How to Be Ultra Spiritual: 12 1/2 Steps to Spiritual Superiority

by J.P. Sears

Welcome to the Glorious Grandeur of Ultra Spirituality

In case you haven't noticed, the New Age has become the Old Age. But don't recycle your crystals just yet! His Enlightenedness JP Sears is ushering in the Newer Age, blinding us with the dawn-like brilliance that is Ultra Spirituality. How to Be Ultra Spiritual presents Ultra Spiritual JP's none-of-a-kind guidance, so you can better yourself through teachings on:

- Competitive spirituality--the Ultra Spiritual foundation that the rest of your Ultra Spiritual path rests on

- Why burying your feelings alive makes you thrive

- Dreaming up your awakening--how to engineer your carefully contrived spiritual narrative

- Rigidly yogic yoga--the moisture-filled cloud formation that drops rain upon your river so your flow can flow

- Following the light to the greener spiritual pastures of veganism

- He-ness, financial levity, deathliness, and other qualities of the quality guru

- Mindfullessness--all of the fullness of mindfulness with none of the mind

- Merciless meditation--the most effective way to become more meditative (and, duh, more spiritual)

- Accessing the forces of critical nonjudgment

- Using plant spirit medicine to experience a degree of enlightenment that you aren't enlightened enough to experience without the spirit who lives inside its particular vegetation

- Humbleness, and how to employ it in the most superior sense of the word

With How to Be Ultra Spiritual, His Enlightenedness JP Sears brings the heart and soul of ancient spirituality back to life with a progressive aggression, replacing the diluted uselessness of modern spirituality with the waaay more spiritual wisdom of Ultra Spirituality. See if you can keep up . . .

Genres: Humor, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Self Help, Comedy, Audiobook, Religion

272 pages, Paperback

First published March 7, 2017

Reviews

[Heidi Wiechert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anything can be a competition- even spirituality. JP Sears in How to Be Ultra Spiritual tackles everything from meditation to existing in the "soon" in a tongue-in-cheek effort to educate the reader on all spiritual matters. Not for thin-skinned readers, this book uses humor to examine just how ridiculous the whole spiritual thing can be when taken to extremes. Though JP never breaks character, it is clear from the sheer amount of New Age material covered in these pages that if he hasn't been on the retreats, met the gurus, done the shamanistic plant-fueled trips, then he's talked to someone who has. I found the whole thing incredibly funny, but it may not appeal to all seekers.

From the introduction: "... if there's one thing for certain about consciousness, it's that more is always better. There's a lot more consciousness in the new level of consciousness that we're now conscious of, but you're unconscious to all of this if you're still wasting your life in the old consciousness that is only spirituality." loc 17, ebook. And so, the only choice we're left with, is to become "ultra" spiritual.

What does this mean? "It's not about being better than other people. It's about being more spiritual than other people, which is exactly what makes you better than other people." loc 72. Haha, JP, do go on.

When practicing veganism, he offers a few tips: "Thou shalt not acknowledge the illusionary nature of death in the presence of a thou who casts his stone at animal skulls." loc 1079. The only vegans I've ever met are so not like that- and that's what makes it so funny.

I've thought about taking a guru when I read a couple of Ram Dass' books: "In the best circumstances your guru should be dead. ... Aside from your guru always being with you like a caring stalker, the other advantage of assigning guru status to someone who's dead is that it's much easier for you to idealize his idealized self when he's not alive. The tragedy of a guru still being alive is that they have their faults too." loc 1250-1260 ebook. It may be that I've never met my guru or it may be that everyone is meant to find their own way- it seems to me that we're all just people doing the best we can. Not to pass judgement on anyone who has a guru or wants to find a guru, I'm certainly not a guru.

My favorite part of this book is when JP takes on Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment with his ultra spiritual "power of soon": "Conscious people never have hopes and dreams that are based on exactly what's happening in this present moment of now in their life. Why? Because now isn't a place- it's an illusion of time that doesn't exist. ... The enlightened ones know that the only place where their hopes and dreams can live is in the present moment of their future." loc 1578, ebook. Brilliant.

