Esmerelda Sweetwater

[Questioner]

I finished reading Esmerelda Sweetwater today.

Thanks to Don and Carla for writing the book, and to Carla, Jim and b4 team for making it available.

Are there already discussion threads about it?

I'd like to notice a few things about it. I'd also like to find out how others have responded to the book.

If there's already a thread about it that someone can help me find, I'll join that one.

[Lorna]

i don't recall ever seeing a thread discussing it - it's not something i've read, must remedy that

[Questioner]

In that case, let's see if we could discuss it a bit here, without giving away too many plot twists.

I have to admit that the bizarre title was a real turn-off for me for a full year. Eventually, I figured that since I'm so inspired by the other LLR material, I should give this book a chance.

The nonfiction introduction has biographical material about Don, Carla, and Jim, that I haven't seen anywhere else. Some of the things that were said about their experience helped me understand them much more. I think that including that material in the history of LLR might help readers have a deeper appreciation of LLR and what they have gone through to bring forth these spiritual concepts. In particular the photo and anecdotes about Don really helped me appreciate his personality even more.

I also wonder if the introductory comments should be moved instead to the end of the book, because they give away some of the surprises in the novel's storyline. I guess my recommendation is that first-time readers skip the introduction and go right to the Prologue on page 20.

Philosophically, here are some key things that stood out to me.

Amazing to see the foreshadowing of so much of LLR's later channeled material from Ra onwards:

* The concept of distortion - called "aberration"
* Sadness and fatigue of the wanderer
* Physical exhaustion caused by metaphysical workings
* Nonjudgmental teacher who leaves with a closing benediction of "love and light"
* Polarity and The Choice
* Service to self manipulations to trick positive entities into going into darkness based on the truth being withheld

Also interesting to see some things that seem quite different than the later material, or ideas not returned to at all as far as I know:
* "The eye of the fish" in the prologue - I'm lost as to what that might mean
* Astral thought forms
* Very pessimistic view of Earth's potential for positive polarization
* "Demons are too stupid to do more than one thing at a time"
* Detailed description of magical ritual
* The deep sadness and ambiguity of the conclusion's "cave" metaphor

Overall I enjoyed the storytelling. I like the way that the characters each worked so hard to sincerely implement what each thought was necessary from his or her own point of view. They were distinct and clearly drawn. For the most part, vivid and clear storytelling that's the inevitable unfolding when these perspectives collide. The "pilot porn" of what's our runway Roger, is this our altitude, Al? was a bit much for me, but I can forgive that in the only novel of a pilot. I got a kick out the use of "this is a new sleep drug" speech for hypnotic sleep.

I'd certainly love to be as rich, energetic, spiritually advanced and good-looking as most of the main characters.

I also enjoyed the very picturesque descriptions of the locations and the vigorous storytelling. I wasn't ever lost about who was doing what, where (at least regarding the physical realm).

I think the violence and moral ambiguity make it not really "a parable for all ages." I think before adolescence, the concepts and imagery may be too intense for young readers. That tagline surprises me since it's quite clearly a book for adults, or mature teenagers.

My understanding is that repeated attempts were made to pitch the book for a movie production, which never went anywhere. Two thirds of the book is vivid and concise enough that it would make an excellent movie. The story and characters are uncluttered and easy to follow. Unfortunately, without the unfilmable exposition of spiritual matters and backstory, several scenes might be incomprehensible. I do feel that today's audiences are much more likely to accept a story like this on film than back at the time the book was written.

Given how many "spiritual concepts" novels have recently become hits, with far worse spiritual concepts and lousy storytelling, it's kind of a surprise to me that this book doesn't grace the shelves of most metaphysical bookstores.

Reading this book helped me understand more of just why Don was so happy about the opportunity to converse with Ra.

I think the most brilliantly done part of the book might be the way the negatively-susceptible people were swayed by demonic influence, using the contents of their own fears and prejudices to put their choices into a box.

I think that seekers who are intrigued by the Law of One material but just aren't clear on the whole "beyond 3D" or "Choice of polarity" concepts might find the book helpful.

Again, my thanks for making the book available.

Has anyone else around here read it?

[teraX]

Thanks to Questioner, excellent book review!

