An Uncommon Bond

by Jeff Brown

In this higher consciousness love story, author Jeff Brown introduces the concept of ‘uncommon bonds’ through the profound connection between Sarah and Lowen- two soul-mates who have found their way to one another yet again. In this remarkably engaging story, we walk beside the lovers as they touch the divine and then struggle to ground their love in daily life. From the heights of sacred sexuality to the depths of human foible, they ultimately have to choose- die to this love, or shrink back to mediocrity, open to the next portal of possibility or postpone it until the next lifetime. Shaped and reshaped in love’s cosmic kiln, Sarah and Lowen become a symbol of our own longing for wholeness in the presence of another.

This book is not a regular love story. It is not like anything written before. It is more of a sacred text- one that people will turn to for years to discuss and understand the ecstasies and challenges of love. It was inspired by the author’s lived experience, and describes a relationship phenomena that will have a strong resonance for readers. In a world that yearns for deep soul connection, ‘An Uncommon Bond’ provides a blueprint of possibility for all of us- reminding us of the luminous nature of great love, and showing us the opportunities for expansion that live at its heart. The path of the beloved is no easy walk, but the fruits of our labor are ripe with blessings.

Genres: Fiction, Spirituality, Relationships, Psychology

240 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2015

About the author

A former criminal lawyer and psychotherapist, Jeff Brown is the author of 5 popular books: Soulshaping: A Journey of Self-Creation, Ascending with Both Feet on the Ground, Love It Forward, An Uncommon Bond, and Spiritual Graffiti. He is also the producer and primary journeyer in the award winning spiritual documentary, Karmageddon, which also stars Ram Dass, Seane Corn, David Life, Deva Premal and Miten.

After writing a series of inspirations for ABC’S ‘Good Morning America’ in 2010, and appearing on Fox News.com and dozens of radio shows, Brown wrote the viral blog ‘Apologies to the Divine Feminine (from a warrior in transition)’ that autumn, catapulting him to a greater degree of notoriety, particularly in social media. Jeff’s new terms and short writings became a phenomenon some years ago, and continue to be shared by seekers and growers worldwide. His quotes have been shared in social media by songstresses Alanis Morrissette and Fergie, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau (the wife of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau) and many other well-known figures. Most beautifully, they have touched and benefited millions of souls. This gratifies him deeply. He now understands that most of the challenges he faced, and the millions of steps of overcoming, were intended for this purpose: To support humanity in their efforts to embody all that they are. Not to bypass their humanness, but to celebrate it. Not to find enlightenment independent of the self, but to find their awakening deep within it.

Jeff is also the founder of Soulshaping Institute and Enrealment Press. He lives in Canada with his wife, 'Open Passages' poet Susan Frybort.

Reviews

[Sydney · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to be honest and say that I didn't finish this book. I started to read it because Jeff Brown posts a lot of interesting stuff about spiritual materialism and emotional healing on Facebook and seems more grounded than many of the other "gurus" out there. I also read: "This book is not a regular love story. It is not like anything written before." I really like the idea of love stories that are some how radical and challenge the traditional, super codependent, sexist narratives of the past. Unfortunately, if you want that, you should read Octavia Butler.... not this book. This book is exactly a regular love story (at least the 1st 1/2). It's possible that the second half is better.

What I liked about the book: Jeff Brown is really self aware (about everything other than his perception of women that somehow allows him to reduce the love of his life into a total fantasy character of a person) and he's honest as a male protagonist which is refreshing and unusual.

The story so far is: older guy who's closed off meets a super petite blond lady who's half his age. She has no mission in life that we know of, except for to be a manic pixie dream girl. She knows goofy wise wispy things about love, and talks like she's on acid, but is basically confused all of the time and/or crying a lot about her childhood (even though she's almost 30 years old). She has a job (hey, what is her job? oh wait, we literally have no idea what she does) that makes her totally available to fly to him and spend weekends in beautiful places. She doesn't seem to have any friends or anything else going on in life.

They spend the whole first half of the book talking about themselves and god and their relationship and how powerful it is, while having cliche lovesex. It's just boring.

Are these people really friends? Do they even like each other? I'm going to be real and say that the problem in this relationship is probably not an esoteric spiritual truth about projection and childhood, it's that they don't do anything like study or cook or have friends. They don't even seem to be friends in any real sense of the word, they just seem to be sharing a fantasy.

[Jamie Tignor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't normally read Fiction books, but I chose this one because I was lucky enough to speak to the author Jeff and after talking to him and reading some of his other books, i realized that though this story was just a story, the thoughts, ideas, and depth came from a true real life experience. An experience such as this cannot be touched by anything else.

