Book Review - Return To The Desert by Dr Jerry Burgener

Book Review

Return To The Desert

by Dr Jerry Burgener

About the Author

Dr. Jerry Burgener grew up in Illinois and still lives there today. He received his PhD in Human Learning from Southern Illinois University, spent most of his career as a forensic psychologist as well as working in schools and Mental Health Organizations.  He is now in private practice with his techniques and approaches being presented in print by news media and on national television. Dr. Jerry has also ridden and trained horses in Illinois and Arizona.

Book Description

In this sequel to the novel Desert Journey, Jerry Burgener continues studying the spiritual lessons provided by his American Indian spirit guide, Tom, as he chronicles his incredible journey to understand life and relationships and why we choose one lover over another.

Again basing his story on true events, Jerry returns to Tom's mountain retreat near Apache Junction, Arizona, expecting sympathy and understanding from Tom when he relays that his fiancé has cheated on him with an ex-boyfriend. Instead, Tom calmly states, "Everything is perfect and as it should be." Jerry soon realizes he has to relearn many lessons Tom taught him on the very same mountaintop a year earlier and then must achieve a whole new level of understanding in order to find inner peace. As Jerry struggles to comprehend his need to constantly be immersed in a relationship, Tom challenges him to find his place in the universe and uses past life regression to help Jerry understand how his actions provide consequences beyond his current life.

Superstition Mountain provides a perfect backdrop as Tom continues his spiritual pilgrimage to find the key to true happiness.

Our Book Review

If you read my book review of the author's first book 'Desert Journey' then you will know just how much I loved it.  In fact I just could not wait to read the follow up and was certainly not disappointed and had an extremely hard job to put the book down.  Although I don't think it could come close to the experience of reading the first book, to be fair I don't think any book could !! 

A year ago, on a horse trek around Spiritual Mountain Jerry was gently guided by the hands of fate to an encounter with a wise old Indian named Tom unbeknownst to Jerry, Tom is his spiritual friend from many past lives and his spiritual mentor on his life's journey, they have shared many lifetimes together and made an agreement a long time ago to find each other to help reach their fullest potential.

In this book, Jerry returns a year later to the beauty of Spiritual Mountain for further guidance from his spiritual friend, Tom.  Jerry's quest is still to find true happiness and his true self, but he is also battling against his relationship demons after yet another relationship has failed.  He  looks to Tom for answers as to why after so much learning the previous year he can still get things so wrong.  Tom's reply is that everything is perfect as it should be, which makes no sense at all to Jerry.  After some time Jerry realises that he had let the learning slip and had forgotten many important lessons which he would need to restart once again.

The story focuses on finding the answers to why he feels so much anger and abandonment at leaving Jenna and why he is faced night after night with the recurring dream of John Lee, a young boy who's father left him and his mother to go to war.  The dreams continue to show John Lee working on the farm to look after his mother, a tragic accident for the plough horse, the death of his weak mother and finally trying to find his father during wartime. I could have read a lot more about John Lee's life but it would have ended up being a very big book to read.

A couple of messages stood out for me while I was so engrossed in the story.  The first was that when something happens to you you can spend all your time thinking of yourself as a victim and how awful it is or you can ask yourself what am I meant to learn from this experience.  Don't let feelings take control, its all about the perspective of a situation.  The other was that in relationships love is important but like and respect is much more important.  If you do not know why you liked that person in the first place then when love ends   what reason do you have to stay.  

I love the way the author writes the story to include life messages of self help.  I could actually sit and read about Tom's spiritual guidance and lessons all the time, I would obviously prefer to sit on the edge of the mountain with him overlooking the beauty of the valley below but will have to make do reading from a book.  

A highly recommended book to everyone who enjoys to read and I cannot wait for the author's next return to his spiritual guide.

Our Rating (surprise, surprise)

 

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Book Review - Desert Journey by Dr Jerry Burgener

Book Review

Desert Journey

by Dr Jerry Burgener

About the Author

Dr. Jerry Burgener grew up in Illinois and still lives there today. He received his PhD in Human Learning from Southern Illinois University, spent most of his career as a forensic psychologist as well as working in schools and Mental Health Organizations.  He is now in private practice with his techniques and approaches being presented in print by news media and on national television. Dr. Jerry has also ridden and trained horses in Illinois and Arizona.



Book Description 
Reeling from yet another relationship failure, Jerry travels to the American Southwest to spend a couple of months riding his horse, savoring the warm weather, and finding respite from the daily grind. But what begins as a simple escape to the wide-open spaces of Arizona soon becomes a powerful odyssey of self-discovery.

When Jerry comes upon an Indian named Tom in the middle of the Superstition Mountains, he senses that the meeting is no casual encounter. Wise and unreserved, Tom speaks to Jerry with a knowingness that both unnerves and captivates him.

Jerry is compelled to return to the mountain again and again to accept Tom’s challenges, exercises, and assignments for living in the moment, tuning into the love all around him, and honoring a connection to Spirit. With Tom as his guide, Jerry uses dreams and visions of his own past lives to make sense of his modern reality.

Tom’s lessons cause Jerry to question long-held beliefs, but they also afford him the insight he needs to move beyond pain and make his metaphysical journey toward inner peace and enlightenment. 

Our Book Review

Absolutely loved this book, I was completely hooked from the start and found it extremely difficult to put down.  This is one of them books you just do not want to end, WOW!  Such an easy flowing read and one mans quest to find true happiness and his true self is utterly believable.

On a horse trek around Spiritual Mountain Jerry is gently guided by the hands of fate to an encounter with a wise old Indian named Tom unbeknownst to Jerry, Tom is his spiritual friend from many past lives and his spiritual mentor on his life's journey, they have shared many lifetimes together and made an agreement a long time ago to find each other to help reach their fullest potential.

As they sit overlooking the valley Jerry is asked what his most important goals in life are, his reply is to be happy and to learn what it is that he needs to know from this lifetime. The answer is very simple 'To be in the Moment', Tom replies. Tom agrees to teach Jerry only on the condition that he writes all about what all they have talked about in their many times together for people to enjoy and learn from.

The only drawback to the book is that you can not actually sit on the edge of the mountain with them to share the wonders and solitude of the valley although the book describes it so very well you almost feel as if you are there yourself.

Tom begins to teach Jerry the spiritual lessons he requires, these are very clear and gives the reader a great awareness to life's real important lessons, extremely clever story writing by the author. I could write an absolute page upon page but some of the points are that your own perspective on an identical situation can change it from a negative to positive everything happens in life for a reason and for lessons to be learnt, we should take a step back from life events and look at the wider picture from our past and present lifetimes realizing that each event is another opportunity and isn't as important as we think - some people come into our life for a purpose and once that is met they may go on to other things. Also that fear leads to negative feelings and therefore what you are actually thinking about you can bring about, when our emotions are high the signals we send to others make them easier to be picked up and influence their behavior towards ourselves.

One sentence that made me think was that when someone acts in a way that irritates us it is usually because we have it in common but are unable to see it in ourselves, I'm going to have to remember this for the next time it happens.

A fantastic story in its own right with self discovering special messages to be read and learnt. This is one book that I could and probably will read again and again.  I cannot rate this book highly enough, loved it !!

Our Rating

    

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