Divinely Inspired: Spiritual Awakening of a Soul

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Since the beginning of time, humans have tried to understand God’s Essence. However, not even the most brilliant and enlightened minds among us can comprehend Him because simply put, “God is.” If we understood the mystery of God, then why would we need to have faith? Perhaps the best we can hope for is to recognize when we are visited by God. We then have the opportunity to bring real change and meaning to our lives. Divinely Inspired is one man’s story to lift himself out of the despair of Bipolar disorder, near suicide, migraines, anxiety, neurotic behavior, and scientific cheating to emerge on a path to God. Jerry Pollock’s transformation from a damaged and ravaged soul to merging into God’s Light, as outlined in Divinely Inspired: Spiritual Awakening of a Soul, is seen through unusual miracles of Divine intervention that initiated the author’s spiritual journey. Jerry’s climbing of the spiritual ladder is a very gradual and personal process as he tries to improve his flawed character. He comes to realize that God is the master scientist responsible for both Evolution and Creation. As his story unfolds, readers are inadvertently empowered to embark on their own spiritual journey, as best as they can, by adhering to the Creator’s original self-help plan, The Ten Commandments. The author contends that the Ten Commandments are the basis for all self-improvement. This memoir represents the author’s first steps to stand in God’s place of Holiness. His own journey of belonging to God is continued in his new novel, the Messiah Interviews, to be published in paperback form in January of 2009 along with a printing reissue second edition of Divinely Inspired.

EXCERPT:

THE VOICE

By the late fall of 1982, I had divorced Rhea, been promoted to full professor at Stony Brook University, and was planning to marry Marcia on Christmas Eve of the following year. My life focused around Marcia, our five children, scientific research, and Primal Therapy. I was heavy into my feelings, now that the therapy was so much a part of me. For the previous year, I had recorded all of my feelings, and by the fall of 1982, I had filled up seven research laboratory notebooks with my handwriting, each book consisting of three hundred pages. There was a lot of repetition and I seemed to have reached a plateau in terms of making further progress. In an unusual display of frustration, I brought the seven notebooks to the edge of my Poquott loft and proceeded to throw all of them in one thrust onto the floor below. I felt like Moses smashing the first set of Tablets on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed. Moses had become enraged when he came down Mount Sinai and discovered that the Israelites had built the Golden Calf. The sounds of the books crashing were subdued by a loud and strong male voice that was definitely external.

I heard the words very clearly, “And you shall be Mine.” I remember being both startled and afraid, because I neither knew whose voice this was nor could I figure out how the voice got into my cottage. There was no bipolar disorder or manic depression back then, so I couldn’t blame the voice on the illness. It was about two weeks later when I heard the voice again. This time the words were slightly different: “And you shall have.” Could this be the true voice of God, I thought. However, I didn’t dare tell anyone what had happened, not even Marcia, until ten years later. I simply ignored these mysterious events and went on with my life, but the words of the voice never left me. Why did this happen? I had no explanation. I kept the books, recording my Primal feelings, for many additional years before dumping them in the garbage along with my three Primal Therapy textbooks. I was to discover twenty years later that I would need these books again.

My Review: 4.5 stars

This book about the author's early years, his bouts with manic depression and his recovery is a riveting read. Jerry spends many years trying different therapies to help him with his neuroses and anxieties. It was not until he almost joined a cult that his spiritual journey begins.

This book touched me in many ways. One way was how frank Jerry is about his manic depression. This part was very personal to me because my husband had what I call a mental breakdown or what the doctors called severe depression with anxiety. I felt that this part really captures what happens to a person who is struggling with their mental illness. I liked that it was told from point of view of the person who has mental illness. In away it made me understand what my husband had gone through.

The epilogue is Jerry's spiritual insight. He begins exploring faith and what faith means to him by using many examples from the old testament and other Jewish books. He then explains his view on evolutionary man, anthropology human, creation human, and spiritual human. He also explores what the Ten Commandments mean to him. This section of the book probable is the most controversial part of the book. Some people might have issues with what he has to say. But I found it very interesting and thought provoking.

Jerry is a gifted story teller. As he tells the story of his life, the reader can relate to what is happening to him and feel his pain and then his happiness as he recovers from his mental illness. This is a great read about one person's life and spiritual journey.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jerry Pollock is the author of seventy-five scientific publications. His background includes both a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Pharmacy from the University of Toronto, a Ph.D. in Biophysics from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, and Postdoctoral training in Microbiology at the New York University School of Medicine. Dr. Pollock is currently Professor Emeritus in the Oral Biology and Pathology Department in the School of Dental Medicine at the State University of New York at Stony Brook on Long Island. Jerry’s first writer of the arts book, Divinely Inspired: Spiritual Awakening of a Soul, was a spiritual memoir originally published in 2003. The second edition of Divinely Inspired will be reissued in Paperback on Jan. 1, 2009. His ‘not so fictional’ novel, Messiah Interviews: Belonging to God, due out also on Jan. 1, 2009, is Jerry’s way of giving back to the Creator. Jerry is married to Marcia, his bashert or destined one. They reside in Florida.

For more about Jerry and his work, please visit http://www.shechinahthirdtemple.org/

Happy Reading