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The Present
We have progressed enough to know and understand the universal truth of life. It will transform us and our world. Read this book to learn the truth.
- GenresSpirituality
191 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 29, 2013
19 people are currently reading
180 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 3, 2017
The author brings together science and religion in a way to show the continuity of the two disciplines in a way that know one ever really has. Michael Smith has likely provided the most clear and accurate way to see what science and religion have attempted to do for centuries; to show us how to see the Truth. Michael's explanation of the truth or 'that which is', probably most closely mirrors what the buddha called present moment awareness or mindfullness. It is a way of seeing what fundamentally binds all of the Universe and thus all of us. His book is both inspiring and revealing in a way that finally explains how everything is connected and operates. When you can finally see and know what is happening all of the time it fills you with a blissful knowing and true happiness. In a nut shell, Michael brings the ideas of the Buddhist concept of the present moment, the Christian idea of Grace with the blessing of the scientific method. This book has finally revealed the ultimate truth that I have been seeking all of my life.
January 11, 2018
I read this book back in the end of 2012 when I was going through a sever state of depression and it change my life completely for the better. I went back to school, stopped doing drugs, found my soul mate, and now I live the most amazing and blissful life ever. I am so thankful for this book and information.
August 3, 2017
Divine love = attention + compassion.
This little e-book is supposed to be telling the 'truth', the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It kept hammering on that what I was holding in my hands (or listening to an artificial voice narrating through my earbuds) was humanity's quintessential distilled wisdom and what we would need to take our 600 million (sic) years of evolution to the next level. Only this way were we to leave the animal mind behind and become spiritual beings!
What I think I got from The Present:
-when we die we re-incarnate as a closest member of our bloodline.
-if we've been given the truth in our lifetime and we squander it by not paying attention, be go back to being cyanobacteria in the Marianna Trench eating sulfates from underwater geysers thousands of meters below the surface of the ocean and then we have to evolve all over again from the beginning.
-everything is balanced. If you're rich, beautiful and lucky in this life, you're going to be unattractive, poor and and born a cripple in the next. Why? Because... physics and the law of action and reaction! It only makes sense that whatever's true for particles, celestial bodies and energy should hold for immaterial spirits that re-incarnate and defy every single law of physics as we know them today. Apart from quantum mechanics of course! ;)
-the Beatles were prophets and if you listen to their music with an open heart you can also learn the truth from there.
-heaven is just a techno-utopia.
-40,000 years ago, Homo Sapiens didn't know how to light a fire. Wait, what?! This is so wrong, I don't know where to start. As if this wasn't a hot mess already!
OK, enough cherry-picking. For a book that tries to drive the point that it holds the ultimate truth, it sure mixes up its science, its rational thinking and its talking out of its behind. The writer couldn't decide if he was going to be a prophet and just be a channeler to the divine or if he was just going to be looking at the facts. No, don't you go all rational high and mighty on me and then in the next sentence start talking about re-incarnation as if it's self-evident.
Sigh... it had some good points, some honestly well-put concepts, and the message that the present is all we have, as well as the first sentence I've quoted at the top of the review, is a spiritual takeaway as great as any. But I can't take any book that in all honesty tells you that you should only read it and no others for the rest of your life seriously.
This is like Conversations with God gone wrong. Check it out if you want to see some good material squandered by pompous and misguided writing.
This little e-book is supposed to be telling the 'truth', the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It kept hammering on that what I was holding in my hands (or listening to an artificial voice narrating through my earbuds) was humanity's quintessential distilled wisdom and what we would need to take our 600 million (sic) years of evolution to the next level. Only this way were we to leave the animal mind behind and become spiritual beings!
What I think I got from The Present:
-when we die we re-incarnate as a closest member of our bloodline.
-if we've been given the truth in our lifetime and we squander it by not paying attention, be go back to being cyanobacteria in the Marianna Trench eating sulfates from underwater geysers thousands of meters below the surface of the ocean and then we have to evolve all over again from the beginning.
