The Grand Experiment, an Expedition of Self-Discovery

The Grand Experiment challenges readers to look more closely at their inner lives. What are your deeper motivations? What half-truths or outright falsehoods fester in your thoughts and lead you into the blind alleys of indifference, stagnation, or futility? If we hope to grow, we must identify our personal demons and wrestle with them through a rigorous process of finding and embracing the truth that sets us free. The authors of this book are committed to this process and have shared their struggles and victories in an effort to help others. Their stories have the ring of authenticity to them. The guidance they offer is not a quick-fix but a challenge to us to name our fears and take the necessary steps to overcome them.

As an aspiring professional writer, I tend to think that writing things down when you have a problem is the best way to deal with them - which is half the reason I enjoyed the process detailed in "The Grand Experiment." The other half came from the fact that the book is just what it promises: not an immediate personal revolution but a gradual alteration of your life, testing your personal hypotheses and finding the right ideas in a process you are personally comfortable with. Authors Madren Campbell, Gayle Gregory and Karen Johnson identify seven major myths that negatively impact our lives, ranging from the simple "there is not enough in the world" to the overarching "we are alone." To combat these myths, the book has you write down the ways each of the myths challenges your self-worth. Once you have these conclusions, it offers a reality to counter your writings and meditative exercises to help you reach said reality. I found this series of instructions easy to follow and adapt to my own needs. The exercises don't require you to follow a set routine or timetable, but can be picked up when you feel you need the effect of the myths on you. I can write as much as I want to for each of the answers as though I was keeping a journal, meditate when I feel the need and make my own evaluation as to whether or not I still live by the myths. The book does have a few style problems - it wears on you when at least half of the sentences of the book start with the words "we can," and it loses itself at the end when it talks about "cosmic jokes" and "we behave as though we are Source." Its messages, however - embracing the fear, the power is within, we have ultimate potential - still come across clearly, and create a gradual process of self-development that readers will find easy to accept.