Recommended for folks who have followed a bunch of different spiritual trends and are ready for a hearty laugh about it all. Some further reading: Be Here Now, Awakening to Zero Point: The Collective Initiation, and Psychosomatic Wellness: Guided Meditations, Affirmations & Music to Heal Your Bodymind.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sounds True Publishing for a free digital copy of this book.

[CS]

It is very sad to me to see JP Sears descent into Red Pill/MAGA/right-wing madness. Removing my rating and hiding my review - I do not want people to think that my enjoying his book back when he was a completely different grifter person endorses any of the nonsense he blathers about now.

Bullet Review:

Hilarious - and yet JP has done something that many others (bloggers, youtubers, comedians) cannot. He doesn't just regurgitate his videos in this book - he puts it into a cohesive whole and adds to it. Yes, some of the bits will sound familiar from the videos, but there is nothing verbatim, that I could find at least.

I think it's funnier if you come from a religious background, but be warned: if you are really REALLY religious and take that too seriously, this might make you mad.

[Pop Bop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Irony Is Just Another Word For Karma

I think you have to thoroughly know and deeply care about a subject in order to most effectively mock it. That's pretty much what you have here. It may be in the vanguard of a new type of self-help book - the semi-serious parody drawn from an author's successful semi-serious You Tube parody channel.

I just finished Dom Mazzetti's "The Swoly Bible", which is a send up of muscle gods and body builders, drawn mostly from Mazzetti's "Bro Science Life" You Tube channel. Now I have this, a send up of Karma gods and spirit builders drawn heavily from Sears' "Ultra Spiritual" You Tube channel. I see a trend.

There's a risk here. In videos the authors can sell hip irony and satire with a wink and a smile. It's harder to get that across in a book. Videos are snippets; you aren't going to watch a two hour video, and what works in a video can become tedious in a 300 page book. A character who is funny and appealing on screen may feel like a tedious bore on the page

Well, Sears navigates that tricky course with a good deal of success, (actually with ultra success). The message, such as it is, is clear. Spirituality isn't a competition, even if lots of people think it is. The book consists of a vast range of shots taken at competitive, ultra, spirituality. Nicely, it operates on two levels. On one level, the book is loaded with very funny one-liners and throwaway bits. On a second level, it makes the larger case against one-upmanship in the world of enlightenment.

So, while I get that larger message, I keep coming back for the one liners. Here's an example. There is a longish bit about selfie-taking yoga babes who style around in their yoga outfits, drinking lattes at the sidewalk cafe and "receiving aesthetic saturation from people's fascination with how beautiful they are". Said ultra-spiritual person's "amazeballs post-yoga coffee shop aesthetic strategy" includes wearing "maximal beauty notification apparel". If you think maximal beauty notification apparel is a funny line, you'll like this. And if you think Gwyneth Paltrow should maybe take a few weeks off, you'll like this.

To be fair, we get some repetition, and if you try to read too much in one sitting the method behind Sears' madness may start to feel predictable. But I don't think of this as an I-couldn't-put-it-down read. It's a skimmer and more like a themed anthology, and it's just fun to turn to when the competitive need to be ultra spiritual overtakes you. And isn't that just fine.

(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

[Kaye Salter · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am now a true Ultra Spiritual being. You are a majestic guru, Jp. Superiority is a wonderful state of being.

*Update 2021* ... I don't know what happened to JP. He appears to have become very angry and bitter in his most recent videos. I genuinely hope he gets the help he needs. I want to be able to support you JP and it's totally ok to disagree with people politically, but to let that consume you is just sort of sad.

[Tonya Dawn Recla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm less concerned with JP's book from a literary perspective and much more interested in what it adds to the spiritual growth, consciousness conversation. I think it's safe to say that his intent wasn't to craft a literary masterpiece, but to make a point about the current state of self-help, personal development, "newer age" guidance. And, to that end, he succeeded.

"The absolute brilliance behind JP Sears and his alter “Ultra Spiritual” persona is the constant contradiction. His diatribes and circular verbosity dance around each other in a mental masturbatory version of Twister, just slippery enough that you can’t grab him, label him, and put him in a box."

"At the very least, JP’s book takes us on a trip through our own stored files of well-meaning sage advice. It highlights the overwhelming noise created by a self-help arena that “shoulds” all over us in an attempt to assist that falls flat, at best, and flirts with the very real danger of creating the most disconnected digitally-connected society yet."

