Monument Eternal

by Alice Coltrane, A. Coltrane-Turiyasangitananda

Alice Coltrane-Turiyasangitananda, a spiritual teacher and renowned performer and composer of jazz and devotional music, offers "an abridged documentary on her spiritual life ... a book based upon the soul's realizations in Absolute Consciousness and its spiritual relationships with the Supreme One."

Genres: Nonfiction, Music, Religion

53 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1977

About the author

See also:
* A. Coltrane-Turiyasangitananda
* A.C. Turiyasangitananda

Reviews

[Austin Pierce · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a long-time agnostic, Alice Coltrane (Turiyasangitananda) has broken through to me in a way that few have.

Ram Dass and Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha are among those other few.

This book was too much for me at first. If you read it, you’ll see what I mean.

I was a John Coltrane fan looking for anecdotes. This is not that.

But, due to my love of synthesizers, I stumbled upon her devotional albums (namely Turiya Sings and Divine Songs—only available as bootlegs). I was blown away. After many times listening, I now hold those two albums at equal esteem with A Love Supreme.

This led me to read her book Divine Revelations to find out more about the spirituality that made her capable of producing such works.

Then I watched the four episodes of her TV program, Eternity’s Pillar, on the Criterion Channel.

Now I have started to read Turiya Speaks.

The deeper I go, the deeper it gets.

And I intended to keep following this path to see how far it takes me.

[Ava Jax · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alice Coltrane is so cool oh my Supreme Lord, God bless magic class

[Angharad · Rating 1 out of 5]

It comes off as the ravings of someone very sick and in need of help. Pseudo scientific claims like she can astral project. Really surprised this book was republished.

[Margarete Maneker · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/4

[David Cain · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been familiar with Alice Coltrane's jazz piano and harp for years, and really enjoy her classic album Journey In Satchidananda. I was vaguely aware that her interests shifted in a more spiritual direction later in life. In fact, she focused on establishing and running an ashram in California in the 1970s-1990s before a brief return to musical performance before her death in 2007. This book was published in 1977 and is the first of a series of tracts that present her spiritual experiences and metaphysical adventures with God.

In general, I would characterize this work to be unhinged. No coherent religious system or dogma is discussed, nothing is outlined for the reader as a path they can take to achieve any sort of enlightenment or closer relationship with God, and I remain unconvinced of the relevance to others of Coltrane's subjective experiences. She describes how she deprived herself of food and sleep for a prolonged period, and as a result of this suffering she developed the power to astrally project her spirit, levitate, hear sounds and create music that no one else can hear, and talk directly with God and other divine entities. She also lists a variety of people who represent some of her past lives.

It's a minor complaint in a religious work, but I further dislike her apparent lack of scientific knowledge: she mentions "more than 600 million years of human life" in chapter 2 (modern humans have been around for ~300,000 years with hominins dating back ~7 million years), and also states that the Lord introduced her to a humanlike being who has "completed 1,000 celestial years of tapas" (miseries/austerities). A footnote clarifies that "one celestial second is equal to one solar year", meaning that 1,000 celestial years equals 31.56 billion years - quite a bit longer than the 4.5 billion year lifespan of Earth or 13.8 billion year lifespan of the universe.

There are many places to seek spiritual learning and growth; this book is not one of them. I can't imagine how it would ever have been published (let alone republished in 2025 in hardcover format) if not for the author's brief marriage to John Coltrane or successful musical career in the 1960s and 1970s. I received this book as a free advanced reading copy, but this review is my own opinion.

[Elle Ferranna · Rating 3 out of 5]

If spiritual enlightenment is personally profound, it is best not to question accuracy if inexperienced.

Religion is philosophical because it is human nature to pursue or strengthen interest in an ascribed system of faith in times of desperation. If reared in an environment where the mechanics of belief overshadow, it is also easy to assume that every inhabitant must have the same divine realization(s).

Monument Eternal, the reprint of the 1977 classic by composer/musician Alice Coltrane, suggests that certain aspects of living cannot be realized without a shift in how one perceives his/her relationship with God.

Written from the perspective of a “seeker,” this novelette-length work is not a spiritual “how-to.” Nor does it provide guidance on why one should establish or maintain a relationship with a preferred representation of the most divine Spiritual Being.

Rather, it is a personal, non-linear account of the author’s traumatic route to discarding her familiar religious path in favor of a more introspective yet tangled spiritual philosophy.

