Customer Reviews

Your Immortal Reality: How to Break the Cycle of Birth and Death

5 star:		(98)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Some things just ring true when you read or hear them. A deeper aspect of yourself, or that intuitive place inside sometimes just knows that this is the real deal. This is most especially the case with Gary Renard's books. I am talking about the radical teachings on forgiveness themselves, not necessarily what one makes of the ascended masters, Arten and Pursah, who are said to have conversed with the author in his living room. Make no mistake about it; this is not some New Age channeled hooey designed to simpy make you feel good about yourself or the world at large. This IS the real deal, and as far as I can tell, so are Arten and Pursah, but that doesn't really matter.

The subtitle of the book is "How to Break the Cycle of Birth and Death." Now some people might ask why they would necessarily even want to break this cycle, although such a query would be a stretch today given the mess the illusory world seems to be in at this time. But let's face it. Life isn't all bad, and in fact, can sometimes seem downright fun and rewarding. It also, of course, depends on who you are and what kind of shape your life is currently in. But the best analogy I have ever heard in this regard came from a book I read by a Tibetan Buddhist who was imprisoned for many years following the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959. His captor and personal guard would take one day of every week, Tuesday, to spend most of that day torturing him. On one particular Tuesday, the captor had a note sent to the Buddhist monk that the captor would not be able to torture him that day because he had fallen ill. But the guard assured the Buddhist that he would torture him again on the following Tuesday. Even though the monk's dismal and degrading surroundings were unchanged, even though he was still literally given garbage to eat in filthy and inhumane conditions, that Tuesday was one beautiful day. Enough said.

If you have not already done so, I would recommend reading "The Disappearance of the Universe" before reading "Your Immortal Reality." I think you'll get much more out of each book that way. The most refreshing thing about Gary Renard is that he is a straight shooter with a good sense of humor. He doesn't appear to be a person who takes himself too seriously, yet the teachings themselves could not be more important. A Course in Miracles is, as others have noted, a Christianized version of Advaita Vedanta. I can think of no higher teaching, nor a more direct route to the ultimate goal of full realization of our oneness with God. Don't be surprised or in the least discouraged, then, if you find your ego resisting your efforts to practice real forgiveness as described in the Course. This is not easy stuff, and anyone who suggests that it is, must either be a fully enlightened master or someone who has completely deluded themselves. Still, is there anything in life more important than our efforts in this regard? After all, isn't today Tuesday?

As a spiritual and holistic healer for many years, I have studied many spiritual traditions and metaphysical practices including Tibetan Buddism, Esoteric Christianity, Anthroposophy, Classical Yoga, Chinese Medicine Spirituality, etc. Gary's first book, Disappearance of the Universe, completely turned everything I thought I knew about spiritual truth on it's head. This follow up book, which I've just started reading, is so delicious, I keep reading it in little bites just to savor the bliss of the message as long as I can. These books completely changed my life, and my spiritual awareness. My intuitive healing abilities have even evolved to a point that I can only say is inspired by the Holy Spirit itself. This message is truly "the light and the way", folks. Fasten your seat belts and get ready to become free!

This book is filled with fascinating events, great teachings and a wonderful sense of humor. Renard's bluntness and clarity are like a breath of fresh air. His teachers are the same as the first book and they continue to deliver top notch teachings in a way everyone can accept and understand. Your Immortal Reality also tells more of Renard's personal story. I feel like I know him and where he's coming from a lot better now. This is a great follow up to "The Disappearance of the Universe" and a great read.

When I first heard Gary Renard was working on another book, I thought "well what else is there to say after the DU?" Well, in some ways, a lot! It's true that the message is always about forgiveness and the Love of God. It's also true that the message can become lost when infused with various controversies among Course students or from those of other spiritual paths. In light of this, YIR (Your Immortal Reality) serves as an important corrective for controversies that have sprung up recently in the Course community (if you could call it that) as well as a corrective for several ancillary spiritual teachings that have in various ways become associated with ACIM. As a brief example, Gary's teachers address the editing of the text of ACIM, the story of which has been somewhat distorted among some students; as another example, they address kinesiology, something of a buzzword these days.
Suffice to say there are several such topics that can make it difficult for students of ACIM to get to the heart of what the text is saying. Gary's new book does an excellent job of framing these issues and of bringing us back to the unadulterated message of ACIM. And, as usual, the text is full of extremely interesting tidbits about history (including an offhanded remark about Shakespeare that almost made me fall out of my chair) or about the future (better break out those Star Trek DVDs). I could go on . . .
I love Gary's books. They're fun to read and, as I work through them, I have that rare feeling that every word is vital and important, especially upon reading Pursah's dictation of the Gospel of Thomas. I devoured YIR in one reading the day I got it, and have since been reading it more methodically. And I'll probably read it a third time after that. Yes, there is more to say; I hope I have ears to hear.