See the full review:
http://www.superpowerexperts.com/spir...

[Lisa J Shultz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The funniest book I have ever read! I have watched JP's videos on You Tube for awhile now and found them very amusing. I have also read a lot of spiritual books. With that background, I found the book hilarious! JP provides a breath of fresh air and tickled my funny bone. I rarely turned more than 2 pages without laughing out loud. Besides being humorous, it brings to light arrogance that some "spiritual" people display. It also provides balance to a largely serious subject matter. JP helps me remember to lighten up and not take everything so seriously!

[Bryan Tanner · Rating 1 out of 5]

I intended JP's book to be a cerebral palate cleanser after recently finishing Brené Brown's Daring Greatly and other, more-serious personal-development books. I was attracted to this read after watching JP roast social-media yogis and essential oils evangelists on YouTube. I hoped that by engaging with him longer, I could learn more about JP's actual beliefs.

As I began reading, I appreciated JP's dead-pan cynicism…for about 5 minutes. After that, I expected him to subtly provide readers with a clue into his actual values. NOPE! After reading all 272 pages, I discovered that the real JP Sears has no idea who he is. And he can't shut up about it. JP is an unapologetic, blasphemous, self-despising, pedantic narcissist who sarcastically derides himself and others because he lacks anything substantial to say. (To be fair, criticism plays an important role in the greater dialogue. And perhaps I wasn't ready for a fun-loving parody to begin with.)

However, if you are one of the many people out there who "speaks fluent sarcasm," JP's 12.5 Steps might amuse you. This farcical guide to becoming ultra spiritual is simple and cleverly-written parody commenting on inane behaviors and beliefs held among certain members of modern, western society. I tried to laugh my way through it, but I could never quite bring myself to a chuckle. I read to the end, hoping for redemption, but none came. The most tragic part of my experience was that JP's humor probably goes over the heads of many whom he criticizes—including myself.

Of his own accounting, JP is one messed up dude. He's had a hard life, and I feel sorry for him. The psychologist in me thinks he created his "Ultra Spiritual" brand as a coping mechanism to give his existence meaning. For existentialists like JP, life is an entirely META and meaningless joke. Life has no purpose. He and the absurdist philosopher Albert Camus never asked to be born; in fact, they resent their very existence. But as an alternative to putting an end to this worldly incarnation of themselves, they embrace the absurd condition of human existence as they defiantly continuing their search for meaning. Props, brother.

TL;DR I was okay with a 5-minute YouTube video of JP clowning around. But for me, reading an entire book of this drivel was ultra depressing.

[Alan Gerling · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh. I love watching Sears on YouTube. I think he's hilarious. Perhaps his humor is much better suited to 5 minute focused chunks. In this book, you get his attempt to sustain a whole book on one "joke." Needless to say, it falls pretty flat. The introduction is the funniest part book and it kinda goes downhill from there.

[Wes · Rating 3 out of 5]

The drug chapter really saved this book for me. JP is a funny guy but his style just works better in YouTube videos. The book kind of drags when it's the same character page after page with no substance beneath it. Good for some chuckles, but not much else. Videos are a better medium for this work in my opinion.

[Julie Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had only seen one video of J.P. Sears, the one on militant veganism. I was on a quest to find something to purchase at an adorable independent bookstore in New Hampshire, and figured this is one book that looks like it wouldn't be available at my library, so this was it!

I laughed out loud so often when reading this that I was asked by my husband to please move to another room to read. Sears uses satire to poke fun at new age obsession with Yoga, having a a guru, being a vegetarian, using drugs to reach "spiritual enlightenment", meditation, chalking a lot of this up to "competitive spiritualism." He spews grossly false facts as if they were true, emphasizing that it is believing in something that makes it true (and he highly recommends believing that truism), so there is nothing to take seriously here. A favorite example: "The word guru comes from the Greek word Kangaroo, meaning 'He who has strong legs to stand on and a large pouch to put all his little followers in.'" (88) I know people like this, too, who confidently inform me of total nonsense, so I welcomed the opportunity to just laugh at this rather than lament at what the world is coming to. I think it only works if you know people like this, which I definitely do. The book is totally irreverent and outrageous, and you'll have to be okay with that and not take yourself or him too seriously. I mean, it's pretty offensive to anyone who is actually religious.