-everything is balanced. If you're rich, beautiful and lucky in this life, you're going to be unattractive, poor and and born a cripple in the next. Why? Because... physics and the law of action and reaction! It only makes sense that whatever's true for particles, celestial bodies and energy should hold for immaterial spirits that re-incarnate and defy every single law of physics as we know them today. Apart from quantum mechanics of course! ;)
-the Beatles were prophets and if you listen to their music with an open heart you can also learn the truth from there.
-heaven is just a techno-utopia.
-40,000 years ago, Homo Sapiens didn't know how to light a fire. Wait, what?! This is so wrong, I don't know where to start. As if this wasn't a hot mess already!
OK, enough cherry-picking. For a book that tries to drive the point that it holds the ultimate truth, it sure mixes up its science, its rational thinking and its talking out of its behind. The writer couldn't decide if he was going to be a prophet and just be a channeler to the divine or if he was just going to be looking at the facts. No, don't you go all rational high and mighty on me and then in the next sentence start talking about re-incarnation as if it's self-evident.
Sigh... it had some good points, some honestly well-put concepts, and the message that the present is all we have, as well as the first sentence I've quoted at the top of the review, is a spiritual takeaway as great as any. But I can't take any book that in all honesty tells you that you should only read it and no others for the rest of your life seriously.
This is like Conversations with God gone wrong. Check it out if you want to see some good material squandered by pompous and misguided writing.
June 6, 2020
A nice description about the evolution of the human mind and tale about the future. Seems great story until the end when it asked to send an email, I did and the response was appalling; the book is an entry to a contest, thus asking for votes!
September 25, 2016
While I agree with a few points, some of the things written in this book are absolute garbage in my opinion. I also think that the views of the writer are a bit self-limited when it comes to...well...most of the things. Its like he's trying to tell you that there is just one correct way for everyone to live life - his way. That there's true and false forms, right and wrong, what is acceptable and what is not. What are you trying to do? It's like he's trying to bring you his religion into your life and it's just plain wrong. People should believe in whatever they want and not in what other people smack their faces with, especially if these people are extremely uninformed. This is just one big propaganda and dangerous(in my opinion) if one decides to base his life off of this.
You're free to try and read this book but I personally do not recommend it!
You're free to try and read this book but I personally do not recommend it!
October 2, 2018
A very interesting book. Though I agree some parts are redundant, there are many good points that change your approach to live a fulfilled life. I can see how this can be either a hit or miss for people. As the author said: "Einstein said there are two infinite things: the universe and man’s stupidity."
not-to-read
April 21, 2017How to disguise a cult? All you need is some good pseudoscience and some terrible pseudophilosophy and now you can start your own ideological mumbo jumbo book. The fact that this has been written and printed is really irritating.
August 4, 2017
Mind is your enemy unless you control it. Listen to your spirit and follow the path it shows you.
There were some points in the book that I have not thought before or things that I couldn't bravely accept. Therefore, don't read this book in control of your mind.
There were some points in the book that I have not thought before or things that I couldn't bravely accept. Therefore, don't read this book in control of your mind.
January 6, 2022
Really insightful. The premise is to stay in the present and become a spiritual being rather than a mental one, but the book goes so much further than that. I think implementing the practices and thought processes delineated in this book can genuinely help reduce a lot of (or even all) suffering in the reader's life. And the more fulfilled and enlightened the readers are, the better off the rest of society is. This is how the author says we will eventually reach a heaven on earth, and I think he's really on to something. He writes very practically, uses common sense and hard evidence to support many of his points, and asks that you check what he says for yourself if you are skeptical.
The more seriously you take this book, the more you will get out of it. Would highly recommend for anyone open-minded and wanting to improve themselves and the world.
The book is available for free on the author's website, globaltruthproject . com (sans spaces), so there is no barrier to entry, and the first three pages are very pithy and will certainly pique your interest.
