REALITY IS NEGOTIABLE

The product of a “strict Christian household” gone rogue interprets the Bible through a decidedly Eastern lens.

You might not know this, or even care to know this—but you are God. You might not feel that way sitting in your soul-sucking cubicle or digging that ditch, but you are divine, according to Yarnell’s take on the Bible. That idea is central to the author’s thesis as he endeavors to uplift the uninitiated with esoteric knowledge for the betterment of everyday life. “We are not ‘separate’ from anything—not from each other, not from nature, not from the world, not from distant stars with their own galaxies rotating around them,” he writes. Yarnell caps off each highly accessible chapter with an exercise or mediation that readers can put into practice right away. The good news, according the author, is that Christ is imagination, and we can use our imaginations to create our reality—hence the book’s provocative title. “Everything changes when you start creating reality with intent and with the awareness that you are God,” he asserts. The text is pretty much all peace and love, except when it comes to established Christian churches; Yarnell jeers what he calls “biblical misinterpretation[s] of the scriptures” and calls certain established church doctrines concerning the nature of Jesus “ludicrous.”  The author finds the concepts of duality and separation between God and his creations as particularly damaging and detrimental to all of our lives. Those already familiar with some of the core tenets of Eastern religions and thought will find these ideas familiar, but others may see them as challenging. Overall, Yarnell’s tome is an upbeat affair that often feels like one-part self-help guide and one-part expedition into enigmatic cosmological truths. The King James Bible is referenced extensively, and many will no doubt find the author’s insights to be profound. “It works like this,” he states: “Have a clear intention of what you want, see it in your imagination, and try your best to feel the reality of it. Doing this lets you latch onto it in the quantum field with the lasso of faith.”

An engaging exploration for seekers of all stripes.