At times the chapters go on a little too long (like the joke is already played out) and I hated all of the parts where he had someone else share their story (fake people, I'm sure), but overall it was a very entertaining read.

About Sears. I looked up more about him and immediately found his comedy tour schedule. Good, I thought. That makes perfect sense. I'd pay to see his act. Then, it looks like he actually WAS a life coach for a living? And that he now spreads misinformation (with serious intent) and speaks at anti-vaxer events? I'm confused by this, and hope it's just some kind of planted info on the internet that is not true. I'm just happy for this isolated light read. I won't be seeking more from him in the future, but his "How to become gluten intolerant" is a video I'll watch many more times when I need a good laugh.

[Camille McCarthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very humorous and accurate about the new-age lifestyle. I always enjoy JP Sear's videos, and I enjoyed his book just as much. He's a good writer, although I think his humor comes across better on film because you can really hear the tone of his voice. His writing is at times a little too clever, in that you have to read a sentence a few times to really get the joke. My favorite parts were the chapter about Veganism and the chapter about Gurus. If you like his videos, I suggest you read this book. At the very least, you'll learn how to be great at seeming more spiritual than everyone around you.

[David Ramirer · Rating 5 out of 5]

eine der faszinierendsten (und vielleicht auch eine der am besten funktionierenden) methoden der dekonstruktion ist die paradoxe intervention, und es wurde allerhöchste zeit, diese methode auf die esoterik (a.k.a spiritualität in all ihren facetten) anzuwenden.
JP sears, der heiligste heilbringer vom planeten YouTube, hat das bereits in vielen videos sehr erfolgreich demonstriert und macht es nun auch in buchform.

das buch ist auch für den halbspirituellsten kleinstadepten wunderbar geeignet und macht aus ihm in 12 1/2 lektionen auf verlässliche art und weise eine hellstrahlende figur am firmament des vergeistigt spirituellen kosmos, die es mühelos auch mit den anderen berühmten meistern der transzendenten geschichte wie mutter teresa, gandhi, jesus, buddha oder donald trump aufnehmen kann. das buch ist auch sehr günstig, weil man kein anderes buch aus dem esoterikregal mehr benötigt - hier findet sich wirklich die essenz.

ich freue mich daher sehr, dass JP mich gefunden und mir diesen dienst erwiesen hat: sein buch hat durch mich den wert, den es auch für andere haben kann.

ich empfehle es jedem!

[Charlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, first of all, I love JP Sears. He's amazing. I think his wit and cleverness is astounding.

That said, this was a VERY hard book to read! Not that the language was difficult nor was the grammar bad, but a lot of the sentences are meaningless or nonsensical. But that's the way they are supposed to be! I was really shocked how difficult I found that to read. After a few chapters I was able to accept it and go with the flow, but the struggle was real!

If you are familiar with the new age community, there will be a lot of amusement and ruefulness in this experience. Being JP Sears, he takes the often over-simplified (or, conversely, over-complicated) concepts of new age thought, practices, and teachings to their logical and completely ridiculous extremes. It is not a dark and critical book, at least not to be, but a light-hearted poking fun at a community that takes itself entirely too seriously. I always enjoy what JP does and the insights that he shares, especially when they are absurd and true.

Only read if you can handle not taking yourself too seriously.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

JP Sears is hilarious. Admittedly, I watch his Facebook videos from time to time. He is very convincing in his comedy to the point that you don't know whether or not he is joking. Unfortunately, that transferred into this book as well. While reading this there were times that I definitely knew he was joking. However, there were times where I wasn't sure if he was hiding behind his comedy to come out and say what he was truly thinking. Also, some of the time it can be hard to read as a lot of it is nonsensical (that is the essence of his character though). After reading this book, I find that the 5 minute videos on Facebook are more than enough for me.

[Richard Legault · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book caused me to laugh out loud several times. It also has sentences like this:

"Unlike relative opinions that vibrate with an exdeedingly low vibration of responsibility, observations intensify your vibration to the high frequencies of being responsible for determining what a person's reality truly is, based on what you observe yourself observing."

