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#Post#: 43093--------------------------------------------------
There Is No Jed McKenna
By: Jed McKenna Date: July 9, 2021, 6:58 pm
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THERE IS NO JED MCKENNA
Once upon a time, there was an age of gurus.
If you were a serious seeker after the Truth, you needed a
teacher, but not just any teacher. You needed a special kind of
teacher called a "guru". Tradition dictated that this someone
should be viewed as a representative of God, a person who was
indistinguishable from the path itself, someone you could pour
your devotion upon, someone who could make decisions for you
better than you would make them for yourself. In losing yourself
to the teacher you would, ideally, dissolve into Godhood.
Fortunately or unfortunately, no matter what level of spiritual
realization any guru could attain, they never actually achieved
Godhood, at least no more so than you or your Aunt Matilda have.
As long as they stuck around in a human body, they remained
flawed and corruptible humans with limited personalities and a
tendency to reproduce their own cultural conditioning for their
constituencies. Giving over your authority to any other human is
fraught with challenges. As I am sure you know by now, I don't
recommend it.
In some contexts and languages, "guru" simply means teacher, in
the basic sense of the word. To be a so-called "spiritual"
teacher, you don't need to represent yourself as a superhuman.
You can just be a person. We can all be teachers to each other.
You can have as many as you want.
The age of gurus has given way to the age of auto-didacts. All
the gurus (true, false, and in between) have written down their
teachings, or had them transcribed or reproduced. Seekers can
read the books and make their own paths, drawing from all the
wisdom sources in the world, mixing and matching retreats,
satsangs, and workshops along the way. That also means seekers
can get spun around, follow false leads, devote themselves to
unhelpful practices and people, and get caught for decades in
counterproductive intellectualizations and distractions.
While Maya is the creator of this maze, many gurus bear
responsibility for compounding and confounding the matter. To
find your way out of the maze, it may be time for an anti-guru.
An anti-guru doesn’t ask you to submit your authority to them.
They do the opposite. They remind you over and over to find out
for yourself what's true, for you. An anti-guru would never
suggest devotion to anything other than yourself. They take the
attention off themselves and put it back on you. An anti-guru
may point, gesture, reflect, nod, or perhaps go so far as to
gently push. However, their actions are like a mirror and all
you ever see in one is . . . you.
The ideal anti-guru would be someone who doesn’t even exist. You
could learn from them without having to join their religion or
adopt some temporary belief. You could take advantage of their
guidance without getting caught up in their human presentation.
In the postmodern era, in the age of the auto-didact, an
imaginary anti-guru can do things that real gurus never could.
Jed McKenna is an imaginary anti-guru. He doesn’t exist and
never did. Having said that, here’s a little on how I, Jed
McKenna, came to "appear" to exist.
Some years back, I met a man we'll call the Editor. He wanted to
write a series of books about enlightenment. He had a good idea
and good marketing but lacked one essential component. He was
not himself enlightened, or Truth Realized, as I refer to it -
at least not at the time. A rather serious deficiency if one is
to write on the subject.
I was the only Truth Realized person he knew, so he asked me if
I would act as a consultant. I created the name Jed McKenna for
the character in his books, a variation on Ken McMordie, the
name given me by my adoptive parents some 70+ years ago.
Ken McMordie
Ken Mc -------
---- Mc Ken --
Jed McKenna
Over a series of interviews, the Editor asked me questions about
myself and modeled the Jed character on my ideas, my personality
(such as it was), and my responses to various hypothetical
situations. He would place me in Jed role and inquire, for
instance, what I might say if asked a particular question, and
then use my answers in the imaginary conversations that took
place in the stories.
While I don't know with certainty what the writing process was,
my impression is that those first books were written by what
might be called a "committee" involving at least two other
contributors, and that he later worked with a series of ghost
writers. I don’t have any knowledge about whether any of the
later writers were Truth Realized, or simply skilled writers on
the topic.
In any case, I only consulted on the first trilogy, which I,
perhaps not surprisingly, consider superior to the subsequent
books. By the time my role in the project was complete, the Jed
character was his own person, in some ways remarkably similar to
me and in other ways quite divergent. Sure, he was and is just a
fictional character, but so are we all. My life, at least, is
based on a true story. The Jed McKenna books are works of true
fiction: entirely fictional, but no less true - as paradoxical
as that sounds.
