Nehrer, uniquely aware of Reality’s integrated flow, elucidates Jesus’ penetrating, often mystifying insights – exposing widespread religious, scholarly and skeptical fallacy.
Nehrer, uniquely aware of Reality’s integrated flow, elucidates Jesus’ penetrating, often mystifying insights – exposing widespread religious, scholarly and skeptical fallacy.
Christian theology (general), Metaphysics, Spirituality
The Illusion of "Truth" is a multifaceted look at Jesus of Nazareth, his message and religions created, not from his insights into reality, but on fantasy and lore concocted about him. Tom Nehrer builds on scholarly research through personal level of consciousness, exposing myths to find the real Yeshua who trod dusty roadways of first-century Judea.
Understanding Jesus’ “Kingdom of Heaven within” requires extensive perspective. This book explores: Historical, social, political and traditional settings for Jesus appearance; The mindset of ancients – how superstitious peasants imagined divine manipulation; Modern man’s mindset – how causality is projected not only onto gods, but onto real world forces, luck, chance and fate, all illusory processes; How life really works – metaphysical connection of Self to Reality, an inner-outer flow; How beliefs create illusions – masking Reality’s flow with shared notions of “Truth” which isn’t.; Many caveats to accepting Gospel accounts as reliable reports of any substance; The real life of Jesus – how the man grew from first-century Jewish thinking to fully visionary status, aware of the Self as driving force in life; The Parables whose rich stories reveal Jesus’ awareness of the functional Oneness of Consciousness/Reality; A deeply critical look at Christianity – its early growth, smothering of alternate explanations and claims to represent true traditions back through the apostles to Jesus. That claim is shown as bogus, when Gospel writers only show apostles as unable to grasp Jesus’ Kingdom illustrations.
The Illusion of “Truth” reveals not only how life works and how Jesus was fully aware of its meaning-based flow – but how Christianity grew from ancient notions and layered myth about Jesus, rather than insights from him.
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Book review: The Illusion of “Truth”: The Real Jesus Behind the Grand Myth Posted on Friday, March 7, 2014 in Book Reviews | 0 comments by Thomas Daniel Nehrer ★★★★ Wanna meet the real Jesus? From page one, I was hooked by Nehrer’s jaded dismissal of believers and scholars alike, and his promise of delivering the real Jesus. Nehrer, the mystic, reveals Jesus, the visionary … and he does it entertainingly well. Nehrer is not religious, and finds no value in the Bible (other than as a historical oddity) outside the parables of Jesus. No sugar-coating, here. But don’t let Nehrer’s self-aggrandizing style turn you off. He over-values his credentials a bit–for example, his mystical background allows him to “see clearly what Jesus meant with his parables”–and thus commits the same error he warns us against: perceiving Jesus through the lens of his own worldview. But there’s nothing wrong with a little positive endorsement, right? Nehrer promotes embracing “Oneness,” by which he means the connection between Self and experienced Reality. He prefers the term “Clear Awareness” for seeing deep into the Oneness and understanding how life works. That was Jesus’ insight: he understood life. 140 pages into the book, it shifts unexpectedly into a fictional narrative of Jesus’ “lost years.” Jesus is a smart, hard worker able to contribute at multiple jobsites, but he is driven to keep moving and learning. Nehrer feels he is “uniquely qualified” to take a stab at reconstructing where Jesus’ wanderlust carries him, because of his own extensive travel and spiritual journey as a young man. This fictional account continues for roughly 200 pages, and was my favorite part of the book, as Nehrer’s fiction is quite engaging. In Nehrer’s recreation, Jesus is self-confident, not a goody-goody but quite likeable. He speaks in religious language when necessary, perhaps inventing a Heavenly Father image to help his listeners displace the vindictive, judgmental Yahweh. His vision is encapsulated in what he calls the Kingdom of God, describing (you guessed it) how life really works, but his greater knowledge is so contrary to the established religious regime–particularly the Temple class–and so difficult for everyday people to grasp that he struggles to make progress, and is eventually put to death. A final section then discusses how Christianity was born out of the misunderstood message of Jesus. An interesting take on the life of Jesus, but far from the direction my own studies have led me. Christian Alternative Books, © 2014, 401 pages ~ Lee Harmon, The Dubious Disciple/Goodreads
5 stars -- unbelievably informative and mind expanding, 2 Mar 2014 I really didn't want to like this but I was intrigued by the author's claims. The author's voice initially irritated me with his claims of showing me the real Jesus. Why did I need to know this anyway when I had my own opinion of my 'Jesus'. This is the Jesus of someone brought up Catholic, has studied many religions and spiritualities and settled happily on a shamanic path. So my Jesus was so many things: a god, a man, a holy prophet and also a shaman and mystic. The author claims to be able to show me the 'truth' grated on me and made determined to work through this book. Then it didn't matter whether I 'liked' the author's voice or not because he had me hooked! Firstly, the historic myths associated with Jesus and the bible were looked into and one by one shown for what they are. This was shocking but was necessary to one who had been indoctrinated in youth. The author showed how 'historical' Jesus and religious Jesus actually don't explain the complexity of the man. The most important part for me was when the author gives us his version of Jesus' life from birth onwards. he writes his own gospel and it is as valid as the ones written by people who didn't even live at the same time as Jesus and whose information was not direct knowledge. I really liked his version of Jesus' travels and his life. the author shows Jesus as a mystic, as someone who understood far more than those around him at the time. he shows his flaws and his understanding of consciousness and love. so in a way , it should be read by those who want to know and understand Jesus more. or those who think they know him. This author is not a Jesus hater. In taking time and energy to write this book he has shown his respect and understanding. You may not like the author's tone at times but as you become used to his unfailing belief in what he is doing, you gain respect for his stance. I will even forgive him his opinions on some of the things I hold dear because he has written such a very interesting book. ~ Colette Brown, Amazon UK
