusion" of the self is so utterly persuasive that there is a sense in which I say to you that it is not an illusion. If you have a substance in your hands that smells like water, tastes like water and feels like water, dare you say that it isn't actually water? This is how powerful the "illusion" of the self is. If you are like me, you appear to be in a body, looking out onto a world that you share with other selves just like you, you believe that you have a will that is at the service of your self and a whole lot of other things like this persuade you that you do exist and that you have existed for as long as you can remember. In short, you are utterly persuaded by some very powerful experiences that you ARE actually here.

What is clear, reading this book, is that the fundamental religious experience is that of entering into of a state of conciousness in which it is percieved that there is no such thing as your "self" and that there never was. Once this is "realised" there is no sense of the "world, and me in it" but only of the world. It is what is meant by non-dual conciousness. This non-dual state is the "realisation" at the very core of all religion.

It seems from this book, that when there is non-dual conciousness, dual conciousness is seen as an illusion, perhaps more accurately, a delusion. However, what is very interesting to me is that, seen from the point of view of a person with dual conciousness (ie. the likes of you and me!) the person who has non-dual conciousness appears to be the one who is deluded, perhaps even insane.

If you care to make sense of this you will ask "who is right?"

My conclusion, after reading this book is that the two states are incapable of judging each other. They each have a different basis for their integrity and have nothing in common save the fact that it is humans ( and I know not what other kinds of creature) that are capable of both ways of being.

People, the book is intended as a direct assault on your dual conciousness, this amounts to a direct assualt on what you call "you" an the motivation for this assault appears to be to free you from the illusion that you exist.

If you do not want to dissolve your self like a sugar cube in a cup of tea; if you prefer to hang on to your sense of self and are ready to tolerate the suffering that inevitably goes with it, if you do not want, in effect, to die whilst still living, don't read this book.

If dieing, or perhaps I should say, "realising" that you never actually existed in the first place is OK with you, buy this book. I think it quite possible that if you have the "realisation" the author plans for you that joy will arise - not joy for you of course, because you won't be there to experience it(!)- in fact there will be never be anything for "you" ever again, unless you become dual again and I am not sure whether that can happen. This change may be irreversible(!)

Anyway, assuming for minute that I do actually exist and that those of you who are reading this actually exist too, then this person hopes very much that you have found this review useful in your buying decision and, moreover, that life and love treat you well. Peace on you my friends, whatever happens; I could not mean it more.

This book is on a par with a good translation of the Tao Te Ching, only it's more specific in content. Tony Parsons explains the paradox clearly - there is nothing you can "do" to "achieve" enlightenment. Or, as the Tao Te Ching might put it, "the path that can be followed is not The Way". Be warned: reading this book will leave your mind in a state of not knowing how to proceed, which I suspect is what the author was hoping for... I'm definitely going to buy his other book!