>I think that seekers who are intrigued by the Law of One material but just aren't clear on the whole "beyond 3D" or "Choice of >polarity" concepts might find the book helpful.
As to your conclusion, would you like to elaborate on this?
Why reading this novel can help us to be more clear on the Choice?

[Questioner]

Hi Tera, welcome to the forum.

Have you had a chance to read any of the Law of One material from L/L Research?
I wouldn't recommend Esmerelda as the first thing to read from LLR.

Sure, I can usually make any idea more elaborate. My challenge is keeping it simple!

Reasons for my conclusion? The book illustrates the choice through the characters' experiences. It includes several conversations about the nature of the choice and the need to make it. These discussions show what the characters were thinking. Although in one case it shows more of the manipulative nature of the dark side, rather than what the character really thought.

The story demonstrates the mindset difference between white and black magic. It also shows how people with a positive or negative orientation responded to both physical and metaphysical situations.

For someone who's read some of the other LLR material, it can help to give a story parable to make the distinctions easier to follow. Without having read the other material, some of the novel may be difficult to follow or its implications might not be clear.

It also seems to me that after their further research, especially the Ra contact, Don and Carla revised several of their interpretations and conclusions. The philosophy that was expanded and corrected in later work once more research was done, especially the Ra contact. Esmerelda essentially asks a lot of questions and answers a few of them.

The later books offer far more complete answers, all in a nonfiction format. They deal with timeless philosophies. Esmerelda's setting is in a particular time. For example, the characters are often away from telephones and can't contact each other as situations change. Today, a hundred pages of suspense would disappear with someone just using their cell phone.

[peelstreetguy]

Thanks Questioner! I have not read it yet, but I will now. I guess the title turned me off, but your review has turned me on to reading it.

[Lavazza]

Hey, thanks for that write up, Q! I haven't read it either, the title sort of turned me off as well I suppose. I still may not ever have a chance to read it, since I have a list of 20 or so books on my plate right now that I'm really looking forward to first. Can you elaborate more on how you found the book to be enlightening about Don, Carla and company? That does sound quite intriguing.

cheers!

[βαθμιαίος]

I read it a number of years ago and enjoyed it much more than I expected.

I think the book is fairly central to L/L Research's story of itself and it also foreshadowed the central drama of the Ra contact years as you can see in the quotes below.

67.16 Questioner: Are you familiar with a book that the instrument and I wrote approximately twelve years ago called The Crucifixion Of Esmerelda Sweetwater, in particular the banishing ritual that we used to bring the entities to Earth?

Ra: I am Ra. This is correct.

67.17 Questioner: Were there any incorrectnesses in our writing with respect to the way this was performed?

Ra: I am Ra. The incorrectnesses occurred only due to the difficulty an author would have in describing the length of training necessary to enable the ones known in that particular writing as Theodore and Pablo in the necessary disciplines.

67.18 Questioner: It has seemed to me that that book has somehow, in its entirety, been a link to many of those whom we have met since we wrote it and to many of the activities we have experienced. Is this correct?

Ra: I am Ra. This is quite so.

68.13 Questioner: We have been speaking almost precisely of a portion of the Esmerelda Sweetwater book which we wrote having to do with the character Trostrick’s misplacement of the space girl’s mind/body/spirit complex. What is the significance of that work which we did with respect to our lives? It has been confusing to me for some time as to how it meshes in. Can you tell me that?

Ra: I am Ra. We scan each and find we may speak.

68.14 Questioner: Would you please do so now?

Ra: I am Ra. We confirm the following which is already, shall we say, supposed or hypothesized.

When the commitment was made between two of this group to work for the betterment of the planetary sphere, this commitment activated a possibility/probability vortex of some strength. The experience of generating this volume was unusual in that it was visualized as if watching the moving picture.

Time had become available in its present-moment form. The scenario of the volume went smoothly until the ending of the volume. You could not end the volume, and the ending was not visualized as the entire body of the material but was written or authored.

This is due to the action of free will in all of the creation. However, the volume contains a view of significant events, both symbolically and specifically, which you saw under the influence of the magnetic attraction which was released when the commitment was made and full memory of the dedication of this, what you may call, mission restored.

[Questioner]

Peel St. (and others), if you do read the novel I'd like to learn what you think of it.

βαθμιαίος you added your excerpts while I was typing this. Thank you.

