The Human Biological Machine as a Transformational Apparatus

From the book: "What keeps the machine asleep is our fear of the discomfort of awakening." As a society of comfort-seeking creatures this sentence from the book was quite disturbing to me. It appears that we are heavily invested in sedation thru comfort. It is almost as if there is a "conspiracy" to keep "us" asleep, or as the author indicates, not "us" but our "machines." So what does the cultural pressure to not awaken have to do with me? Am I doing everything I can to awaken? I think I'll check out the authors other books to see if there are some answers there.

As much fun to read as a Philip Dick or Philip Farmer story only not written by a Philip.Is it science fiction, fantasy or reality... that's the predicament the reader may find themselves in similar to the Philip stories.To (incorrectly) paraphrase Dr. John (Lilly) "What you believe to be true either is true or becomes true..." I'll let the reader decide whether their world is one of macro dimensions that are either perceivable or potentially perceivable or that they have a real "will."How could such luminaries such as Claudio Naranjo, the godfather of the human potential movement, Gestalt therapy and the Enneagram, along with Dr. John C. Lilly find themselves in the same sentence with the likes of Mr. Gold?But one reader calling himself John Landon (does he work for Yoyodyne?), expert in psychology, metaphysics, and spirituality seems to think this book does not deserve a nod. His banal criticisms of Mr. Gold's books leaves one suspect as to his emotional state. The answer is as always, who will be remembered and who will be forgotten in future times?

The author provides a unique (to westerners) perspective that enables you to "assume" the position of a multi-dimensional traveler in order to gain knowledge and understanding through experience. Thank you Mr. Gold for such an enlightening work!

No intelligent, conscientious individual reading this book, and who carries out the experiments/exercises given within, can seriously refute the conclusions drawn; that man, for all intents and purposes, is asleep, and the 'essential self' or 'being', if you will, having fallen into identification with the sleep of the 'machine' can undergo transformation if and only when the 'human biological machine', within which it voyages, is brought into the 'waking state'.Such a mouthful, is the basic premise of this book. If, while asking ourselves what the meaning and purpose of life can be, we find that the key to accomplishing something of objective value lies in our potential for inner evolution, then we must find special methods which can teach us how to use our mind, body, and emotions to transform our inner selves.Real transformational methods enable us to achieve objective change by transforming the ' essential self '. The HBM is a veritable ' hitch-hikers guide ' through the perils and pathways of such inner transformation.As Robert S. de Ropp, author of The Master Game, says in the Forward to the book, " E.J. Gold has hit the nail squarely on the head. Man is an unfinished animal endowed by nature with the capacity to complete itself. It can then take charge of its own evolution and become worthy of the proud title Homo sapiens. The alchemical process of self-completion is shrouded in mystery and understood only by a few people in each generation. The Great Work consists of transforming a helpless other-directed puppet into an inner-directed unified being that understands its place in the scheme of things. Nothing can be more important than the attainment of this uderstanding. Without it we are at the mercy of our dreams and delusions and our technical devices become more of a menace than a blessing.*If a great cathastrophe is to be avoided a growing number of people must grasp the central truth. To compele one's own inner transformation is the only task worth taking seriously. Everything else is secondary.*Here's to a hopping an' hoping good time.

I just finished reading the Human Biological Machine, and I have to say that in 47 years I've never felt so validated as a woman as in reading the chapter, Bringing the Woman to Life. That chapter really made my day, as I had used almost those same words years ago to explain "what women want" to at least one guy, only to hear, "yeah, right, like that's going to happen." I howled with laughter over the part about sitting grimly under the blanket at a football game--I have in the past quarter century sat grimly scores of times in a canoe while a guy fished; on a stool in a garage in about 20 degree temps while a guy fixed his car; in the basement watching guys reload shotgun shells and tie fishing lures; in the woods while a guy staked out his deer stand; in a bar while they played pool; and in the living room while a guy I hadn't seen in a week announced he is planning to watch a sport....on ESPN at midnight....They, of course, didn't know it was done grimly, because it was all masked behind the co-dependent Yes, dear, that's lovely....After 20+ years of muttering the mantram, "I shaved my legs for THIS? " I had given up believing there would ever be a payback for the time spent standing around and waiting to be noted, spoken to, cuddled, made love to, etc. and retreated (with relief at not having to fake interest any more in these myriad masculine escapes from intimacy) to a life of introspection, gardening and animals. I'm so glad somebody out there understands--[to E.J. Gold]I love you!