The beginning of the book was a little repetitive, but it had to be that way to get to the meaning and "uncommonness" of the bond. The middle to the end of the book had to be my favorite. I had to put the book down a few times just to take it all in, the memories, that feeling. The GOD reminder... it all began to come back and I am thankful I took the time to read this book.

This is a soul story, not your typical love story. I recommend it for anyone who has transcended the normal human love relationship, because... you'll get it.

[Janice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the way this author pulled me in with the soulmate high, before knocking me back to reality. I have had this experience so many times with love, except I never had words to explain why it happened or how to create a different outcome. Until this book. It showed me why it always seemed to fail and later in the story, how to make it last for real. I sat and read excerpts from it to one of my ex's on the phone one weekend and we finally healed and made sense of things. And we had one ugly intense ending! There is no book out there that goes this deeply into why love fails. And I loved the Dictionary of new love words at the back and his author's note explaining why he wrote this book and how it is different from other spiritual philosopheies.

[Miriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raw and vulnerable in his descriptive view on soulmate love connections and the pros cons of its stripping truth. This is a read everyone should experience! One of the most incredibly written books I have ever read. True to the core. What we often cannot put into words, the author has in the most intense heart touching ways. It's chillingly beautiful. Read the authors notes at the end. What a beautiful soul who isn't at all inhibited to talk about real raw emotions and urges us all to do the same. Inspiring human! We need everyone on the same page!! Speaks of the truth about us all being connected and that realization can shift the energy of the world.

[Pete · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obsessively read over a three day period, this was a page turner like no other. With The Untethered Soul, this instantly became one of my top favorite books, one that I will have to reread time any again as I absorb its lesions. This is a work of fiction but so closely mirrored my own experience that I felt that I have lived this story...up to a point. There is wisdom here, and great pain. The writing is often hyperbolic just as is great love. It is also corny and I was thankful for the lightness it added to a very difficult journey. This book was put before me just when I needed it most. I hope that someone else will see this review and pick it up when they are ready.

[Grace Mc · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Jeff Brown, and have really enjoyed his previous poetry books. Yet his constant word play, which works so well in his poems, fell flat for me in the form of a work of fiction. The overuse of puns in An Uncommon Bond were downright distracting! Still, there are some really good nuggets of relationship wisdom in this book which makes it worth a read if you can put up with the corny style.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't put this book down for two days. It contains more insights about love and relatedness than any book I have ever read. I wasn't always comfortable with his views on the armored masculine, but agreed with his celebration of the wisdom of the feminine. It is rare that so much insight about life and love can come through a fictional novel, but Brown mastered it here.

[Andre Freimann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to give high marks for this book. As a man transforming his relationships this book has many great insights on the inner workings of a truly deep and profound love. Deep down we all search for a love like that, and that's where it gets tricky because the edge that he wants to take us to is right there. Too much and it becomes sappy, over-emotional, and dramatic like a well-worn Harlequin paperback, lots of candy fluff and melodrama. On the other side, preachy and contrived. We readers are an intelligent bunch, and it takes deft hand to tell a love story that toes this line. Not so with this book, where the nuance is lost with rough lines ("she reached for my genitals" ack. ) and flowery exposition. What's confusing is that Jeff CAN write really well. His thoughts on many topics are succinct and direct, here, not so much. On the upside, there are quite a few memorable and quotable tidbits which should give the book some staying power.

[Nivesh Ramawthar · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I was reading this, I hated it more and more. The protagonist seemed childish and ridiculously idealist at times and he was written is such a seemingly superficially manner. But I persisted and the story improves with the character. The writing still has a dreamlike feel at times but fits within the themes explored. In the end it turned into one of the best books to explore love on a metaphysical level and all the things I thought I would hate, turned out to make perfect sense in retro context.

[Penelope · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have admired Jeff Brown's excerpts that are published on social media for the past couple of months. Curious about "An Uncommon Bond" I started to read it reaching chapter 2. The story simply was not resonating with me at this time. It was frankly upsetting because of the Harlequinesque beginning of the love story. Sorry I did not persevere Mr. Brown, as some others have, and finish the book. I may revisit the book in a few years and find it a different experience. Who knows?

[Sakinah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! It's amazing and engaging just it was hard in the beginning. I love how intense and emotional it was written .. And then how I can personally find myself in it too. This book was so emotional to me as well! Now that I finished reading it, I believe that it would be the first book I want to reread too!

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book I've read in a long time! So wonderful to read from someone who "gets it" about deep love connections.

[Shanna]

Beautifully written love story. Jeff Brown writes with such powerful words on the journey of loves and heartbreaks.