Gary Renard, as his penultimate incarnation, conveys yet another masterful tool to accelerate the deliverance from our Dreams of Death. This is supreme MetaPhysics folks! And it's intended for all the souls who'd like to quit screwing around in the spiritual supermarket & make some serious strides in the escape from hell. As such, Your Immortal Reality, like the Course, is quite incongruent with fluffy New Age dogma. One reason being that it identifies Consciousness - and the hollow theologies that derive from it - as the domain of the ego. Sounds pretty hardcore (to say the least) and may provoke some resistance. Nevertheless, I feel blessed this book has appeared & can barely fathom the magnificence thereof.

Good stuff. I don't know if I agree with everything, but I certainly sense that most of it is right on the mark. (And who knows how accurate what I think I know is anyway?) God bless Gary for having the guts to write this kind of book. It must have been difficult for him to come out and talk about 2 beings appearing to him and telling him things. I must tell you that I have NOT read "The Course in Miracles" or "The Disappearance of the Universe" yet, but have been on a special spiritual path for about the last 6 years.

This book talks a lot about what Jesus intended people to really learn from his teachings and a biggie was forgiveness. If you know anything at all about Jesus, you know he forgave EVERYBODY, no matter how grave the insult or physical violence. Why do you think that might be? Was he just a really nice guy? Come on, now. How many people do you know that you just look at the wrong way and they want to rub you out! Maybe Jesus was trying to REALLY tell us to be in peace and love, no matter what and that was the way to progress forward. He sure did everything he could to get our attention while letting us still keep our free will to make our own decisions.

The book also talks about choosing guidance from the Holy Spirit instead of the ego, the illusions of time and space, being separate from God vs. being one with God, and other concepts. Everybody has to search and find their own truth and I think this book provides some good base info.

I am about 3/4 of the way through and am very much enjoying this book. Like I said, most of it rings true to me.

I love this book because it doesn't compromise at all on its radical message or the message of "A Course in Miracles." You also get the complete Gospel of Thomas in one chapter the way it was meant to be given and without the sayings that were added on later by others. Most importantly, the book is fun to read and Renard's sense of humor shines through. This is a very advanced spiritual book put in easy to understand, everyday language. I'm reading it again.

This book will really put you on track with practicing forgiveness. We are so attached to our world and the need to be right. I am becoming better at viewing life as JAFO (Just Another Forgiveness Opportunity). I loved it from beginning to end! I met the author, Gary Renard, at a seminar in Arizona. What a kind, gentle and funny man. I can't wait to meet him again! Thanks Gary, Arten and Pursah for this book. Without your explanations I may have not gotten the significance of ACIM in my life.

As a student of the course in Miracles I am always looking for good explanations of the concepts taught in the course. I think that Gary Renard gives a good summary of those concepts. My main complaint is the style. I have issues with the two enlightened beings coming to visit him.
I have issues with his sexual comments to the female enlightened being. For me all this gets in the way of delivering the real message of forgivenss and atonement. But then maybe I am being judgemental. I wanted to like this book..... just couldn't. Maybe that says I am a longway from enlightenment. Maybe this book was not intended for me... Because it just did not resonate with my soul.

It was evident in the first book, it is totally blatant now: the connection from the Jesus we know of in the Thomas Gospel to the Jesus we know from A Course In Miracles flows naturally and speaks with one mind. He speaks with a clear, unambiguous authoritative voice, he did then, he does now and always. The theological reconstruction of Jesus by Christianity in the interim becomes clear as an obfuscation and makes him into an idol of vicarious salvation, and the opposite of what Jesus teaches.

Gary's journey makes profound material come to life in an irresistibly attractive way, eminently readable, funny, playful yet without one iota of compromise of the Course's and Jesus' teachings.

If The Disappearance of the Universe accomplished the impossible by summarizing the Course in popular language, here is yet another seeming impossibility handed to us on a silver platter: the kernel of the Thomas Gospel which is consistent with Jesus' teachings as we know them from A Course in Miracles.