The Origins of Man and the Universe: The Myth that Came to Life Paperback – September 12, 1997

Gave five stars because listening/reading this along while I listen to his past conference recordings, on youtube, has provided a refreshing. Second, this has brought awareness that little words and properly place words is helpful to us. This helps us become conscious and thus joyful, consistently.

profound  pro·found [pruh-found] Show IPA adjective, pro·found·er, pro·found·est, nounadjective1.penetrating or entering deeply into subjects of thought or knowledge; having deep insight or understanding: a profound thinker.2.originating in or penetrating to the depths of one's being; profound grief.3.being or going far beneath what is superficial, external, or obvious: profound insight.4.of deep meaning; of great and broadly inclusive significance: a profound book.5.pervasive or intense; thorough; complete: a profound silence.Relevant QuestionsWhat Does Profound Mean?What Words Are Profound?What Are The Most Profou...What Is A Profound Quest...noun Literary.8.something that is profound.9.the deep sea; ocean.10.depth; abyss.

Very intense read. You will garner lots of information from this volume. You may need to take notes. If you are into learning about things as they actually are then this is the book for you.

In what is, for me, the most profound book ever written, Barry Long tackles the question of our origins from the vantage point of the spiritual master and has produced what many regard as this influential spiritual teacher's finest work.After quickly dispatching scientifc speculation and religious exegis as failed attempts at explaining our origins, Barry turns to traverse ground sign posted by the creation myths of many cultures before he shifts into gear and takes the reader on a journey through creation and beyond the universe.With a sure hand, Barry leads the reader in stillness and nothingness deep within the layers of mind or the unconscious. There, the reality of external space or the sense perceived world and the present purpose of life on earth are encountered in all their transcendent beauty and magnificence.Compelling and energetically powerful, any attempt to summarise this book is hopeless, conceptualising and destroying. This is a life-changing book.

It is a difficult book to read. It is complex. It deals with many fundamental issues and provide views and explanations which are often far away from our (at least my) understanding and experience.Still I found many responses which are relevant to me and I bet that, if we would make an interview to 1000 readers, everyone would reply he/she has got insights on different aspects: basically on what was relevant to him/her.So that if you want to figure everything out cognitively of what Barry Long is telling you....no hope.It is not a book for understanding, it is an exploration of a space of possibilities: an amazing and fascinating journey...which is going to tickle something within you, whatever it will be.

I have read lots and lots of books by awakened spiritual masters, but Barry Long reveals original thought I have not found written anywhere else. He began writing a book about the origins of all the martial arts but soon abandoned it because the information revealed took him on a journey into the origins of man and the universe. I could not put this book down. It held me spellbound to the end. Read it and believe it..... or not.

The Forward to this edition by Clive Tempest** states that “The author’s only source was his own spiritual realization and revelation. He refrained from consulting other authorities, scientific, philosophical or spiritual.” In the book’s introduction the author, Barry Long*, states that what he writes is “truth” and that “I have access to such knowledge because I am a spiritual master and teacher. One’s knowledge of reality is determines by the responsibility one has taken for life. …I am permitted to enter the higher levels of mind described in this book. I write and speak from there.” Further in his Introduction the author advises the reader, “Do not try to work out what you are reading, but read on and listen for the ring of truth. The ring or sound of truth is the only means we have of recognizing what is real.”The author purports to instruct the reader in the origin of man (humanity) and even of the universe. We have available to us the fruits of the sciences of physics, chemistry, biology and philosophy. Many books are available by noted scholars in all of these fields written for the layman who wishes to achieve an understanding of the origin of humanity and/or the universe. Barry Long is clearly not a scholar in any pertinent field related to this subject. The Forward and Introduction make this fact evident. Whatever expertise Mr. Long may have, he clearly has no credentials for explaining the origin of either humanity or the universe. His vision of the world and the universe is just that – a vision – based on his imagination with no factual foundation. If this is your thing, you apparently will like it.*Barry Long was born and raised in Australia and had little formal education. In his twenties he became editor of a Sydney Sunday newspaper, The Truth, and later press secretary in the New South Wales Parliament. In his early thirties he began to experience a disillusionment with his material life and in 1964 he abandoned everything, including his wife and children, to go to India. There he experienced a spiritual crisis culminating in a self-ascribed "mystic death," which he called his "realization of immortality," followed four years later by a "transcendental realization"; a contact with a depth of consciousness from which he stated his knowledge of universal reality ultimately derived. [from Wikipedia]**Clive Tempest has spent 40 years supporting “individual transformation and creativity. His work is original and embraces the whole life in uniting practical everyday wisdom with the bigger picture of our evolving consciousness.” [from Mr. Tempest’s website]