Some time after the first trilogy was published, I decided I
might like to interact with Jed McKenna readers. There was no
real or solid Jed, but there was a sizable group of readers
evolving who had been exposed to my ideas through the Jed
character. I envisioned the possibility of developing those
ideas further and assisting interested people in an online
community. I wanted to provide a forum for students, and some
support and guidance in their efforts toward Truth Realization.
I used the name Jed McKenna in these forums as a way of
continuing the teaching happening through the books. There was
no one out there who was more Jed than myself, and indeed no
"real" Jed who might object.
I should interject here that when I used the phrase "my ideas"
in the previous two paragraphs, I didn’t really mean to suggest
that the ideas were mine. I have been a collector of eclectic
ideas for decades. More often than not, I can't tell whether I
originated an idea or whether I’m just passing it on from
someone else. For that matter, the other people whose ideas I’ve
collected probably themselves couldn't tell where their ideas
came from. We're all just circulating and combining and
extending the ideas that were in the field before we got here.
There is only one consciousness, and it doesn't come with a
copyright.
The first online forum turned out to be a bit of a shitshow. I
didn't fully appreciate how much even spiritually-oriented
people are inclined to fight and insult and try to one-up each
other when given a free rein platform. After letting that play
itself out for far too long, I started an improved forum with
more moderation. At the same time, I developed an online course
(The Navigator Series) for more serious students, ones who
wanted to dig in and do some work and have a more one-on-one
relationship with me
When I say "me", of course I mean Jed McKenna, even though there
is no Jed McKenna. There is only a role being played. That's
just as true about you as it is about me.
A funny twist on events began with a participant from the
forums. We'll call her the Stalker. In an email dialogue, I
suggested she might visit Cambodia, where I was living. I was
simply suggesting that she'd like the country, as she had
nothing good to say about where she was. To be clear, I was not
suggesting that she come visit me personally. Unfortunately, she
took it the other way and wound up quite disappointed when she
arrived. She apparently decided that trying to find me and
follow me would serve to reduce her feelings of disappointment.
If you’ve ever had a stalker of your own, you know that they're
perfectly happy to devote all their time and energy to their
"hobby", and so she managed to spy on me, photograph me, and
even confront me, and my friends, in person. Unfortunately,
stalkers and journalists have a lot in common, so it was pretty
easy for her, as the former, to pass herself off as the latter!
She threw up a website that’s easy enough to find, chronicling
her stalking activities and internet research. The result is a
work of hybrid fact and fiction including some amusing, if
irrelevant, tidbits from my pre-Truth-Realized life.
At some point, as controversy arose online about who the "real"
Jed McKenna was, the Editor felt the need to distance the Jed
McKenna books from the Jed McKenna forums. He added this
disclaimer a few years back to his Wisefool Press website:
"Jed McKenna is not an active teacher, online or off. He does
not engage in social media or forums. He does not give classes
or workshops or accept money from students. He has no teachings
or products other than those offered by Wisefool Press and our
international publishing partners. Anyone claiming to be Jed or
to speak for him is misrepresenting themselves."
It’s a fascinating paragraph to study. The first three sentences
are absolutely true. Jed McKenna is a fictional character and so
can not be an active teacher or give classes! The fourth
sentence is a little more in the pulling-wool-over-eyes
category. How can a fictional character have teachings or
products? The final sentence, however, is where we see the true
power of the postmodern anti-guru! On the very webpage for Jed's
books, it clearly states that, "Anyone claiming to be Jed or to
speak for him is misrepresenting themselves." All the books
supposedly written by Jed McKenna are misrepresenting
themselves. Any online forum or class supposedly administered by
Jed McKenna is misrepresenting itself. There is no Jed McKenna.
Truth (with a capital-T) is certainly stranger than fiction.
What passes for "truth" most of the time is just a form of
fiction anyway.
If the whole thing isn't strange enough for you yet, then think
of Jed McKenna as a sort of collective. Unlike most collectives,
which operate as unified fronts, this one consists of multiple
divergent cells with no communication between them and no agreed
upon guidelines. The Jed McKenna project is apparently too big
for any one person to be in charge of it.
This explains why the Jed McKenna books are written in such
diverse styles, why my style is so untamed in comparison, and
why even "my" style varies between my introductory level course,
and the advanced level course I have been developing over the
last two years. The former was written entirely by me, while the
latter is a collaboration with my more organized colleague, Zara
Songull. All of us, in our varied ways, speaking with the voice
of the non-existent Jed McKenna.
If you want to know who Jed Mckenna "really" is, he is the sum
total of you and a growing group of serious seekers who are
prepared to let everything go and in return gain the universe.