I understand that the author is poking fun at new-age self help tropes by writing in this convoluted way. However, a book full of nonsense like this quickly became tiresome to read.

It was still fun. I might have enjoyed it more if I had spead out my reading over a longer time.

[Carlos Ramos · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a fun book that vegetarians, vegans, and Yoga people should totally read. It kinda teaches you not to be a dick about your spiritual pursuits and all those cliches that I have seen being a Yoga Instructor.

However, I did feel it a little slow, like it didn't draw me in that much. Like, I wanted to read it but I did not feel that attraction or page turning compulsion. I mean, it almost took me a year to complete.

So, yeah, read it if you want to have a good laugh about the inconsistencies found in people in this area. Do not expect much fun, though, cuz sadly all that is true and not a joke.

[Marcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love JP's video clips! He's full of sarcasm about making fun of extremism of anything in an irreverent way...this one happens to be about spiritualism. I found it harder to read because I had to constantly be in a sarcastic tone in my mind the whole time. I think listening to the audiobook in his voice would have been easier for me to follow!

[DianeK Klu · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love JP’s videos. I also love that he has serious videos with good sound advice. I was hoping that this book would have been a combination of silly and serious but sadly it was only silly JP. I listened to the audiobook, so it was like listening to one of his silly videos for over 7 hours. I now hate JP! If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Stick to your videos bra!

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dear lord, I love JP's occasional videos, but this was the most boring crap self-help humor I could imagine. Reading this made me fall asleep faster than the ending of Dracula. I could only make it halfway through before it was finally retired to the back of my toilet so I have something to read if I forget my phone.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

JP Sears is the satirical Yogi I've been looking for! His book is full of insitefull spiritual information chopped up w/ humor. An enjoyable read for any Yogi trying not to take themselves so seriously & enjoy life.

[Lizzy C · Rating 5 out of 5]

How to Be Ultra Spiritual: 12 1/2 Steps to Spiritual Superiority is a must read for anyone in desperation of having their aura blown, chakra assaulted with light, or mind melted into mindlessness insta-superiority. Laughed until my third-eye cried.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Currently reading this book and loving it. JP is a gem. I am cracking up... wanted to take note of my favorite quotes.

"Unless you've purchased the good stuff from your local discount shaman, you've never heard the sun scream out for attention."

[Márk Reif · Rating 3 out of 5]

Torn on this book, on one hand, certain chapters were gold (veganism, religion), others were just a meh. I certainly laughed at it several times, but it was over the top at others. The book makes fun of the new-new age spiritual movement by shedding light on how this seemingly spiritual, kind and inclusive "movement" is often harsh, competitive and hypocritical.

In 12 and a half chapters, you will learn the secrets of ultra spirituality:

- how being better than others is the main tenet of spirituality,
- why burying your feelings is necessary for enlightenment,
- how talking about spiritual awakening is more important than actual spiritual awakening,
- why bending your body in unnatural ways during yoga is natural and needed,
- why vegans are better than anybody,
- why you need a father-like figure, a guru, telling you how you should live your life (and why should they get away with molesting people),
- why you should leave behind the shackles of rationality and the mediocrity of mindfulness and embrace full mindfullessness and intuition,
- why the more you meditate the better you are,
- how to judge people nonjudgmentally,
- why religion is just simply the worst,
- why should you call drugs sacraments and take copious amounts of it?

I enjoyed the silliness of the book, although I have to add I understand why JP choose this incomprehensible language and heaped circular sentence upon circular sentence, it got old really quickly and made reading the book a painful experience at times. I think toning down this unnecessary complexity would have made the book a more enjoyable reading experience without giving up much of the sarcasm.

Some quotes:

We know this teaching of Jesus is true for one reason and one reason only: he spoke this message to a few people. Then someone who wasn't there wrote his words down eighty years later, and those words were then translated from their original language before being interpreted by someone else a couple thousand years later.

As a vegan, your spirituality gets even more spiritual because you no longer carry any of the low-vibration toxins of hate. And because your baseline energy levels are too low to have enough mental focus to hate anything, you're a more loving person.

