Book Reviews -- Spiritual Exploration -- Soul Searching
Author: Michael Mirdad
Title: You're Not Going Crazy... You're Just Waking Up!
Book Review 29.10.2009
(c) 2009 by Heidrun Beer
This book review was originally published on a mailing list for oldtime Scientologists. It therefore contains special words from the Scientology universe, marked in italic print. Please look them up in a Scientology dictionary.
Michael Mirdad: You're Not Going Crazy... You're Just Waking Up!
The Five Stages of the Soul Transformation Process
This book I found interesting in three ways.
1. because it presents "Soul Transformation" as an alternative explanation to life crises, very different from case problems, PTSness, out ethics, being sick or simply being downstat;
2. because it suggests a pattern of handling quite contrary to the Scientologist idea of always being at cause, always staying in control, especially in difficult situations;
3. because it introduces the idea of a relationship to our greater self - those parts of us that have not incarnated into the body but are also factors in our incarnation by assisting us from the "other side" (whether all of this interaction is always sane is still an open question to me - if there are incompetent parents, maybe there are also incompetent spirit guides?)
On the other hand, in my opinion the book is also leaving out major explanations that would be needed in order to understand the whole concept.
Especially misleading is the use of the word "God" for these outside and not incarnated factors or components of ourselves. People who don't have a stable awareness of the "tree of theta" from which we all branch out like twigs or leaves, may easily get the idea that the author is referring to "God" as some outside power that is separate from ourselves.
The patterns and ideas he describes are worth exploring in my opinion, but similar to the major religions, he suggests an OUTER dialogue with "God" instead of teaching the same patterns and ideas as an INNER dialogue with the not-incarnated portions of ourselves (what is also called the "higher self" in New Age lingo).
The concept of the "tree of theta" is not made visible in the book, which - to me - is its biggest outpoint: the students learn from their teacher a pattern which does make sense, but is presented on top of a not-explained foundation of understanding, which invites more WRONG understanding based on the incomplete thought habits we have inherited.
Now, the ideas as such and the suggested handling "formulas" ARE interesting, which is why I am writing this book review :-)
BTW the book is often referring to "A Course In Miracles" (ACIM).
Book quotes indented like this line.
ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATION FOR LIFE CRISES:
"I'm so lost", "My life is falling apart", "I'm losing my house (job, mind, etc.).", "I'm so confused; I don't know which end is up anymore."
All of these statements are symptoms of the same Soul Transformation Process - a process referred to (but practically unnoticed) in the greatest spiritual teachings, such as Buddhism, mysticism, and "A Course in Miracles". If you've ever been in a similar condition (and who hasn't at some point?), YOUR SOUL IS BEGINNING TO SHAKE THINGS UP, QUESTION YOUR REALITY, AND GUIDE YOU TO A HIGHER LEVEL OF CONSCIOUSNESS. To facilitate this transformation, however, your ego-based life first must be Dismantled. A New Life can then be rebuilt on a firmer, more secure foundation - a foundation in Spirit.
TWO BASIC WAYS OF "WAKING UP":
We either CREATE A CRISIS that brings us to our knees, OR we simply decide that IT MAKES SENSE to move on to a new way of living. These two options can be defined as learning life's lessons "The HARD Way" or "The EASY Way."
This idea has also been formulated by Thorwald Dethlefsen decades ago. He says that life will teach us by PASSIVE LEARNING what we have failed or avoided to learn by ACTIVE LEARNING.
ACIM Quote: "Learning through rewards is more effective than learning through pain". Wow! What a surprise :-))
THE FIVE STAGES OF SOUL TRANSFORMATION:
1. Dismantling, 2. Emptiness, 3. Disorientation, 4. Re-building, and 5. A New Life. These stages usually occur on a daily basis in small ways and/or every few years in larger forms. When these changes occur, the process will manifest as either "The Easy Way" or "The Hard Way". YOU get to choose which. If you choose to listen to your soul's guidance, your Soul Transformation Process will probably occur the EASY way. If, however, you don't listen to your soul's guidance, your Soul Transformation Process will probably occur the HARD way. When manifesting in its most extreme form, the Soul Transformation Process is often referred to as the "dark night of the soul", which is a mjaor life-cleansing process that all people go through at least a few times in their lives."
[...]
It's as though your psyche is a chalice, or cup, that needs to be EMPTIED of old toxic materials so it can be RE-FILLED with the fresh waters of life, or new opportunities to live life with more love, peace, and purpose. In other words, it's letting your "old" self die so that your "new" self can be born.
The now following chapters on these five stages of transformation need to be read in full, so I am not going to quote more of the text.
The two concepts unfamiliar to Scientologists are SURRENDERING (we might call it extended periods of TR 0?), and LISTENING to the inspirations that come from what the author calls "God", and what I understand to be our own non-incarnated component parts (our "spiritual team", guides, angels, whatever we want to call these voices as long as we understand that they are basically ourselves, only without the limits that slipping into a body usually install.)
I present the book as food for thought and inner dialogue. As mentioned before, it needs to be read with a firm understanding of the divine nature and rootedness of one's own self.