As with "you", a "personal" Jed does not exist and never did.
It used to be that if you met the Buddha on the road, you were
supposed to kill him. Now the Buddha comes pre-killed. Look as
hard as you want for Jed. All you'll ultimately find is the
mystery of your self.
Let any controversy be put to rest once and for all. There is no
Jed McKenna, and there never was. There is no guru, so it’s a
good thing you don’t need one.
Love ya,
Jed McKenna
#Post#: 43094--------------------------------------------------
Re: There Is No Jed McKenna
By: obmcbob Date: July 9, 2021, 7:22 pm
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Can I do the advanced course? I don't care if it's not finished
or not
#Post#: 43098--------------------------------------------------
Re: There Is No Jed McKenna
By: Smiling Date: July 9, 2021, 11:16 pm
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A bomb.
Thank you Jed, or, Ken.
I love you no matter what, with all my gratitude.
Smiling
通过我的 V1831A 上的
Tapatalk发言
#Post#: 43099--------------------------------------------------
Re: There Is No Jed McKenna
By: abranpaso Date: July 10, 2021, 2:49 am
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Yes I need you, good bye my friend.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for show me the way.
Now I feel totally alone, the two guides in my life have gone,
first it was u.g. and now you.
Every word that you say was pure wisdom, now on i have to follow
your teachings, now on the best I can do is think for myself and
be my own guru, I'm gonna miss you a lot.
#Post#: 43100--------------------------------------------------
There Is No Jed McKenna
By: Catfish Date: July 10, 2021, 3:47 am
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Thanks Dead Jed for once again another 180 degree reversal of my
beliefs…
…am sure gunna miss ya.
#Post#: 43101--------------------------------------------------
Re: There Is No Jed McKenna
By: Mischa Date: July 10, 2021, 4:36 am
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What a great show! :D
Thank ya, (all of you)
...and love ya! (all of you)
;). :D
#Post#: 43102--------------------------------------------------
Re: There Is No Jed McKenna
By: Kita Date: July 10, 2021, 4:56 am
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The limitation of our bodies and immersion in cultural codes
really made things very messy. And we as humanity have made
progress in unravelling this mess.
Yet, the postmodern movement through illusion, through denial,
in search of Truth, is still terribly imperfect. It still feeds
our weaknesses, like dramatic thinking, neuroticism, and fear of
clarity and simplicity. Even this quantum Jed, that exists and
does not exist in many forms in equal Truth, refers to neurotic
running.
I often wonder what the other way might be. Something that
doesn't suffer from the failures of traditions, but also avoids
heart-breaking dramatic struggle and confused movement through
denial. Something calm, simple and clear.
In that life, I have often looked back and regretted that I did
not know everything from the very beginning and made so many
mistakes. This is silly and funny, especially if you raise this
idea to a power of absolute.
However, I still feel that if something had awakened me many
years ago and I found out how things really are, I would have
had a lot more pleasant and interesting experiences in life.
Than with all my struggle, mind games, and sceptical search.
I will think about it until the end. And look for answers and
methods.
#Post#: 43103--------------------------------------------------
Re: There Is No Jed McKenna
By: FractalJackal Date: July 10, 2021, 5:01 am
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Aha, finally gave up the ghost, huh? I'll be honest, I thought
you (and the rest of us) were gonna die without the big reveal.
Plus, that's the sign I've been waiting for.
Anti-Guru Prime, online and ready for burn.
You wouldn't mind if I uh... apply a course-correction to the
U.S., would you, Ken? Someone's gotta take the stick from the
toddlers if we have any hope of actually landing this bird.
Plus, I had nothing going this decade anyway, so this works out.
Mighta gotten bored.
#Post#: 43104--------------------------------------------------
Re: There Is No Jed McKenna
By: Lo Date: July 10, 2021, 5:30 am
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Dear Jed,
Thanks for your post. I'm sorry that you were followed by this
person. Coincidentally, I've been reading a lot from
guruphiliac.com lately, and it really drives the guru point
home. It's a reality that there's really no one person thats
going to babysit my movements towards the Truth. Although, I'm
certain I do go around in circles sometimes.
But I'm wondering why you didn't mention your experiences with
becoming realized and what happened at that time in your life?
with care,
L.
#Post#: 43105--------------------------------------------------
Re: There Is No Jed McKenna
By: Bythebeach Date: July 10, 2021, 5:24 pm
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Awwww and I thought your real name was Jed. I named my dog after
you :)
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