“Without the traditional sense of my physical boundaries, I felt that I was at one with the vastness of the universe.”

“In the absence of the normal functioning of my left orientation association area, my perception of my physical boundaries was no longer limited to where my skin met air. I felt like a genie liberated from its bottle. The energy of my spirit seemed to flow like a great whale gliding through a sea of silent euphoria.”

“I have come to understand how it is that we are capable of having a “mystical” or “metaphysical” experience-relative to our brain anatomy.”

“I’m no authority, but I think the Buddhists would say I entered the mode of existence they call Nirvana.”

“You’re not even you—you have no body, no blood, no bones. You’re just a thought. I don’t even exist—I’m just a dream—your dream, a creation of your imagination. Soon, you’ll understand all of this, and then you’ll cast me out of your illusion. You created me from nothing, and I will return to that nothingness…”

Desire, Sex, and Attachments. Awakening is about non-attachment, but not detachment from all desires. The goal isn’t to eliminate desire entirely—life would be dull and lifeless.

Holy business, “You want to be a good man, a nice man, an innocent man, and all that stuff. You want to be something different, but always in the future. That is what all the teachers promise you, and they just promise, a next life or an afterlife.”

Holiness and sacredness are merely contaminants of true purity. Purity is not something you can find in water; it is the natural state of water itself. You don't search for purity in the water—you simply remove the impurities, and the water's inherent purity is revealed.

In the same way, you cannot "find" purity within yourself. There is nothing to seek or attain. By stripping away all false beliefs, you return to your natural state.

“If you shock easily, this may not be for you.”

“Are you ready to be shattered, to have your beliefs stripped away and then not be given anything new to hang on to? Then read this book.”

“I am not in the holy business. I sing my own song. If somebody comes I talk. If nobody comes I go for a walk or look at the birds, look at the trees.”

The long, fruitless search left me both mentally and physically exhausted. How much further must I trek before I finally reach the end? How many tears must I shed to cease the crying? Dragging my weary body forward, I questioned what I was searching for in this lonely quest. In a hypnosis session, I felt like a child abandoned in a vast sea of humanity—left forsaken, helpless, and engulfed by waves of sorrow, powerlessness, and loneliness. The tears flowed like an unrelenting fountain.

Trauma, whether large or small, shares striking similarities in how it affects the mind and body. Healing techniques aim to mitigate or eliminate the negative effects associated with traumatic memories or conditioning. This process helps restore equilibrium and balance within us.

For those who suffer from trauma, the behaviors may appear irrational but are often not due to a lack of understanding, willpower, or character flaws. Rather, “irrational” behaviors are the result of altered and distorted brain systems. Therefore, once we grasp a good understanding of how trauma affects our brain and body, we’ll be able to reverse the harm.

The first book of Jed McKenna's trilogy. Though Jed is a fictional character, his teachings offer a vivid perspective on Enlightenment. Several key points from the book profoundly influenced me when I first read it years ago.