Lavazza, the introduction to the book is from 1985 although the novel was written much earlier. It's a nonfiction summary of the lives of Don, Carla, and Jim and how the novel came about.

The way that they put things in this introduction helped me understand much more about their lives: their families, careers, personalities, relationships with each other, the connection between the Esmeralda and Ra books, and what went wrong with their health.

This biographical material is heartfelt and some of it is heartbreaking, especially about Don's last years and Carla's ongoing health issues. And the descriptions of Don's unflappable nature as a teacher were really funny. Although Carla and Jim do offer the book here, I wouldn't feel right about putting that personal material of theirs into the public forum on their behalf. I'll simply say that some things that were mysteries to me about the history of LLR were plainly explained in that book.

This biographical introduction is a quick read of maybe 15 pages. You could slip that onto your plate, if you wish, without reading the whole book.

[Lavazza]

Thank you! I will do exactly that.

[AnthroHeart]

Just finished the book. It makes it amazing to see what an adept goes through. I wonder about the dangers of black vs white magic, and whether black magic really is more powerful.

[Phoenix]

It was a great book. I absolutely loved the bit where it first starts to get tense, where the kidnappers have space girl and she starts reading their mind. That was brilliant.

You mentioned about it wanting to become a Hollywood movie, and the Stephen Spielberg mini series 'Taken' seems to have a lot of similarities. The eye thing that drives people mad. The telepathic girl. Links to Oneness. Although there are definitely things in the miniseries that were not in this book.

[JJCarsonian]

I finished reading Esmerelda Sweetwater today.

Thanks to Don and Carla for writing the book, and to Carla, Jim and b4 team for making it available.

Are there already discussion threads about it?

I'd like to notice a few things about it.  I'd also like to find out how others have responded to the book.

If there's already a thread about it that someone can help me find, I'll join that one.

I know this is a realllly old thread, but can someone give me a synopsis on this book? Ra says its foretells the interaction with the L&L group?

I think Carla said it foretells Don's death? I dont care about spoilers, im not going to read it anyhow, i dont like reading fiction anyways, but thought this was interesting.

[AnthroHeart]

Contains Spoiler:

I remember there being a car chase, someone getting shot and healed. A man who loved oranges I believe it was and thought a UFO was a big bowl of them.
And an ET getting tricked into negative time/space, and the only way to rescue them was to put out a beacon that was light enough.
So one character asked to be crucified. But the other wouldn't do it. But a crazy man came and finished the job, thus saving the ET from the negative realm.

That's about all I remember.

[JJCarsonian]

Wow that's pretty amazing

[Sacred Fool]

As I recall--vaguely--the detailed description of one character's home and landscaping pre-figured that of Andre Puharich, whom they didn't meet until later.  And the concept of one of the group of three (who contacted Ra) dying was seen as being pre-figured in that story--although, they all expected the victim would be Carla because she *seemed* to be the most vulnerable of the three.  This is discussed maybe in an introduction to that story or in some other L/L Research material.

That said, I would count this as "transient material."  The deeper stuff is in the polarizing of the characters--that is, their dedication--not in the "special effects," in my view.

As I remember it, the Esmeralda tale a pretty quick read.  You should check it out on the l/l website.

[Quan]

Definately recommed reading it!  I been waiting for years to read it..finnaly intuition gave me the go ahead this year I was very happy to get that green light.    Incredible book and did not happen as expected.  I love the potrayal of the service to self and service to others in it, *spoiler alter *
from the loving optimism of the 2 main female characters shown in two different manners one of innocence and cant put finger on other one, the conniving of the service to self main baddy, the humour and relaxing nature of the younger main lead and the leadership of the older male lead. Also the confusion and awakening of the other male character.  Oh an the constant meditation of the wanderer male lead.

One thing i enjoyed most was the talk in Law of One speak, and also the insight into the magical personality in a practical manner.   Does anyone know any other books that is similar to this? Eg on magical personality?

Sorry no names here, im typing on the run so maybe ill add in an edit later or maybe not..

[JJCarsonian]

Very cool, i'm all about transient material, just because i find it really interesting.

I guess my interest in knowing how everything works is far above most people. The LL group was able to peer into possible timelines and wrote about their own interactions. I find the part about the space girl in negative time space a huge coincidence.