Forum: Dharma Overground Discussion Forum

I'm currently reading Jed McKenna's enlightenment trilogy (Damnedest, Incorrect, and Warfare), being halfway through the second book. Certainly provoking stuff, and I have a couple of questions.

Firstly, I'd like to hear from the enlightened guys in this forum if their experience of enlightenment (that which McKenna calls “abiding non.-dual awareness”) lines up with McKenna's description?

Secondly . . . McKenna emphasizes The First Step again and again. He writes »Until the First Step is taken, awakening from the dreamstate isn't possible. After the Frist Step is taken, staying in the drreamstate isn't possible.« So what I'd like to know is: What's the MCTB equivalent, if any, of McKenna's First Step?

Thanks for your opinions.

Hi Engelholt,

I think Jed McKenna is terrific and I've no doubt that the author of those books is enlightened. You may know that Jed McKenna appears to be a pseudonym as no one has been able to track down this quirky dharma teacher from the corn belt. It's quite a mystery that in this age of the internet the true identity of Jed McKenna has remained a closely guarded secret. It's one of the wonders of our time.

In any case, McKenna's description of "abiding, non-dual awareness" is good, if misleading. It's probably no more misleading than other similar descriptions; it's axiomatic that no one in the history of mankind has come up with a perfect description of the experience of enlightenment. But McKenna seems enlightened to me and his/her spiritual autolysis technique seems a sound approach.

As for The First Step, it sounds like an idea I've heard about from the Zen tradition, but it's been a while since I read the McKenna books (first two only) and you'd have to give me some more context before I could intelligently comment on McKenna's version of it.

By the way, although I think McKenna is enlightened (an arahat), some of his/her conclusions about what it means to be enlightened (i.e. you have to be a socially alienated loner) are wrong and are apparently based upon extrapolating his or her own experience to others. In other words, McKenna seems to be saying that "since I am enlightened and a socially isolated loner, every enlightened person will be socially isolated." This is faulty logic and probably due to the author's lack of experience with other enlightened people. As far as I know, enlightenment does not generally change one's personality or one's social functioning .

All in all, I would recommend McKenna's work to anyone as a hilarious and deeply insightful peek into one enlightened person's mind.

jed mcwho?

thanks for the tip and recommendation guys, im gonna see if my library has him

Author: ccasey

The author's name is Jed McKenna. You can get the books from his web site:
http://www.wisefoolpress.com/

I read all three books and enjoyed them. They are creative and delightful reads. As far as your question of comparison, please inform-- in which book, and page number are you referring to? I will pull it off my shelf and check it again.

Hi Kenneth,

Thanks for your answer. I wish you could have told me that McKenna's trilogy was a fantasy from beginning to end, but deep inside I know it's for real. I recognize too many of McKenna's landmarks. The black hole inside. The unbound terror lurking right beneath the surface. And I can identify particularly well with Julia's process of spiritual autolysis...

On the other hand, I couldn't have asked for a better answer, so thanks a lot.

Although McKenna devotes an entire chapter (albeit a short one) to The First Step (book 2, chapter 21, pp 165-170) to The First Step, he is quoting episodes from Melville's Moby-Dick to explain what The First Step is. It is too much text to quote here, but put in plain words it seems to be the point on the path where reaching the goal (attaining arahatship) becomes the top priority of one's life: One has seen enough of the truth to be able to return comfortably to delusion. So in an attempt to answer the question myself: I wonder if the MCTB equivalent of The First Step is somewhere along the line of “A&P activated desire for enlightenment”: http://bit.ly/K5VPe

I'm aware that McKenna is a pseudonym, although I have no idea who the real person behind could be. Tom Stine seems to argue that McKenna is really Adyashanti: http://bit.ly/wFWNm While I have only seen a few glimpses from a couple of videos with Adyashanti, the personalities of McKenna and Adyashanti seem to me to be miles apart, like night and day. I guess Tom Stine's arguments are stronger, but I'd be interested in hearing other people's opinions on this matter (not that it really matters, does it?).

Cheers,
Klaus

Author: ccasey

Thank you for the opportunity to revisit this work. I admire how this author has found a way to support his craft and contain his privacy.

The author refers in other parts of the book, (page 187)--that the first step is seeing and understanding. Based upon that, my sense is that he is referring to stream entry as the first step.

Adya has his own books, his own vernacular, quite different. He has, on occasion, referred to these books, and has not indicated that he wrote them.

peace, CCasey