Nirvana

Nirvana, Kevin Marley, Lulu.com, 2004

A Human Soul is watching the people of Earth from Heaven, knowing that he is about to be sent there to become human. He is born as Ray Sawol of Philadelphia.

Ray grows up in present-day America, about which the author has very little good to say. His parents get divorced, because of his father's infidelity. Ray is on a constant search for enlightenment, for that undefinable "it." The difference is that Ray, even as a youngster, remembers the primordial bliss before he was born. He tries to alter his consciousness to experience not just the physical world, but also the spiritual world with which he was familiar before birth.

He attends Temple University, becomes Dr. Ray Sawol, and stays at Temple as a faculty member in the Psychology Department. He marries Kristine, his college sweetheart, and they have a daughter. He is a relatively successful radio talk show host, talking about psychological matters, kind of like TV's Dr. Frazier Crane. One day, Ray goes on a rant about how people should wake up and there is a whole separate spiritual world out there, and becomes an ex-radio talk show host.

Kristine contracts, and dies from, breast cancer. While dealing with her death, Ray goes to an emotional, state of mind, sort of place called the Idea Factory. There, he spends time with Kristine's soul, and learns to transform his consciousness. When he returns, the world is, literally, at war. The Forces of Mechanization have invaded and are attempting to wipe out those who believe in the Human Soul, once and for all. This is a real war, with lots of blood and destruction. Ray takes the few Soul Soldiers (for lack of a better term) left to the Idea Factory, and shows them how to transform their consciousness and those of others.

This book takes a while to get going, but, by the end, it turns into a really good and thought-provoking story.