Energy Transmutation, Between-Ness and Transmission (ISBN 1878683020)

Book Description:
One of Richard Rose's earlier works written for those who have found a direction through his lectures and other books. It is an examination of the role of tension in life, the creation and conservation of human energy, and the use of that energy for spiritual attainment.

Creating and using the most subtle form of energy:
This book changed the direction and quality of my life more radically than any book I've ever read. Would I recommend it to a fellow seeker? Yes, but with one admonition: The man who picks up the cup is not the same as the man who sets it down. Is this book intoxicating, then? Yes -- if there's such a thing as divine intoxication. This book opened a channel for me that had previously been closed, allowing the nectar of inspiration to infiltrate my life-blood. I was on a one-week isolation retreat, living in a cabin in the woods where no one was around to disturb my solitude. I was also fasting, to experiment with how that would affect my mental clarity. Being an avid reader, I had avoided supplying myself with any reading material other than this one book, a small volume of sixty-eight pages. (How much harm could a mere sixty-eight pages do?) Some time during the week, and as a result of something in the book, although I can't pinpoint a specific sentence or section, a light bulb went on in my head. It was exactly like that -- one moment, the familiar confusion; the next moment, illumination. No dialectical progression, no argument and tentative conclusion, but an invasion of light and absolute certainty: mental clarity will only come for me through celibacy. Looking back now at the material in the book for clues to what triggered that realization, I find such startling statements even in the introductory chapter as this: "I am talking about the hunch or intuition that some great scientists have, that whispers convincingly to them that there is a universal constant which they are not taking into consideration as conventional scientists -- that there is a key, which when found will open up perspectives in all directions and possibly answer all questions." Rose goes on to paint a picture of how life exists as a result of tension between opposing forces, with the relentless carnage of survival producing a fountain of energy which is transformed, or transmuted, from coarser to more subtle forms. Within man, also, there is a transmutation of energy, from physical to glandular to neural forms. But there is no apparent spiritual evolution: "We become more complex, and with the complexity of body and mind, and technological fruits of these complexities, we seem to be less and less oriented toward, or programmed for, the solution of man's spiritual problem." What is needed is an accumulation of the mental or neural energy beyond what is used for ordinary cerebration. This can be brought about by various disciplines and exercises, the most powerful of which is celibacy. Transmuting sex energy is the "magnificent exercise of reversing the downward vector," but celibacy is "a science that can kill you if you're not a skilled master of it." Rose cites the incidence of prostate cancer among the priesthood and advises celibacy not as a life-long practice with the idea that sex is sinful and avoidance of it will make you holy, but as a vacation from Nature and our downward-spending programming. Spiritual progress depends on the ability of the individual to create, conserve and use the most subtle form of energy, and this requires an understanding of the art and science of Between-ness. "A thought and enlightenment occur half-way between nothing and everything."

Rare Tips & Hints on Using Our Energy Wisely:
Up until now, I have never encountered a book that explains physical, mental and spiritual energy-and what these forms of energy mean to a seeker of Truth. Rose hypothesizes a method of transmutation of energy and advises his readers to use it wisely. He admonishes us to find a way to stop-if only for a short while-the whole complexity and machinery that consumes our energy. This book WILL change the way you think about celibacy, life-tensions, between-ness and Enlightenment. I recommend Rose's Albigen Papers prior to reading this one...

Not the first of Richard Rose's books I would read:
I would read the Direct Mind Experience or the Albigen papers before I read this book. Some interesting material about the transmission of spiritual experiences and the conservation of human energy.

For the serious only:
Heavy Duty Industrial Strength. Not a beginers book. Serious inquiry at its most profound !!!