A different sort of example would be when I took the highly controversial est training in 1975, the original crash course in consciousness that eventually evolved into The Landmark Forum, which is still being taught around the world today. As with many things of this sort, some people considered it to be a cult that was merely hell bent on recruitment, while others absolutely loved it and felt it transformed their lives. For me, at twenty-three, it was in fact the catalyst for my first genuine, powerful spiritual awakening, and it directly shaped the direction my life took for the next thirty plus years. (I’m fifty-six now.) The substance of my epiphany at est was the recognition, for the first time, that I am not my mind, that I am not the voice in my head that calls itself “I” or “me.” Rather, I experienced myself as a greater awareness, within which the mind occurs. And that’s a very powerful distinction to discover. It basically means you can have some say in the quality of your life regardless of what your complaining mind is babbling on about!
Q: Would you suggest others to follow your path?
A: Absolutely not! I would suggest they follow their path!
Q: Your book, The 99th Monkey, is all about spiritual awakening. What do you hope to accomplish in publishing this book?
A: That’s a hard question, considering that I mention in the book that I approached Barnes and Noble and asked them to create a new category for my book in their stores, right next to “Self-Help,” to be called “No Help Whatsoever.” Because I’m really not in the self-help business, not out to change anyone’s life with a magical formula or answer. If anything, my story is a warning, through my example, about the perils of always searching and waiting, striving and hoping. But there’s a paradox, in that when we truly give up all hope of self-improvement or a better future coming along someday, it leaves us smack in the present, for better or worse, which, fortunately, is where God lives.
Q: Thank you for this interview, Eliezer. It has been a pleasure! Do you have any final words?
A: There was a sign at a monastery in Thailand that said:
“Cut yourself some slack;
100 years from now,
All new people.”
