Barry Long - The Origins of Man and the Universe: The myth that came to life

The myth that came to life

BARRY LONG

BARRY LONG BOOKS

This revised edition first published 1998 by

Barry Long Books

BCM Box 876, London WC1N 3XX, England

www.barrylongbooks.com

Ebook edition: 2016

First published 1984 by Routledge & Kegan Paul

Barry Long 1984, 1998

The Barry Lonf Trust 2016

The right of Barry Long to be identified as the author of this
work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78
of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any
means without the prior permission of the publisher

Cataloguing-in-Publication Data:
A catalogue record for this book is available from The British Library.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 97-93601

ISBN Paperback 978 1 899324 12 5

ISBN Hardcover 0 9508050 6 8

ISBN Ebook 978 1 899324 36 1

Editor of first edition: Peter Kingsley

Editors of second edition: Clive Tempest and Jade Bell

Illustrations: Jorma Sauvala

Cover design: Rene Graphics, Brisbane

Star over lake photo: Linton Lowe

Photo of Barry Long: Andrew Hawdon

TO THE TRUTH

THIS BOOK IS the product of an intense period of introspection by a man whom many regard as one of the spiritual masters of our times. The story begins in 1978. Barry Long had been consciously engaged in self-realisation for more than twenty years and now, at the age of 52, he was about to explore the immense knowledge unlocked by his realisations. As he began to write he had no idea where it would lead. A flood of insights into human nature simply took him from one subject to another. In fact he had begun a project that would occupy him for the next five years and encompass the entire story of existence. As he wrote he went deeper and deeper into an exploration of the very source of our consciousness, ultimately leading him to describe the fundamental structures of reality itself.

The authors only source was his own spiritual realisation and revelation. He refrained from consulting other authorities, scientific, philosophical or spiritual. Through his own gnosis, or direct knowledge of universal truth, he found he was accounting for the host of perennial questions that have teased philosophers since ancient times and still bemuse the leading physicists of our day. Not only that, but he was gathering all these insights together into one grand design, a mythic account of the work of consciousness on earth.

The many strands and themes of these writings were woven together to form a book and it was ready by 1983. The manuscript was shown to a leading publishing company in London, where Barry Long was then living. A little dubious about the lack of academic credentials but recognising the books unique quality, the publisher took it on and printed five thousand copies. It was some years before that edition was out of print and many readers said it was a book that changed their lives.

For the present edition, which appears fourteen years after the first, Barry Long and his editors have given the text a thorough revision. The language and style is generally simpler and in many sections the exposition has been clarified. The structure of the book is very much changed, with a new approach to the division of the material into chapters and sections. An appendix has been added which provides further background to the contents. Some passages in the first edition have been deleted, others have been totally rewritten and there are many paragraphs that are completely new. The author has nevertheless remained true to the original revelation of the book, adding very little from his subsequent realisations yet bringing to it the greater refinement with which he naturally sees things now.

Clive Tempest