ET 101: The Cosmic Instruction Manual - co-created by Mission Control and Zhoev

Reviewed by Peter Russell

Once every few years I come across a book that I want to give to all my friends. ET 101 is such a book. Its title is a parody of American college courses; 'Economics 101' is the most elementary, first year course on economics. ET 101 is, by implication, the most elementary course on extraterrestials.

If you detect a sense of humour here, you are correct. ET 101 is one of the wittiest books I have read for a long time. It is also one of the most profound. It surveys the painful consequences that our dysfunctional thinking has on ourselves, our relationships, our society and the planet. The most urgent task facing us today is to wake up to who we really are, and why we are here.

In its opening pages it tells how we are part of a mission sent to help Planet Earth machine evolutionary leap. Before departing we were each given a manual on how to cope with the dysfunctional life supports we would encounter. But with our cavalier attitude thought 'If you've seen one manual, you've seen them all', and didn't bother to look at it. As a result we have become so completely caught up in the ways of this planet that we have totally forgotten the mission. This is why the Intergalactic Council has decided to make available this 'emergency remedial edition' of the original manual.

Like many spiritual texts, the manual focuses on the way our fear keeps us in a dream-like state of separation, and how this lies at the root of much of our craziness. To give one example, it suggests that the true reason for the rise and fall of human civilisations is that 'they have failed to liberate anybody from the vice-like grip of fear. 'Civilisations', it says, 'are built on fear and denial ... And, because the real issue is never faced, human bondage continues uninterrupted from one civilisation to the next ensuring the collapse of each in turn. History isn't exactly repeating itself - it is stuttering over an issue it hasn't addressed.'

This is just one illustration of the numerous ways this little book so wittily drives right to the heart of humanity's problems. In a similar vein it tries to set the record straight on some of the pitfalls on the path of inner awakening. In a section on 'the dreaded Messiah Complex' it points out that 'Being Christ and thinking you are Christ are two different matters. If you think you are Christ, you will then act like you think Christ would act, which usually entails trying to save someone.'

'Let us make one thing very clear,' the book goes on, 'This mission is not about "saving" anyone ... Do not, in your half-awakened state and out of misdirected zeal, attempt to "convert" anyone to the choice you have made. Instead, be the choice you have made ...Your embodiment of Spirit is the only act that will assist the mission in unfolding smoothly and efficiently to its destined conclusion.'

Nuff said? Read it. Enjoy it. And as the manual itself advises, put it into practice.

Originally printed in 'One Earth Magazine'.