This book will change your life forever. It's the most profound book ever written, according to my opinion. A masterpiece.

I am currently reading this book again, for the 3rd time. There is a lot to take in, and each time I read it I learn something new. A excellent read that inspires a sense of awe and wonder every time I read it.

[BL: „First, let me explain the character of myth. It is impossible to describe spirit as spirit, for spirit must communicate direct to the individual; but through myth it can be done approximately. Myth is the only means at our disposal to describe the reality behind human existence. It is the language, the handwriting, of the spirit, conveying the significance of things perceived; the otherwise untellable truth behind the fragmented physical appearance of things.“]..Es gibt eigentlich nur zwei Möglichkeiten: Entweder der Autor dieses Werkes ist hochgradig psychotisch oder... ein Genie.Wer sonst könnte es wagen, mit solch einer Sicherheit ein Buch zu schreiben über quasi ALLES?! Über den Ursprung von allem was ist, Struktur und Gesetzmäßigkeiten des Kosmos', Entstehung und Entwicklung des Menschen, den kosmischen Zweck seiner Existenz? Wahrlich, es existiert wohl nichts Vergleichbares. Weder von Seiten der Wissenschaften noch als Schauung eines anderen spirituellen Meisters, und auch kein Welterklärwerk eines Psychotikers war je gleichzeitig derart luzide und profund.Dennoch: Beim ersten Blick hinein - bereits mit Barry Long vertraut - war ich kurz verunsichert: Spinnt der Typ vielleicht doch? Allein die graphischen Modelle! Fast war es mir peinlich.Heftig ist es, dieses Buch, in seiner Mythenwucht fast schon erschlagend. Dabei ziemlich anders als Barry Longs andere Bücher, anders auch als seine Audio-Talks. „Ergänzend“ müsste man wohl richtiger sagen, denn sein Inhalt bildet den Realisations-Hintergrund von BLs Lehre. Nur hat er nicht oft drüber gesprochen, hat diese Dinge immer nur kurz umrissen: Er wollte der Phantasie des Zuhörers, dessem konzeptgeilen Verstand kein Futter bieten.Generell erlebe ich BLs Lehre als handfest und praxisorientiert. In messerscharf-brillanter Klarheit zerstört sein Wort alle Zweifel in mir, auch die Verwirrungen, die andere Teachings mit ihren Halbwahrheiten in mich gelegt haben. Mit kraftvoller Wahrheits-Energie räumt es auf in meinem Innern, klärt die Sicht, gibt den Blick frei auf das Große Dahinter. Auf all das, was ich schon immer als wahr ahnte, selbst jedoch nicht formulieren oder realisieren, als Wahrheit gebären konnte. Versehen mit endlich der angemessenen Tiefen-Struktur, der angemessenen perspektivenreichen Komplexität, auflösend die Verzweiflung darüber, die Ahnung all dessen bis dahin nie im Außen, in keinem Teaching der Welt gespiegelt zu finden. Lese, höre ich Barry Long, fällt alles an seinen Platz, wie ganz von selbst.Doch das hier?! Mit seiner mythischen Herangehensweise bei gleichzeitig unglaublicher Dichte und Detailliertheit liest es sich erst einmal