[Rejinia Boss · Rating 5 out of 5]

All I can say is that it was like reading my life story..it was a book I did not want to put down. It's not a love story that you would resonate with if you are expecting a common bond.

[Pria Acharya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It had tremendous depth and offered much understanding and hope for relationships and ourselves.

[Jessica Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastically written, and one of the most spiritually awakening books I’ve ever had my hands on. There are valuable, awakening parts of this novel I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

[Jackie Knittle · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Uncommon Read

An interesting, heartfelt journey into true and deep love. Soulmates are out there for most. One needs to be open within ourselves to find them.

[Cortina Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeff Brown is a poetic and one spot on human 💗

[Isabel Sommerz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome

Wow I love uncommon bonds! This Book Is so beautiful and touching! I love Jeff's concepts. Great book! Love from Mexico

[Johnny Stork, MSc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over the past 35 years I have read dozens of books on love, relationships, sexuality, intimacy, marriage etc. From novels, to pop-psychology (G-Spot, Men are From Mars, Vagina etc) to academic papers and large scale research such as the Kinsey Reports and a few on Tantric/Spiritual relationships (Kama Sutra etc). Collectively they cover a broad range of topics on love, relationships and sexuality from behavioural, psychological, emotional, biological, neurological, sexual and spiritual perspectives. I have always felt I had a reasonably conscious, healthy perspective and approach to love and sexuality, but of course admitting I always had more to learn. And then I met Her. A woman who revealed within me a depth of soulful connection and Sacred Union that I never imagined was possible. Although I had recently ended a 14 year relationship - my longest by far - the single year I spent with Her had a deeper impact, and revealed more about the Divine Love which is possible, than all previous relationships combined. Alas, I was not the one for her and so I only experienced one-half of the potential of a truly Divine Union.

A few months before the relationship with Her ended, I started reading "An Uncommon Bond" after it was recommended by a friend. There are a few books out of the hundreds I have read in my life which were truly transformational and now I am adding one more. Jeff Brown's "An Uncommon Bond" is without question the MOST TRANSFORMATIONAL and deeply revealing writings on Divine Love I have ever read. Not only has Jeff Brown's book given me a clearer perspective on my struggles this past year and helped to put things into perspective, but An Uncommon Bond has solidified and renewed a self-confidence in my potential to recognise, nurture and embrace the next Divine and Sacred Union when the Universe sees fit to steer two souls together again.

Highly recommended for everyone interested in developing a deeper and more soulful understanding of how a Sacred Union with another can become a gateway to the highest levels of emotional/spiritual awakening and tantric love.

"Uncommon Bonds are love connections that are sourced in the transcendent and transpersonal realms. The couple feels destined to have met: their connection is sourced in grace. This often leads to an experience of parapsychological or paranormal events, such as synchronicities, soulendipities, and non-local communications that defy known laws of time and space. There’s a knowing of pure recognition of the other—a feeling of being cut from the same cloth, a sense of having occupied the same body in a previous life, or perhaps one soul residing in two bodies." (Jeff Brown)

"A transpersonal energy dances within and between the couple. Spiritual practice is important to them, since the relationship is often experienced as the premier spiritual engagement, an outgrowth of a relationship with the Absolute. Sexuality is also experienced as a spiritual practice, holy and sacramental, a doorway leading to expanded consciousness and even touching pure consciousness. The union feels as though it transcends personal neurosis, addictions, affairs, impotencies, inadequacies, great sorrows, and the pure and inevitable facts of growing old." (Jeff Brown)

"Additionally, the couple feels bonded on all levels—body, mind and spirit. When they remain together, physical attraction and erotic cohesion last a lifetime. The couples often share in mutual life’s work, or they long to work together one day. They are aware that they cannot grow to the next level without each other. Finally, many uncommon bonds do not have a sexual or intimate component. Some are linked as friends, others as teacher and student, parent and child, co-workers, or siblings." (Jeff Brown)

[Linda Wall · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Uncommon Bond, A Novel was a surreal, magical, mystical journey into a Soulmate relationship with all the pushing and pulling, get close – push away that comes with unhealed intimacy issues. Trying to walk the tight-rope between the Sacred and Higher Consciousness and being grounded in everyday life this couple is faced with the choice either to grow into a Cosmic Love or remain stuck in commonplaceness.

As Jeff Brown writes, “You’re either in, or you’re out. No more stories, no more sidestepping, escape hatches, veiled retreats. You’re either in, or you’re out.”

A line from the book best describes the angst that the couple is challenged to work through as they weave through this Uncommon Love story, “Amazing how we push away what we most want to hold close.”