The first in a series, this short read may not appeal to traditionalists or others with a less fluid or more conservative spiritual journey. However, those who have developed a heart-centric relationship with a Higher Power will vibe with this avant-garde retelling of the author's achieved transcendental guidance and love.

[Miles Segura]

I don't know. I didn't/don't want to dislike this, but....

Her musical genius is paramount, and if her spirituality and musicality were tied to eachother in the way I understand them to be, then there must be something to it. However, this book is pretty baffling, and feels like a bout of psychosis.

At the same time, I found myself recalling a couple periods in my life where I felt I was at my lowest, and invariably lost. Some of these moments have absolutely helped me in developing my personal spirituality, whatever that means. In this way, I kind of get it. She's recalling what seem to be bleak moments in her life, of isolation and depression, moments following personal tragedy, and those moments are where she felt she found "the Supreme One," or "the Lord." This is all good and fine, and I sympathize with it, but she does do and say some wild stuff. She doesn't tell us that you have to suffer and do the things she did to achieve transcendence, "For even though the destination is one, the roads that lead to spiritual realization are many." Regardless, she remains uncritical of her own means, and views the care her family wanted to give as something of an impediment.

Not sure what to make of all this. Made me feel pretty conflicted. I can't argue with her perceived results, but I certainly don't feel great about the means. Anyway, stream Ptah the El Daoud.

[Ocean Chamberlain · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book left a deeply unsettling feeling within my heart that has sustained itself. When I listen to her music, I think she must be a genius who knows things I will never know. But the excerpts on her family's reactions to her spiritual awakening were disturbing. I think whatever people must do or think in order to make this life and impending death bearable must be a net-positive, but that doesn't automatically make it inspiring. While much of this book is inspired by her marriage to John Coltrane, knowing the context that it was written only 3 years after his death colors the content a little bit. I want to believe her without nuance, but her self-aggrandizing (likening herself to Bach, the Prophet Muhammad, and Jesus Christ) and the scale of self-harm she subjected upon herself was deeply saddening. All this being said, she does explicitly say that no one's path to enlightenment will be identical to any other; this is not a manual, it is only an honest account of several years of her life. If this is what she needed to do to find peace and happiness then so be it?

[Joel Hacker · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm familiar with Alice Coltrane both as a Detroit native aware of some larger figures in our local history, and as a jazz fan. I feel like the blurb/description for Monument Eternal is a little misleading. I expected something a bit more akin to an autobiography about Coltrane's journey away from Christianity and into a different spiritualism, through the lens and in the context of broader events in her life and likely the culture of the local area, country, and world at the time.
Instead I got what is, unequivocally, nothing but a straight forward religious text, communicating her specific spiritual beliefs and myths. Even at that, its not a particularly accessible text.
If you're looking for interesting history or biography, this is most definitely not for you. If you're already a fan of religious conversion texts, or even some more pop spiritualism like the Celestine Prophecy, this might be for you.

[Amelia Givens · Rating 4 out of 5]

While reading this book I was honestly not convinced. I could see what Alice was writing about, but it just did not click for me especially as I am not personally a religious person. Only after reading and reflecting on it do I admire her dedication, passion, and loyalty to her own transcendence and spirituality. It doesn’t make sense to many people because it’s not supposed to, she is writing about her own experiences. These are going to look so different from each and every person. I never knew who she was outside of her music and now I admire her every bit more. I would like to revisit this book again and see if I interpret it differently

[Sage · Rating 3 out of 5]

like a manifesto of mad cult ravings. 50% divine madness 50% naive idealism using spiritual keywords to fool both the author and audiences egos. if it wasn't so pitifully short I would be quite intrigued because let's be clear at 71p with chapter one not starting until p27 this isn't a book this is a hardcover booklet.

[Reeves · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sounds like Alice really went through some shit.

Some comedian back in the day had a bit about how everyone who knows who they were in a past life always has to pick someone bad ass like the son of an Egyptian pharaoh. Very applicable here.

I love her music though.

[Joshua · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love you, Alice, but this is some scary shaving cream.

[Ricki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Coltrane's writing is very poetic, but I am not sure I always agree with or even follow what she is trying to convey.

[Robert Lawson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was really hoping for more about how her spiritual journey informed the music. Mentions of self-harm, while honest, were disturbing.

[Shawn Persinger · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing. Unverifiable claims.

[Sasha Balazic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mamma Coaltraine evokes the Devine light and walks us through her insane recollection of spiritual weakening- very strange and cool short read

[hello nurse]

woah

[Xani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crikey