abschreckend strange. Dabei ist der erste Teil noch nachvollziehbar in Referenz zu alltäglichen Erfahrungen (Evolution, The Gods, Human Nature, Violence and Civilisation, The Underworld). Aber dann, beim Sprung zur größeren Perspektive (z.B. The Draconic Transverse, The Girdle of Eternity), fand sich für mich nichts Vertrautes mehr zum Festhalten, keinerlei Anhaltspunkt.Wie bloß, anhand welcher Kriterien soll ich ein Buch beurteilen, das zu einem Großteil weit (!!) über meinen Erfahrungshorizont hinaus geht?! Wie auch über sonstig verfügbares Fremdwissen, einzigartig wie es ist, kann es mit nichts verglichen werden. Selbst jegliche Stilkritik stünde mir da nicht zu, führte komplett vom Inhalt des Buches weg, von seiner Energie, seiner Essenz, seinem Wesen.Denn das, was oberflächlich betrachtet wie ein theoretischer Gesamtabriss diverser Realisationen erscheinen mag, ist doch viel eher eine energetische Übertragung mitten aus diesen Schauungen heraus. Welche hier nicht als ein Geschehen innerhalb von Zeit zu verstehen sind, sondern als eine - spirituelle Meisterschaft erst begründende - bewusste und dauerhafte, unhintergehbare Anbindung an Zeitlosigkeit. Als dem „cosmic consciousness“ realisiert habenden Meister jederzeit und direkt zur Verfügung stehendes Wissen. „This book [..] has been written on a cosmic mindwave.“ Geschrieben in mythischer Form, weil nur diese das Unsagbare sagbar macht.Mythen, das sind laut BL nicht einfach nett erfundene Geschichten: In ihnen, durch sie spricht Spirit, dabei die Kraft und den Wahrheitsgehalt bloßer Worte bei weitem übersteigend. Ein Mythos in diesem Sinne ist wahrer als nur (adjektivisch/eigenschaftlich) wahr, weil er als Medium die Energie der Großen Wahrheit selbst transportiert. Denn auch die wirkliche Realität ist mythisch, nichtexistent, sie liegt in unbeeindruckter Ewigkeit mitsamt allen darin ruhenden Ideen vor/hinter Existenz. Genau diese Wahrheit *hinter* den Mythos-formulierenden Worten gilt es hier zu erfassen, und das ist für unseren entgeisterten, spiritentwöhnten, in der Zeit feststeckenden Mind durchaus nicht leicht, regelrecht eine Zumutung. Doch krallt der Verstand sich an den Worten fest, so hat er das Wesentliche verpasst.Überhaupt der Verstand: Er kann mit mit diesem Buch nichts anfangen. Sein Inhalt ist rational viel zu wenig fassbar, um Konzepte daraus kreieren zu können. Auch „behalten“ - im Gedächtnis oder sonstwie - kann er davon nichts, es liegt keinerlei Gewinn darin in Form eines neuen Wissens oder irgendeiner Art von Genugtuung. Nicht mal zum netten Zeitvertreib bietet es sich an, dazu ist es viel zu verwirrend komplex.Und vermutlich ist genau das der Grund, warum ein so einzigartiges, momumentales Werk wie dieses, auch BLs Teaching generell, so erstaunlich unbekannt, ungefragt ist. In einer Welt, in der doch so viele vorgeben, an Wahrheit interessiert zu sein. Doch Interesse ist kein Schlüssel für dieses Buch oder für Wahrheit allgemein. Wahrheit erschließt sich nur durch dringliche Wahrhaftigkeit (oder wahrhaftige Dringlichkeit?). Gehirn und Verstand werden sterben, die Wahrheit nicht.