SEEING GOD, FACE TO FACE

Iam delivers an impassioned sermon on the universe as a limited but manipulatable construct, manifested by mental energy and commanded by conscious perception.

The familiar Law of Attraction offers to its believers the ability to manifest realities they wish to experience, but according to the author of this book, too many self-styled gurus have an “imperfect” understanding of the concept, the universe, and the self. In this modern New Thought text, the physical world is said to be only “smoke and mirrors”—the creation of a divine, self-aware intelligence called God, but which is, in fact, the individual. It’s also all other individuals, Iam says, as the intelligence experiences itself in countless ways. By accepting the notion of the mind being the only reality, one may command mental energy to control material perceptions, asserts Iam. With proper thinking, he writes, one may wake up from these perceptions and bring a form of “Heaven” to themselves. The author introduces these ideas in a circuitous fashion, but the simple quote “The All Is Mind; The Universe Is Mental” may be used as a useful shorthand; it comes directly from The Kybalion by Three Initiates, a text of Hermetic philosophy of ancient Egypt and Greece. Iam enthusiastically presents his ideas in a manner that recalls a college lecture or a religious sermon, complete with references to such historical figures and quotes from the Bible, as well as awkward encouragement to buy the author’s other books. Readers familiar with New Thought will be onboard, but those new to the material may feel that the material is too dense. The book contains little introduction to the philosophy’s history and almost no background on The Kybalion, despite its outsized importance in the text. The book is short, and though it’s not always concise, its sections are clearly marked, and its use of repetition may make it easy to revisit; it also suggests it’s not a book to read in a single sitting, but rather a collection to reflect upon at length.

A book with some engaging ideas for those familiar with New Thought.