As a writer, poet and lover of words I was fascinated and delighted with Jeff Brown’s take on many ordinary words that he found the extraordinary in them

A very good read. I highly recommend.

[Felma Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was an encouraging anticipation from my friend to read this book as she was in awe from the first turn of the page till the end. However, I found annoyance in it. I almost made it till the end, but my time is oh so precious, and I could not withstand another page of it. It's evident the author can form words in a story format, and without that, my ratings would be quickly lowered. But, I have to remove two stars for my complete disinterest in the characters, the generic (if not manipulative) spiritual gibberish, and the immaturity between the two main characters, leaving a gaslighted mark, as if to be romantized and rooted by the reader. The only element of concentration was the homeless man, but I was unimpressed from the very beginning till the page I stopped on. I had hopes for it, given that I've worked in the spiritual sector for a great deal of years and studied Eastern scriptures, but it held no significant weight for me to carry on.

[Trang · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ll admit…the first half was hard to get through with so much trauma bonding. Perhaps that part could have been shortened and more depth added to their healing journeys as in reality, those are challenging so it would have been more inspiring to delve into that part of character development.

I have experienced a similar journey with the “beloved” so this story resonated quite a bit including when an empath had told me once that perhaps we haven’t truly gotten together because we’re not ready and had we done that, it wouldn’t have worked out because of the healing we still had to do individually.

I chanced upon this book because of a quote I saw from the author on Instagram. I almost gave up mid way through this book but now I know that it was synchronicity that I was guided to it. Thank you!

[Charmeyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

God-bye soul friends

Wow! I sit here with a tear in my eye as does my sole/soul mate. Never in our known lives have we been so enraptured in a story that to us was as real to our story and real as it gets. I’m not sure where Mr Brown got his info from to decipher the uncommon bond (it seems like non-fiction) but we pray that if enough people read this book, the new normal would be a common bond. The world needs it. Char and James thank you.

P.s. For those who have left a negative review, if you do not understand the depth of this exquisite story and poetic writing, you have most likely never experienced the journey of an uncommon bond!

[Megan Hunt · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love Jeff brown's posts on social media so I was excited to read this. Unfortunately, I didn't care for it at all. I felt that Sarah was extremely toxic and manipulative and I kept thinking "this is NOT love." Maybe I just didn't understand, but to me it sounded like infatuation to an alarming degree. I had a very difficult time finishing it but the positive reviews said to keep going until the end. I personally didn't feel like the end made up for it. I disliked the sex talk because it was excessive and written in a way that felt vulgar rather than connected and soulful. Again, this is just my understanding, and there are readers who really enjoyed it. It just wasn't for me.

[Romeo Ballayan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an incredible offering. I was so hooked to the story, the lessons, the characters, the metaphors, the authors voice, the wisdom, and more. I seem to be attracting everything I need from the universe and everything the universe needs from me. This is such a powerful story of introspection, emotional self-management, and unhooking one’s self from the rigid yet traditional roles imposed by society on love, relationships, and surviving yet enduring toxic creationships. I was very impressed and in love with this offering! An amazing amazing nourishment for one’s soul.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was so very excited to read this book—a higher consciousness love story? Yes, please. However, I soon felt less excited and more annoyed. Everything was “too much” for me. I can appreciate Jeff Brown’s honesty but the relentless word play (and I am a major fan of word play) coupled with the extreme thoughts, feelings, and sexual encounters of the characters had me eye rolling at times. It’s definitely a different sort of read, so it has my attention all the way through. I guess that’s a win.

[Melissa Gaines · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uncommon For Most

An engaging story of love lost and looking into oneself for the answers on how something that felt so wonderful could go so wrong. The book looks at how if not addressed, the trauma of childhood can play a role in adult relationships as well. But even doing all the work on yourself can't change other people until they are ready. At times a bit dramatic I found. But, interestingly told from the male perspective.

[Azeemah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do not usually like reading Fiction book, but I definitely enjoyed reading this one. I am taking away the following advice from the book: “There is always a preparation phase before great love comes. Sometimes it’s a gentle one, sometimes it’s a harsh one. Mine was downright ugly. Perhaps this is the way the universe works — it deals you an ugly hand before it deals you a beautiful one. The trick is trusting the beauty when it comes. It may never come again”.

[Maya · Rating 1 out of 5]

Trying to figure out why this book has such high ratings. I borrowed this book from a friend who said it was a "must read." She highlighted several passages that spoke to her. None of those passages spoke to me. I guess I'm not the target audience. I should note that I was not familiar with the author prior to reading this book.