„You can't understand what I say, you have to get the idea!“, - so formulierte BL selbst immer wieder den Zugang zum Verständnis seiner Lehre. Und so hat es sich auch für mich als wahr heraus gestellt und als hilfreiche Herangehensweise beim Lesen dieses Buches.Heißt: Größtmögliche Entspannung, Durchlässigkeit und Abschalten des rationalen Verstandes bei gleichzeitig maximaler Wachheit. Mehr Lauschen als Lesen. Nichts anzweifeln, aber alles abgleichen mit meinen Erfahrungen und/oder mit dem, was die höhere, wahre, ewige Instanz in und von mir hinter all dem Inkarnationsmüll bereits als Wahrheit kennt… und wiedererkennt. Es ist eine große Stille, die dann einkehrt, eine Art tiefer, innerer Resonanz. Ein Aufschluss von Wissen, während der Verstand gleichzeitig nix mehr kapiert.In den letzten 5 Jahren habe ich dieses Buch, dieses wahrhaftige Meister-Werk, nun bisher vier Male komplett gelesen, bin bei jedem Durchgang ein Stück weiter vorgedrungen, oder eben: sein Inhalt in mich. Beim ersten Lesen gab mein Verstand sehr bald eine Fehlermeldung aus, legte das ganze System lahm. Das Erstaunliche ist nur, dass da trotzdem was anschlägt innerlich, dass da was ruft. Also weiter... Beim zweiten Lesen drang ich schon tiefer, blieb entspannter, offener, erfasste mehr vom Abgebildeten. Und dann noch mehr, und noch mehr.Wie soll ich das sagen...es hat was mit mir gemacht. Welch unglaubliche transformatorische Kraft in diesem Buch liegt! Der einzige Indikator für Wahrheit, den ich kenne. Aber wie schon erwähnt: Richtig viel „behalten“ habe ich nicht. Eher hat es mich ausgehöhlt, eher ist es so, dass seine Wahrheit mich hält, von innen. Dort innen, tief unten, wo nichts mehr ist, wo als einzige Immensität die schwarze Leere des Kosmos aufreißt, auf der wir alle - ich - in hauchdünner Schicht als Luftballonfiguren tanzen.Wofür ich in diesem Leben am meisten dankbar bin, das ist der Segen, zu Barry Long geführt worden zu sein. Und der, genug geliebt und gelitten zu haben, von beidem genug (auf-)gebrochen worden zu sein, um ihn auch (er-)fassen zu können. Soweit wie ich ihn - oder es - eben erfassen kann. Danke, Leben!(Ich ahne schon, ich werde das Buch wohl bald ein fünftes Mal lesen müssen. Ich spüre, wie es mich ruft...)------------------------------Inhalt dieser (zweiten, neu editierten) Ausgabe:Foreword by Clive Tempest (editor)Introduction1. Evolution2. The Gods3. Human Nature4. Violence and Civilisation5. The Underworld6. The Universal Mind7. The Seven Levels8. The Three Planes of Existence9. Living and Dying10. Higher Intelligence11. The Draconic Transverse12. The Creation of the Universe13. Power in the Universe14. The Objective Universe15. The Function of the Intellect16. The Mythic Universe17. The Girdle  of Eternity18. Something from Nothing19. The Planets20. The Myth Comes to LifeAppendix: Origins of the Book, Index, List of Diagrams