As everyone knows, being a vegan means you eat only plants, hate people who hate animals, and self-righteously impose your beliefs on others, but not so many people realize that being a vegan also means that you're better than everyone who's not a vegan.

What's the only thing worse than being a terrible person? Answer: being a terrible person disguised as a good person. This is the true meaning of what it is to be a vegetarian.

What time is the best time to put in your meditation time? The most painful part of the day to wake up - no later than four in the morning works fine for most people. The experience of pain is important here; it means you're catching your ego with its pants down and shedding harsh light on impurities that still need to be lovingly burned away.

Ego hunting is always in season.

Catholicism is an incredibly successful corporation built upon the solid values of cutthroat business practices, vampirelike ceremonies of drinking wine while imagining it is blood, Latin, and an inability to keep felonious secrets in the dark.

The last place you want to look for a shaman is deep in the rainforests of South America. Not only are they burdened beneath the traditions of thousands of years of ancient wisdom, and therefore out of the loop of the ways of modern convenience associated with sacraments, these guys are also inconveniently hard to locate and get to.

All in all, if you can get used to the needlessly hard language this book will give you some great chuckles if you are an outsider to this spiritual community or if you have a shred of humility and self-criticism.

[Juli Hoffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This entire book is written as satire, from cover to cover. It effectively pokes fun at any and ALL religions, religious and spiritual practices, and atheism. If you don't LIKE satire and sarcasm, you won't like this book. I've read satirical books in the past. This book is "Ultra-Satarical."

That said...I started reading this book while waiting five hours for new front tires to be put on my car after the first snowfall, along with EVERYONE else who waited too long to put fresh tread on their cars. (Thanks to my new-found Ultra-Spiritual knowledge, I'm sure there's a metaphor that could be made about tires, life, and whatnot, but I digress.) It took me a chapter or two to get used to reading SOOOO much satire in one sitting, an ULTRA amount of satire, but once I got into the flow, I enjoyed this book immensely. JP Sears did his homework, which is why no religion, religious practice, spiritualist, or those with secular views should feel left behind or dismissed. NOPE! He pokes fun at them all without being negative towards any of these groups.

When I got to the chapter on becoming a vegan and read what at typical vegan day can look like, I thought I was going to hurt myself because I was laughing so hard on the inside, while trying not to look like someone off their medication on the outside. (Yes, this probably wasn't the best book to read in a public space...unless I wanted everyone to KNOW how Ultra-Spiritual I'm about to become, in which case I should have taken a selfie of me reading this book while sitting at the tire store. Opportunity wasted!)

The chapter written about "Tod" was especially helpful. Later, I read it out loud to my family. It truly made me question some of the beliefs we assume to be true, in a non-threatening way. That's the beauty of satire. If JP Sears had plainly spoken about "Tod" and some of the other things brought up in this book, I think they would have been hard to take. A bitter pill. By using satire, he doesn't tell you what to think. He DOES make you question your beliefs.

I truly appreciate the time and attention JP Sears took while writing this book. This isn't a book that was slapped together in a weekend. It's thoughtful and well-written. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys this type of humor and is willing to question their religious and spiritual beliefs.

If you're still on the fence about whether or not you'd enjoy this book, (It's probably NOT for everyone.) I'd encourage you to watch some of the videos JP Sears has put up on YouYube. There are funny, entertaining, "Ultra-Spiritual" ones, written in a similar style to this book. There are also serious videos with the type of content that has been helpful and healing in my own life. I only recently discovered the serious videos on the author's YouTube channel. I have to say that they're different than anything else I've seen. "The Terrorism of Happiness with JP Sears" is a great place to start watching, especially if you've struggled with depression. It's clear this author understand's what he's talking about, which is why he can also make fun of himself.

Thank you, JP Sears, for writing this book!

[Infinidimincorp · Rating 4 out of 5]

JP Sears videos on Ultra-Spirituality are biting, hilarious and profoundly accurate satire. As someone who works in this field, they feel like oft times necessary and brilliant pieces of observation.

