Jed McKenna’s Theory of Everything: The Enlightened Perspective

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I Like It!

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“A real guru, if there is one, frees you from himself”

U.G. Krishnamurti

I wouldn’t say that I’m a huge fan of U.G. Krishnamurti, but I certainly agree with his opinion on spiritual teachers. I once believed that it was my desire to pick away at things until they fell apart that was my greatest liability, but it has now become my greatest asset. My extreme skepticism (not to be confused with modern skepticism which is all about defending things that can’t be proven as real) has led me closer to the truth by showing me that all beliefs are flawed. I’ve put enough spiritual teachers (and their beliefs) up on pedestals only to later crucify them that I now see this as my job in life – my prime directive is to rid myself of bullshit. The only spiritual teacher around today that I haven’t yet been able to completely dismiss is Jed McKenna – probably because he does not claim to be a spiritual teacher, and I did say “yet”.

Jed McKenna Might Be Full of Bullshit

I would not be surprised to find out that Jed McKenna is completely full of the brown stuff. The fact that he has released another book after saying he was done with this work, following the publication of his trilogy, is suspicious – even if this new book is a fantastic read. So he might not only be full of bullshit, but also greedy for more money and attention. It also makes me suspicious that it has taken him so many words to say something so simple. Yeah, I would say that Jed McKenna might definitely be full of bullshit, but it is very, very convincing bullshit, and I can’t really fault him. What I’m saying here is that it would not matter one jot how much bullshit he is full of because it’s not going to take anything away from the truth he is pointing at.

Jed McKenna’s Theory of Everything

I read Jed’s TOE yesterday. I bought it for Kindle, and I was initially disappointed to find that it is a relatively short book – a slim paperback, I think you might call it. After reading it though, I have to admit that he probably made a good decision to keep the word count down because what he has to say would lose its power by adding fluff. It took me about six hours to read, and it only cost $7 (including the Amazon penalty tax for not living in America), so I can’t complain.

I posted on here before about one of Jed’s other books – Spiritual Enlightenment: the Damdest Thing. The first time I read this work it all sounded kind of revolutionary and almost sacrilegious, but I went back and read it again a few years later and by then most of what he was saying sounded obvious to me. I’d reached many of the same conclusions as him, but it had nothing to do with me becoming enlightened – it was more about me running out of things to believe. With this new book, there was this strange sense of déjà-vu as so much of his thinking mirrored my own.

Jed is dismissive of all belief systems – including science. I share his concerns, and in my own experience it is the believing in things that are untrue that leads to all kinds of suffering including addiction. I don’t understand how anyone can claim to be searching for truth when they begin with assumptions that can never be shown as true. I fully agree with Jed that science and religion are basically the same at a fundamental level. This is one of my favorite quotes from the book:

All scientific claims should be prefaced with a disclaimer. That seems like a scientific-y thing to do. A standard disclaimer would probably suffice in most cases:

Warning:

The scientific findings contained herein are based on the uncritical acceptance of consensus reality as true reality, and must therefore be viewed in the same light as mythology, folklore, superstition, and religion.





The Beliefs of Jed McKenna

Jed is convinced that consciousness exists, but the universe doesn’t. He provides some nifty arguments for why this is the case. I strongly believe that he is right, but it is a belief for me – I don’t know with 100% certainty that all that exists is consciousness, and the rest is just like a dream – so I have to remain an agnostic believer.

I’m not sure that Jed’s TOE accomplishes much, but who said that the truth has to accomplish anything? As far as I can see, Jed’s TOE provides far more than the vast majority of spiritual books out there, so it is worth it for that alone. I hope this book sells well for Jed – even if he is full of bullshit, he deserves every cent.