Dive into the nothingness of you true being by reading this book. Realise how everything is your projection, how mankind is weighed down by their own sense of history and culture. Transcend that by coming up for air and then dive down deep into the nothingness by linking with your own double. Some books must be experienced without reading reviews about them, this is one such book

I first read Edition 1 of this book in the mid 80s, and although I've only read the whole thing twice since, I've read and re-read many sections over and over again - including earlier this year - which were specifically relevant to me. That 1st Edition was the first of Barry's books I ever read, and through it I soon got to meet him and attend some of his seminars. My own gnostic quest began some 16 or 17 years earlier, and through that I was already fairly well read spiritually, plus I'd had numerous inner world experiences, including some very powerful 'Night of Power' experiences. Meeting Barry and also reading a number of his other books and listening to his then audio tapes helped me understand and put into perspective many of my own experiences - particularly his work on the Seven Levels of Terrestrial Mind which for me as a 'pneumanaut' is a very practical map - and although I've probably disagreed with more minor statements of his than I have any other spiritual teacher's, I still rate him as the most important Western spiritual master of the modern age as I've never come across anyone else whose subject range was so vast, or who taught how to apply spiritual principles to pretty much all practical areas of daily living. I never took him (or anyone) on as "my guru" as I was already familiar with many other true sages and the "perennial wisdom" which has been handed down to us through all world mystical and gnostic traditions, plus I was already very aware more than a decade earlier that there is no such thing as a "perfect master" while still in human form. Even the "I Ching" states that even the sage can err. (Though this important issue requires qualification which I can't give in this review). That said, I have enormous respect for Barry Long as the 'real deal', particularly as there are so many 'half teachers' around these days; ie: spiritual teachers who are clearly not at the 'enlightened' level.I found Edition 1 of this book as impressive as many reviewers here found this new 2nd Edition, though I always found the second half about the primary Consciousness perspective of the 'creation of all' heavy reading, despite that the very basics of it already complied with my own gnosis. I've now also purchased and read this amended 2nd Edition, and while I found the newly edited 'creation myth' much easier to follow, I also found myself almost in numb shock as there were quite a few aspects of the model which I found myself completely disagreeing with! IE: some aspects just didn't click with my own gnosis (either my own inner world experiences, or my gnosis of certain key spiritual principles), while some parts of his model I found 'troublesome' in that there were seeming contradictions or 'what came first, chicken or egg?' type anomalies, plus I also felt that elements of his theory were products of some of his own subconscious prejudices. Perhaps the most stark example of the latter is his notion that organic, sensory life on Earth is probably the only actual organic, sensory life in the entire universe. I just find this unexpected idea to be what might be called 'human (or Man) chauvinism', 'Earth chauvinism', or 'Earth-Moon' chauvinism as he assumes extremely limited parameters for any life-form to develop when what we're finding on the Beautiful Earth Herself is that life-forms adapt to staggering extremes in variations of environment which scientists themselves previously couldn't have imagined anything surviving in, never mind thriving in. My own gnosis and understanding of key inner world principles tells me that we're likely to discover organic life-forms almost everywhere. I feel that Barry's model is prejudiced towards the absolute aspect of Cosmic Consciousness, and thus overbalances away from the experiential perspective (when all deep gnostic traditions emphasise that the two are ultimately the same), and as a result what is not clearly explained to my satisfaction is that crucial point when Cosmic Consciousness downgrades through various octaves to finally end up as matter. This is one key question I've been unable to 100% answer myself (when I've also written on the same subject at much lesser length), and thus I was really hoping for something concrete from Barry on this, but I didn't find it.Barry isn't the first world sage to deal with the creation myth. Gurdjieff writes in various places about very early human development (he also refers to an inner world "Protocosmos"), and as it covers areas not addressed in this "Origins" book, I've even cunningly combined the two in an epic gnostic science fiction quest novel I published a couple of years ago ["Quest of the Solar Flower"]. Then Meher Baba also wrote about the process of creation in "God Speaks", and with his emphasis being on the evolution of consciousness through matter, then vegetable forms to animal and then self-reflective human form, he deals in detail with aspects which Barry's book completely omits, thus here I find another missing link in Barry's model. But I want to mention four more aspects of Barry's model which don't ring right for me, which I feel are related to his own views based on his limited and/or selective reading, both