It took me a bit to find the original copy of this book. I went to a used bookstore online because I wanted the physical book. (There are also PDF copies floating around the web.)

It’s a classic if you’re remotely interested in accessing the higher consciousness of your being. Or, if you’re interested in ending the struggle from your ego and lower consciousness – this book is like a lighthouse in a storm of your life, especially if you’re struggling right now.

The author, Ken Keyes Jr, wrote this book in 1975. And it’s a classic in the field of higher consciousness.

It’s a short yet deep read into your mind. He breaks it down into two consciousness of human living – you’re living in lower consciousness, which Keye says 99% of people in the western world are, or you’re living in higher consciousness.

The goal of this book is for you to find happiness through your higher consciousness, which is what Ken calls the “Science of Happiness.”

He wants to help you end the struggle of your lower consciousness, which is run by your ego and focuses on security, sex, ego rushes, money, prestige, power, and status.

When you focus on these things, you get endless struggles with resentment, worry, suspicion, anger, jealousy, and fear. He emphasizes that these things do not create an unhappy life; the internal mental addiction or desire for them keeps you from enjoying your life.

I’d liken it to being attached to the ego-self. The mind is a strange and curious thing. Countless books have been written about controlling, taming, and wrestling it to happiness.

I really loved this book and how it impacted me so much because he explained that there is another way to live. You don’t have to let your mind control your life – YOU control your life, and YOUR HIGHER SELF controls it. Your mind or left brain’s sole job is to keep you safe, comfortable, and complacent and solve all your problems or others’ problems.

Ken gives you several techniques that you can use to create more awareness/consciousness. He also has some great diagrams on How you create unhappiness and happiness in your life. Plus, he also has a whole chapter on addiction that really helped me. I already have over six years of sobriety, yet the way he explains addiction and what to do about it made so much more sense to me.

A Summary to Inspire You To Read This Book!

Quick Summary: If you’re struggling with procrastination, fear, addiction, and thinking that the world doesn’t need another product, course, book, or resource on —- (Insert the name of your idea here), then this book is definitely for you! I LOVE Pressfield’s no-nonsense style and telling it like it is for if you’re a creative writer, copywriter, artist, photographer, or have something you want to share with the world, and something’s holding you back – then GET THIS BOOK! It will give you terrific guidance, a kick in the pants, and inspiration to get your gift out into the world and do it now. Don’t wait any longer.

WHO Ought to Read this Book: If you have an idea and want to get it out into the world and something’s holding you back, or you keep making excuses or feel like you don’t have enough knowledge or credibility to do so, then get this book now!

Why Read this Book? If you’re interested in how to “tame your mind,” then this is a must in to read and add to your library. He gives you the 12 Pathways to Higher Consciousness that you can follow to help you awaken your mind and live a happier, healthier life. When you raise your consciousness and become more aware of your ego, you will open up a deeper way of thinking and being. It will help relieve you from needless suffering that the thinking mind puts you through daily or even minute-to-minute. It’s a terrific way to open yourself to another way of living your life more fully and letting go of controlling the world around you. Simply look at it from an observer and be detached from it. He gives you the tools that work once you start practicing them.

A Couple of Things You Will Discover: When something happens in the world, it’s not happening to you. Live your life fully conscious. You’re not a victim. You have more control than you think. Look at the world as a newborn child. Be the observer and be present in the world. Your feelings are not facts. They’re evidence that you need to deal with some things bothering you. He also gives you the 5 Methods to Work On Yourself. These are terrific learning tools, especially if you’re struggling with any type of addiction.

INSPIRING BOOK QUOTES:

Being Upset is:
“To be upset over what you don’t have… is to waste what you do have.”

Irritated, Angry, or Alienating Yourself:
“…when you are upset, it is vital that you be extremely precise in putting the blame for your unhappiness exactly where it belongs. Your problems are not in the outside world. They are an interaction between your inside programming and the here and not realities of your body, mind, and the people and situations outside of you.”

Your Emotional Demands:
“Renounce your emotion-backed demands which keep you from enjoying the bountiful life that has always been available around you.”

When Someone Annoys You:
“…someone asks you to repeat something you just told him. Your ego puts your consciousness on the power level by introducing the thought that if the other person had given you enough of his attention and realized the importance of your words, he would have been able to hear you clearly the first time… If we were responding from the Love Center of Consciousness, we would feel no irritation and simply repeat the information asked for. ”

Easy to Blame Others:
“It is easy to blame the problems of the world on governments, schools, and uncaring economic institutions, but this is only an evasion. The only permanent and effective way to change the world in which we live is to change our level of consciousness.”

When You Use the 12 Pathways:
“I am perceiving everyone, including myself, as an awakening being who is here to claim his or her birthright to the higher consciousness planes of unconditional love and oneness.”

The Way to Happiness:
“The practical solution to the problem of continuously enjoying our lives is to re-train our biocomputers so that the first response to a life situation is to harmonize our energies with the outside world instead of trying to force the outside world to fit our inner patterns. ”

Freeing Yourself:
“…an addiction is backed up by the full rush of your emotional warfare with yourself and others. They dominate your consciousness and keep you from thinking straight.”

About the Author _ Ken Keyes:

Ken Keyes, Jr. (1919–1995) lived in Coos Bay, Oregon. He was a personal growth leader and longtime peace advocate who died of kidney failure on December 20, 1995, at 74. Ken was the author of 15 books, including the million-copy-selling books Handbook to Higher Consciousness and The Hundredth Monkey. In 1989, Keyes received a peace award from Arizona State University for his contribution to world peace. Keyes used a wheelchair as a result of polio he contracted in 1946. In his book ” Discovering the Secrets of Happiness, he said his illness had enriched his life. Because without it, he wrote, “I do not think I would have discovered the personal growth methods that have meant so much to me.”

Where I Would Recommend Getting Your Copy:
Handbook To Higher Consciousness by Ken Keys, Jr.

If you’re interested in this book, I’d also highly recommend checking out:

Letting Go by David R. Hawkins
A Guide to Rational Living by Albert Ellis and Robert A. Harper, first published in 1961.