Publication Date TBA – Estimated in Late September or Early September.
5/18/2018 – Manuscript is complete, and currently transferring book from written copy to computer. My editor and I are working to put the finishing touches on the book before I send to my publisher.
Here are Some Excerpts from the book…
Preface Excerpt:
The Filter
“An evergreen tree never changes. Once it is born it stays relatively the same for the rest of its life. The evergreen tree does not react or allow its external environment via changing weather patterns to push it to change. The evergreen tree is always the same, no matter what is happening in the external. From birth until death, the evergreen tree stays true to who it is at its core, an unchanging resilient self.
I’ve always known I’m something greater than what arises to the surface. These surface level ideas and conversations we encounter on a daily basis have always left me wondering, “Where is this really going? What is really the point of all of this, if there even is a point at all?” I’m not going to tell you who are reading this, that there’s some ah-ha moment where life all clicks at once and becomes instantly beautiful. There isn’t and it doesn’t. All your problems don’t go away.
You see the reality you’re experiencing including the people you encounter on a daily basis, daily tasks, etc., all that in it’s essence will be exactly the same as it’s always been. What’s going to change, and start to gradually transform if you allow it to (and trust me you want to be open to this allowing) is your perception of said environment. Your perception of your life is what needs to change. This filter that you have had on your eyes keeping you from seeing reality, a filter that you are so insistent isn’t there, has been blocking you from experiencing the real ‘you’ all of these years. You can take off the filter at anytime of your choosing. No one else can take it off for you, no matter how many motivational YouTube videos you watch or how many Tibetan monks you listen to… The filter will be in place until you as an individual step back, and make the conscious choice to remove it.”… – Quoted from Evergreen Preface
Chapter 1 Excerpt:
Is My Life Going to Matter?Is My Life Going to Matter?
“Do you ever wake up in the middle of a dream at night, not remembering the beginning or how you got there? What if I told you that happened to me, only in my real life? One day I woke up and I honestly wasn’t sure who constructed the life I was living. It certainly wasn’t me, but paradoxically I had consciously (or so I thought) made all of the choices leading up to that moment in my life.
The thought, “Am I going to matter”, crosses one mind from time to time. This is an interesting and horrifying notion all at once. The thought could be made into something beautiful, yet we always tend to shy away from it. We run away to some alluring yet ultimately meaningless distraction.
The running from this question needs to be examined – because of the weight and importance of it. For starters, who is the “I” in this question? Is it the you you put on with family, the you you put on with close friends, the you you put on at extravagant social gatherings, the work you, who is it? The fact that there can be so many alterations and versions of this you leads on to question is there really is any you to begin with. When a man comes to a Buddhist Monk, or enlightened person (whoever it may be), and begs the question, “Who am I”, you’ll likely get a reply of, “show me this ‘I’ you speak of…” One may start with the body, but that seems a bit different than serene consciousness that runs the show. Our body is literally a completely different vehicle every year based on how our cells regenerate, giving us an entire new regiment of cells to work with.
Maybe “I” is a social construct then, especially in the technology age where we display so many different versions of ourselves we completely lose track of who we actually are. “I” is not these ideas you attach yourself to, for these are always malleable and changing. Perhaps this “I” is your birth name then, but even that character begins to look pretty thin…” – Quoted from Evergreen Chapter 1
Chapter 3 Excerpt:
The Great Escape and Tides of Change
“So how did a software consultant who was making nearly eighty grand a year come to quit his job and write the book you read now? I had never written a book before, much less written a book where it came to fruition in just a month… so how then did this happen? Well it wasn’t always part of the ‘plan’. And to a degree thinking we need extremely granular plans for our lives is a misnomer, we simply can’t know everything that could or may happen to such a degree where we plan our life out to each specific tic of each specific day… All of this kind of happened for me, when I decided to let go of control over my life and allow life to take me where I was actually meant to go.
For me I had always viewed life as a journey, that had some destination I ought to arrive at… Where impatiently each day I was always setting expectations of trying to get somewhere, and coming up extremely frustrated when I wasn’t arriving at those expectations. The expectations were not even of my own decor, as external influences always seemed to hold the reins to my vehicle I call a body in life.
When I couldn’t meet expectations, depression gracefully swooped in to ensure, that if I let go of all my expectations then I may never be hurt. Ah-ha! I may rest in utter stillness watching a television set each night, smoking weed and doing nothing. Having no goals or aspirations, hence no failures or expectations, hence no pain and suffering! Alas, this is not the way. Always staying ‘safe’ is really not living at all.” – Quoted from Evergreen Chapter 3
If you are an editor and would like to reach out to me to work with this book, please contact me through my e-mail at treyjackson@freeminds.life (Or checking out the contact button through the menu, you can send an e-mail directly from there and provide your information).
Free Minds 