The big question to me, going into reading this book, was whether the punchy energy of a 5 minute youtube video could be held through a full text. And the answer is... mostly. Certainly a lot of these jokes are jokes that have been made in videos, and parts of JP's circular, rambling, self-contradictory sentence structure lend themselves better to spoken word than text. The whole thing is a little long, because once it settles into a rhythm there's a certain same-y-ness to it all.

Whatever - the parts that were laugh-out-loud funny may have been spread out, but the stuff in between was never less than amusing, and JP's observations remain on the mark. The journey from internet Guru to Scribe of sacred texts has begun, and begun far more strongly than I thought it would.

Incidentally, reminded me a lot of Neil's Book of the Dead. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
I feel like JP could learn a bit from Neil's diversity of material!

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title says it all. It's a humour title skewering the hypocritical, commercial, selfie frippery of current commoditized spirituality trends: Westernized, franchised yoga; "mindfullessness," "critical nonjudgement," juicing. It takes the piss of the "Any mantra you can chant, I can chant better, my aura's resplendent, more resplendent than yours" enlightenment competitors. The chapters are very funny, the observations are as sharp as the writing. The point I perceived in every chapter is: if you're using spirituality aesthetics and "religious nonreligion" to lord (*ahem*) your superiority over others, your spirituality isn't good for much other than mockery.

If the ratio of likes to dislikes on a "Awaken with JP" YouTube video is less than 12:1, that's a sign the mocked are on the verge of being awakened, and they don't like that. I recommend the videos, they're very funny too! If JP Sears' floral headband doesn't give it away that this is a humour book for you, you'll either give How to Be Ultra Spiritual: 12 1/2 Steps to Spiritual Superiority a pass or write a proposal for How to Be Ultra-er Spiritual than JP Sears, only in complete seriousness.

[Sarah Bodaly · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this guy’s social media page and his little one-minute videos of snark and social/political commentary are about the limit that I can handle. They’re funny, but the book was a bit much. :D Okay, it was a ton too much. But it fit the category slot that I needed to read, so there was that. I mean, duh, it is what it is. So, my premise based on what he’s said is that he grew up religious and then changed to New Age somewhere in the course of time. He gives snark equally to religion and New-Ageyness, impressively without being overly disrespectful. There were a couple interesting quotes, but otherwise, blah blah blah.
“[People’s own personal, unstudied] Interpretations [of the Bible] are like wives to Mormons. One is never enough, and more is always better.”
“These are the people who have donated intelligence to the food bank of your mind. And like any food bank, the quality of the food is suspect, at best.”

[M. Kaboomis · Rating 3 out of 5]

JP is a brilliant satirist. We’ve all seen his hilarious videos, which is why we read this book, right? Well, like many reviewers have already stated, I too think video is JP’s best medium and he should focus on that.

This book did make me LOL several times, however there were also times when I got a little bored and I found myself wanting the book to be over by chapter 10. I’m glad I used Audible for this one. JP reads most of it and has other people pop in for certain short parts. I think this book would not be as funny in print.

I won’t be surprised if JP does indeed come out with another book one day. I’ll probably be curious enough to check it out for some laughs. Next time I’ll read the reviews first and then decide.

[Jordan Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty funny. I like how JP blurs the lines of satire and reality, or draws you into the right conclusion for the wrong reasons. Hidden deep within the funny stories and fake lessons is a darker commentary on the spiritual & wellness industries, and even more broadly towards capitalism and the human psyche in general. Because JP never breaks character, or at least deliberately makes it impossible to tell when he's breaking character, it can be hard to know exactly what the point is he's trying to make underneath it all. This highly subjective nuance, paired with his writing style which tends to use a lot of in-sentence repetition (i.e. - "I actually actualized"), prevents me from fully buying into the text as a whole.

[Tõnu Vahtra · Rating 3 out of 5]

JP, there is a hole in your minfulnesless theory, if one should drop rational thought and mind to become ultraspiritual, then there is too much rationality in this book for this (anti-rational is still rational BTW). There were parts in the book where you laugh out loud (I liked the chapter about plant medicine the best) but there are also fillers (wasn't so thrilled from the section about religion). JP Sears works best in moderate doses (5-minute video at a time), multiple chapters in succession may become repetitive... but who said that getting ultraspiritual is supposed to be super-easy.