Muddy Tracks: Exploring an Unsuspected Reality

by Colin Wilson

"One of the precious gifts of my father's legacy was his insistence that people can turn beliefs into knowns, finding out for themselves through direct experience that they are indeed more than their physical bodies. In that spirit, this book is a fine example of another explorer's journey into profound self-discovery, and particularly to the realization that "love is the only thing in life that counts." --Laurie A. Monroe, President, The Monroe Institute This book was written specifically for those people for whom the question of "what is real" is the most important thing in life. It is for those who have a hard time concentrating on career or family--or anything--for fear it will turn out to be illusory. It is for anyone whose life is haunted by lack of meaning. The entire point of Muddy Tracks is that the author went out searching. He trusted, and sincerely looked, and found that his trust was rewarded. And, he says, as his trust was rewarded, so will yours be. Muddy Tracks tells some of the things that happened to him, and at every step he says to you, "Here's a resource; try this. Here's a resource; try that. When I did this, this happened. When I did that; that happened." Keeping strictly to what he has experienced, DeMarco shows how many aids we may find in life. He shows how his life was enriched by selected reading, and by dream analysis, and by interaction with friends and so-called strangers. He describes some of the unusual resources he has discovered and used, particularly in connection with out-of-body explorer Bob Monroe and The Monroe Institute. More intimately, he tells of some of the nearly unbelievable things he has learned to do--things, he points out, that are natural human abilities, available to all. As noted British author Colin Wilson says in his introduction, "Frank's experience has been in many ways remarkable, and he has a natural gift for making it come alive." The net result is to provide the reader with firsthand, informed reassurance that we all have our own internal guidance, which is reliable and is willing and able to come forth when welcomed. DeMarco cites his own experiences to argue that if you come to the quest in faith, the faith will be rewarded. The meaning of your life can be found, but it can only be found by you yourself. And, having found it, you will find it meaningful precisely because it will be your meaning, and not someone else's. The age of gurus is over. It is time for us each to come into our own. Muddy Tracks will help you--and encourage you--to learn to do that.

400 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Colin Henry Wilson was born and raised in Leicester, England, U.K. He left school at 16, worked in factories and various occupations, and read in his spare time. When Wilson was 24, Gollancz published The Outsider (1956) which examines the role of the social 'outsider' in seminal works of various key literary and cultural figures. These include Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, Hermann Hesse, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, William James, T. E. Lawrence, Vaslav Nijinsky and Vincent Van Gogh and Wilson discusses his perception of Social alienation in their work. The book was a best seller and helped popularize existentialism in Britain. Critical praise though, was short-lived and Wilson was soon widely criticized.

Wilson's works after The Outsider focused on positive aspects of human psychology, such as peak experiences and the narrowness of consciousness. He admired the humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow and corresponded with him. Wilson wrote The War Against Sleep: The Philosophy of Gurdjieff on the life, work and philosophy of G. I. Gurdjieff and an accessible introduction to the Greek-Armenian mystic in 1980. He argues throughout his work that the existentialist focus on defeat or nausea is only a partial representation of reality and that there is no particular reason for accepting it. Wilson views normal, everyday consciousness buffeted by the moment, as "blinkered" and argues that it should not be accepted as showing us the truth about reality. This blinkering has some evolutionary advantages in that it stops us from being completely immersed in wonder, or in the huge stream of events, and hence unable to act. However, to live properly we need to access more than this everyday consciousness. Wilson believes that our peak experiences of joy and meaningfulness are as real as our experiences of angst and, since we are more fully alive at these moments, they are more real. These experiences can be cultivated through concentration, paying attention, relaxation and certain types of work.

Reviews

[Sunknight · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure how this has the rating it has. This is a convoluted, tedious self centered account of a man searching for meaning in his life. What is telling is the lack of insight into the effect that this search had on his family, I'm assuming it is not good since they are rarely mentioned. On top of which even in his own words he is asked by a fellow seeker to never contact them again and it is apparent that not only was the author's family life upset by his search but also another family was also affected negatively. This does not seem to be a healthy endorsement for the way he goes after his spiritual quest. Not to mention that it is dry dull reading and very difficult to follow, chopped up into more stream of consciousness than well thought out storyline of a spiritual journey. This is not an example to follow.

[Jann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best spiritual books I have read. Personal and insightful, it tells the true story of a spiritual explorer. I found it valuable to my own journey. It is, indeed, nice to know someone has traveled this off the beaten track before me.