 The Disappearance of the Universe
By Cate Montana
Occasionally a book comes along that rips the rug out from underneath your feet and you end up sitting on your butt with a whole new world view. This is how I felt reading The Disappearance of the Universe by Gary Renard.
The subtitle Straight Talk about Illusions, Past Lives, Religion, Sex, Politics, and the Miracles of Forgiveness does nothing to prepare the reader for the revelations of two entities named Pursah and Arten, who appear in Renard’s living room after a meditation session in 1992. As real to the touch as they are in appearance, Renard records their startling conversations as they apparate and dis-apparate during 19 visits over the space of a ten year period. He struggles to grasp the ramifications of their essentially simple message: God didn’t create the universe, the multiverse, omniplexes, hydrogen atoms, humanity or anything else.
God, Infinite and Eternal, by definition cannot create anything that contains limitation.
QED: The universe doesn’t exist. It never existed. It’s all a dream
Arten and Pursah go on to explain to their student that consciousness itself is actually at the root of all separation from God and is the creator of this dream (nightmare?) universe. “In order to have consciousness you have to have separation,” says Arten. “You’ve got to have more than one thing. You have to have something else to be conscious of. This is the beginning of the split mind.”
A series of direct transcriptions from the tape-recorded conversations, The Disappearance of the Universe is stylistically readable and unpretentious. Content-wise, it’s a kick in the ego and pretty much dismantles most New Age religious thought. Arten and Pursah shoot straight, claiming they are nothing more – and nothing less – than an outward manifestation of the Holy Spirit in this world come to help reestablish Jesus’ original message, which has become totally obscured by religious teachings over the millennia. To accomplish this, their conversations with Renard buttress and call attention to what they say are Jesus’ most recent teachings in this world – the channeled material of A Course in Miracles.
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Frankly, the consistent use of quotes from A Course and the focus on it throughout the book brought all my religious resistance to the fore and annoyed me. But - and here’s why I wanted to review The Disappearance of the Universe - the love and the naked purity of this book’s content and intent forced me to move beyond my limited reaction. Bottom line it’s the message that counts, and this book’s messages are extraordinary and profound.
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.
 PAVEL'S PICK
Saint Ralph: Making a Miracle Happen
We are happy to thank and support Samuel Goldwyn Films who took a chance on BLEEP and became our U.S. distributor, and highly recommend their new release, Saint Ralph. A heartwarming, coming-of-age story, Saint Ralph is about a young Catholic school teenager in nineteen-fifties Hamilton, Canada, who decides the best way to save his seriously ill mother is to perform a miracle by winning the Boston Marathon.
Newcomer Adam Butcher plays the 14-year-old without the sentimentality that could easily slip into such a role. Campbell Scott, always a fine actor, plays the rebellious priest, Father Hibbert who, as a former runner himself, secretly coaches the young hero. Gordon Pinsent is crusty Father Fitzpatrick who is entirely against the idea. The film also stars the usually underutilized Jennifer Tilley as Ralph’s mother’s nurse, who acts as a mother-substitute while pushing Ralph on to greatness.
Although the obligatory tug-of-war between school administrators and kids, the teasing of outcasts by classmates, and the utter fascination with sex that we’ve seen in most movies about pubescents in private (and public) school settings are present, this film has a number of unexpected surprises. Ralph’s fall in the gymnasium, for example, after which Saint Francis-like blow to the head brings him into direct communication with God. Other clichés are averted by the excellent acting produced by the young cast assembled for the film.
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