scientific and mythic.The first point is that Barry explains the evolving Idea of the Sun (long before there's a physical sun), then the Earth and Moon are Ideas emanating from this inner world 'proto-sun'. This reflects my own perception except for one key thing: Barry didn't seem to be aware that the Moon had once been a part of the Earth. Gurdjieff was probably the first person to mention this: he states "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson" that the early Earth was struck by a comet and that the material that is now the Moon was cleaved off. IE: the Moon didn't form in the same way other planets did - thus a 'Solar Idea' of an independent Moon doesn't ring right. Then when moon-rock was first brought back to Earth it was found that it was chemically similar to earth-rock, though it was probably only in the 1980s that the current theory that another planet (called Theia by some) collided with the Earth, shearing off the Moon, became generally accepted by scientists. But taking that it's now generally scientifically accepted, then Barry's separate 'Solar Idea' of the Moon seems flawed as it would require the Moon to have always been a unique and independent body.My second point is also to do with science in that Barry, although critical of Big Bang theory and not accepting it as a true model (me too) takes this premise to 'offshoot' his own 'inner world big bang' model. What he almost certainly wasn't aware of when amending his text for the 2nd Edition is that there are now other theories - the Electronic Universe theory, the Photonic Universe theory, and Konstantin Meyl's vortex/neutrino model, all of which deny Big Bang - and I deeply feel that had he been aware of those (though I doubt any were public in the late 90s) then his model would have changed to accommodate whichever he favoured. IE: I feel that his own model was subconsciously conditioned by what he was aware of scientifically at the time and thus that it has limited objectivity.Thirdly, on to something in myth which I don't think Barry was aware of. According to many world mythologies from all over the globe, Saturn was once referred to as the 'exemplary sun', the 'best sun', etc (eg: Helios, Sol, Atum-Ra and other names now associated with the sun were all originally names for Saturn). IE: at one point in our history when humans had already evolved to self-reflective consciousness, Saturn's position was very different to where it is now, and this is currently taken to be the case by the proponents of the Electric Universe theory. Further, I've no idea whether or not Barry was aware that Venus spins in the opposite direction to all other planets in the Solar System - though I'm amazed at how many people aren't aware of this - but various people have theorised that Venus can't have evolved in the same way our other planets did and may not even be a native of this solar system. Now if either or both of the latter theories are correct (and had Barry been aware of the Saturn anomaly in mythology I'm sure he would have stated it as true, just as he states that the old gods were more than fictional) then Barry's model is missing another vital part.Fourthly, the idea that scientists create the particles they discover was something I took seriously from my mid 80s reading of the 1st Edition of Barry's opus, but I now feel that it doesn't test against reality. Barry is basically taking the old adage "with our thoughts we create the world" to an extreme (and I go along with that, even to a great degree), but if Barry is correct re particles, then not only will scientists be creating postulated dark matter and dark energy, but surely then other scientists who have opposing theories must also be creating the elements or phenomena necessary to make their theories work. IE: if Big Bang theory is essentially incorrect (as I've always been certain, plus it can't be true if Barry's model is true) yet theorists are still creating the particles they require to support that model, then by definition other scientists with opposing theories must also be creating the necessary components which are required for their theories. Further, then why shouldn't the same apply to the models created by science fiction writers (many of which are actually prophetic)? In my own novel I utilise the actual Seven Heavens model (which Barry calls the Seven Levels of Terrestrial Mind) as I've directly experienced higher levels, even up to Cosmic Consciousness, but for the sake of the theme of quaternities in my book, I have a system of four universes (my deliberate fiction), yet I doubt that I was actually creating them as I wrote!Although the greater part of The Origins of Man and the Universe either tests against my own experiences and gnosis, or contains that intuitive ring of truth, the above aren't my only disagreements with or doubts about Barry's 'creation myth'. However, I still award the book a 5 Star rating as the content of the book ventures into territories that one day a future evolved gnostic-science must also boldly venture into. Despite my various disagreements, I still rate Barry Long as a mostly unsung genius, and the most important Western sage of the modern era. And I'm so glad I got to meet him.

Whilst it is a chewy subject and I found myself re-reading many lines over and over till they sank in, this book was a revelation for me. The subject of death, our time in this physical body and the nature of this reality are an obsession of mine at present. No teacher can quite paint a picture I find relatable quite like Barry Long.