God 'n' Gut

This book is a powerful statement originating from a near death experience undergone by the author in 1987. Before that time, he had very little interest in spiritual matters, but his life and health had reached a dead end. He had spent some time in the Navy and was trained in electronics. This period also gave him an insight into the machinations of national security and the way in which threats can be used to manipulate public opinion. When he realised he was dying, he felt an urgent need to contact his eldest son to get him to look after the family when he had gone. In this case, the son perceived his father and received the message. He then had a mystical experience of utter love, peace and joy, a direct experience of God. This set him off on a religious and spiritual quest to understand the nature of reality both within and beyond the physical body. In both cases he experiences himself as a conscious, thinking, intelligent energy. At one level, he finds a similar manipulation on the part of the church and religious institutions in general, but on the other a deeper understanding of the hidden, invisible aspect of reality that is accessible to our consciousness. He summarises his experience in eight clear propositions (p. 69).

March sees the purpose of life as reaching contentment, which in turn involves the quest to achieve your potential and develop wisdom. The next part of the book is a wide-ranging journey through religious traditions with a particular emphasis on types of spiritual practice leading to direct insight. He contrasts the teaching of Jesus with many things that had been done in his name, urging the reader to become responsible and free rather than rely on external authorities. He summarises his findings, the essence of which is that each religion provides an explanation of existence and life beyond death, as well as providing a moral and ethical code. What interests him is the internal form of deep meditation as a means of liberating the soul.

This leads into the next part in which readers can practise and find out for themselves. The practice of meditation techniques also opens the more subtle senses. Here, March provides detailed and straightforward guidance based on his own experience. He coins the term Neutralis for this other realm and uses the tree of life from the Kabbalah as his main structure. He also provides suggestions about communicating with one's guardian angel. All this practice leads to greater freedom and potential mastery, the very opposite of determinism and feeling a victim of circumstances. As he puts it, freedom of thought is true freedom, making things happen rather than letting them happen. The last part is an outline of March's theory of Instantaneous Equilibrium, which is quite a technical statement of the scientific side of his argument. This is represented by the proposition that 'the only truly universal concept is one of the timeless coexistence of all things', an idea that he has already established spiritually earlier in the book. It is a direct and no holds barred message with significant implications for how we understand and live our lives.