Thomas Nehrer

*i received this book via GoodReads giveaway. Thanks to all those that made it happen!*

For many years, i’ve been interested in probing the minds of the thinkers that have influenced human societies and retracing the paths that led to where we are today. i’ve perused the work of many philosophers and other thinkers, so i was really anticipating a chance to read a book by someone who thought outside of the scope of standard philosophy. And to his credit, that was what i found.

To me, it seemed Nehrer’s ‘philosophy’ basically boils down as such: every inculcated mental construct, belief, and description that you have only acts to further wrest your awareness away from your innate nature. He emphasizes the Oneness of mind and reality, along with the idea that the latter is merely a transumption of the former. In his words, all that exists is “an interrelated interaction of all things whose individual, apparent, “objective” existence is based only on definitions accepted by the observer.” (53) He argues that following the traditional eastern discipline of controlling your thoughts does not eliminate the root of the problem (your inner conflict and the mechanisms which originally produced those thoughts) and only intensifies that conflict. He promotes methods such as self-hypnosis and automatism to find and dispel the root elements that maintain persistent troubles in life. He also summarizes some of the major philosophical movements and offers his critiques of them.

Many of the insights that Nehrer presents are sound, and it is obvious that he has an insight that is both perspicacious and well-developed. Unfortunately, i must admit i was very put off by the author’s writing style. i cannot remember the last time i read a text in which the author came off so cocksure and downright arrogant. i had to cringe when i read the sentence “As a member of Mensa, a high-IQ social organization, I frequently encounter smart people.” (310) Frankly, it detracted from his ideas a lot, especially when he went on about how wise he was at various ages of his childhood, how he saw through the ruse of religion at 6 and demonstrated the Bible’s fallibility to his pastor at 12, etc. etc.

His swingeing criticisms of religion in particular were ridiculously excessive. i feel it’s necessary to point out that i am not religious in the least, and agree with his belief that religion is not necessary and oftentimes harmful. Like him, i was raised in a strictly Christian household and for many years was sheltered from questioning the notion that God was as real as me. While it’s obvious that religion had to be addressed in order for him to express his ideology, he seemed to take every cheap shot at it that he could, which only served to protract even the simplest of statements. Even more astoundingly, many of these criticisms weren’t even well-formulated, leading one to wonder why they would even be included if they were not meant solely to drive home the point that he does not like religion. These kinds of pointless barbs, along with sections that i suppose were meant to reinforce key points but seemed pleonastic, unnecessarily extended the length of book.

In spite of the author’s occasional snobbery and wearying self-reverence of his own transcendence, i found myself underlining passages in this book and taking notes on quite a few topics he presented in a unique fashion. His insights are certainly worth noting, but his contemptuous style of writing began to chafe.… (mais)

Wanna meet the real Jesus? From page one, I was hooked by Nehrer’s jaded dismissal of believers and scholars alike, and his promise of delivering the real Jesus. Nehrer, the mystic, reveals Jesus, the visionary … and he does it entertainingly well.

Nehrer is not religious, and finds no value in the Bible (other than as a historical oddity) outside the parables of Jesus. No sugar-coating, here. But don’t let Nehrer’s self-aggrandizing style turn you off. He over-values his credentials a bit–for example, his mystical background allows him to “see clearly what Jesus meant with his parables”–and thus commits the same error he warns us against: perceiving Jesus through the lens of his own worldview. But there’s nothing wrong with a little positive endorsement, right?

Nehrer promotes embracing “Oneness,” by which he means the connection between Self and experienced Reality. He prefers the term “Clear Awareness” for seeing deep into the Oneness and understanding how life works. That was Jesus’ insight: he understood life.

140 pages into the book, it shifts unexpectedly into a fictional narrative of Jesus’ “lost years.” Jesus is a smart, hard worker able to contribute at multiple jobsites, but he is driven to keep moving and learning. Nehrer feels he is “uniquely qualified” to take a stab at reconstructing where Jesus’ wanderlust carries him, because of his own extensive travel and spiritual journey as a young man. This fictional account continues for roughly 200 pages, and was my favorite part of the book, as Nehrer’s fiction is quite engaging.

In Nehrer’s recreation, Jesus is self-confident, not a goody-goody but quite likeable. He speaks in religious language when necessary, perhaps inventing a Heavenly Father image to help his listeners displace the vindictive, judgmental Yahweh. His vision is encapsulated in what he calls the Kingdom of God, describing (you guessed it) how life really works, but his greater knowledge is so contrary to the established religious regime–particularly the Temple class–and so difficult for everyday people to grasp that he struggles to make progress, and is eventually put to death.

A final section then discusses how Christianity was born out of the misunderstood message of Jesus. An interesting take on the life of Jesus, but far from the direction my own studies have led me.… (mais)