I like the core message of this book and think it's a good reminder to stay in the present, be mindful and become a spiritual being.
However, only 4/5 stars due to certain core self-contradictory points in the text which the author does not address.
e.g. (spoilers):
1. One main point of The Present is that everything - all lives, personal experiences and personal attributes - are perfectly balanced out in the aggregate and over multiple lifetimes... However, at another point in the book the author mentions that the spirit will often reincarnate down the family line because it prefers familiarity. How can you reconcile the two? (ex. Genetics and family fortunes- Wealth likely begets wealth which would not balance.)
2. How does the concept of reincarnation on a 1:1 ratio (one single person reincarnated as another single person) allow for population growth?
3. The author says that if one hears the Truth, understands it, but rejects it in favor of an animalistic existence, he/she will be sent back to the bottom of the food chain to be gnawed on for near eternity until reaching this opportunity for enlightenment again. Whereas those living in ignorance are simply reincarnated as people again until they learn the truth.
Whether someone "should" be sent down the food chain and punished or "should" be allowed to reincarnate and evolve into a higher level of existence, sounds like a subjective judgment made by some sort of God. Given that it sounds like a moral judgement, the author does not venture to explain how these types of reincarnation decisions (in regards to lower/higher destination) are made.
The more seriously you take this book, the more you will get out of it. Would highly recommend for anyone open-minded and wanting to improve themselves and the world.
The book is available for free on the author's website, globaltruthproject . com (sans spaces), so there is no barrier to entry, and the first three pages are very pithy and will certainly pique your interest.
I like the core message of this book and think it's a good reminder to stay in the present, be mindful and become a spiritual being.
However, only 4/5 stars due to certain core self-contradictory points in the text which the author does not address.
e.g. (spoilers):
1. One main point of The Present is that everything - all lives, personal experiences and personal attributes - are perfectly balanced out in the aggregate and over multiple lifetimes... However, at another point in the book the author mentions that the spirit will often reincarnate down the family line because it prefers familiarity. How can you reconcile the two? (ex. Genetics and family fortunes- Wealth likely begets wealth which would not balance.)
2. How does the concept of reincarnation on a 1:1 ratio (one single person reincarnated as another single person) allow for population growth?
3. The author says that if one hears the Truth, understands it, but rejects it in favor of an animalistic existence, he/she will be sent back to the bottom of the food chain to be gnawed on for near eternity until reaching this opportunity for enlightenment again. Whereas those living in ignorance are simply reincarnated as people again until they learn the truth.
Whether someone "should" be sent down the food chain and punished or "should" be allowed to reincarnate and evolve into a higher level of existence, sounds like a subjective judgment made by some sort of God. Given that it sounds like a moral judgement, the author does not venture to explain how these types of reincarnation decisions (in regards to lower/higher destination) are made.
August 8, 2023
Very rambling and misguided. The author reveals some basic spiritual truths that are sadly muddled with his own desire to be a/the one to begin a Revolutionary change in humanities collective consciousness. The problem is that it takes more than the truth to set us free. It takes loving sacrifice, it takes example, it takes humility and suffering. If the author was honest with himself he would see that there is a chasm between the good he does and the good he is physically capable of doing. If he's really honest he will see this is his own choice. He will see that neither him nor anyone else on earth is capable of the things he imagines we'd do if we just "woke up" without Christ.
April 4, 2022
If I remember correctly this was an entry for an essay writing contest and got the copy for free on their site. Fascinating read if you want your skeptic brain running about.
October 23, 2022
My issue with this book isn't the content, but the way it's written. It seems to me like a bunch of ideas presented in a messy way and constantly repeating the same point over and over.
February 1, 2024
This book required an open mind. I've read the three books and learned a lot of things specially on the second one called "The present (with religion)"? Made me change my mind about things that I once thought was impossible and gave hope that there is a reason for everything that is happening and that everything is connected. Those three books just inspired me and made me think that I'm not the only person who's asking the simple questions about life. Really mind blown by them.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews