Bettye Johnson

Thoughts are things; change your thinking and you’ll change your life.

This is basically what this book is about, although Bettye Johnson certainly approaches it from a different perspective. Rather than broaching the material as an affirmative speaker might do, she tackles the mystery of the mind from a laywoman’s point of view.

According to Bettye, it’s necessary for us to change our negative core beliefs, those credos that became embedded in us primarily in childhood, and which now manifest themselves in adulthood an various negative ways: lack of wealth, wrong thinking, mental cages, chaos, and so forth.

One chapter that really spoke to me is entitled ‘The I That Is I Am’, a unique and insightful look at the relationship between others and ourselves. For example, Bettye quotes from an unknown author: “When I give to others, I am giving to Myself; when I take from others, I am taking from Myself”

Ending this very interesting book are two chapters; one. a story dealing with the power of words, the other, the power of no words.

In fact, it is obviously throughout this book that the author loves Words, not only for creating stories and poems, but also to discover the esoteric and ancient and historical meanings of them so as to distill from them their true essence.

Readers familiar with channeling will recognize the occasional reference to J Z Knight and Ramtha’s teachings. However, regardless of the reader’s own beliefs, there is still much material here that can be applied to our daily lives.

As Bettye herself says, “If we continue on the same highway of beliefs that limit us, then these highways will lead to sickness and ultimately death.”

I also understand now what she means when she remarks, “Life is a journey of discovery—the discovery of self.”

And, as the ancient adage proclaims, “Man, know thyself.”… (altro)

Review and Response: Awakening the Genie Within

I obtained this book, you could say, by accident. I did not truly realize that this was in fact a “New Age” self help book until it arrived at my door. I have however followed through and read this work and present to you my review of this journey to “enlightenment” from a Christian perspective. In this book Johnson introduces the fact that we only use about 10% of our brain. She believes that other 90% is the genie within, our inner godliness. She suggests that we are all divine, but have chosen to incarnate ourselves on the lowest plane, earth. In this book she gives steps that she believes can help you break out of your mental cages and experience this freedom.

This is the first and most likely only, book I have read by Mss. Bettye Johnson. In it she offers many good suggestions including the shedding of impatience, jealousy, and other negative things. However this is only a very small part of the book. Most of this piece is very loosely connected ideas that make little to no sense and either references to individuals who do likewise or quotes taken out of context. Johnson suggests that we must be open minded, and that “Doubt is the killer of all dreams.” However I believe that to be completely open and not to doubt is to use less than 10% of your brain.

Below I have offered a response outlining a few of these points of non-sequitur as well as a few suggestions. You may choose to believe or reject me where I disagree with her writing, but I can not give an accurate review of this piece without pointing those places out.

The opening chapters of this book begin with the idea that we are all on a quest, we are searching for something, though we may not truly know what it is. The way she describes these quests however and connects them with her beliefs may often cause confusion. For example one of her first examples is that of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. They are always on a quest for the Holy Grail, and Johnson states, “What is that holy grail? It is the genie within.” Though very oddly stated, after multiple pages of statements like this, I kind of understand where she is going and it is this. We are all seeking something better, something more. We feel incomplete on our own so we try to get money, or relationships etc. However the fulfillment from these is only temporary. However Johnson believes that what we truly are searching for is the “genie within”.

Johnson describes this genie as a spirit, something great living within us, that we can unlock. We are always looking outside of ourselves, but the answer is truly within us right? To be completely honest I think our world is doomed if we turn to ourselves for guidance. We make mistakes, a lot. Johnson argues that these mistakes and problems that we have are part of the chaos, which through quantum physics brings forth a new creation.

Now Johnson does not fully reject a belief in God, but finds that there must be some greater deity. She records a letter and the responses she believes God gives her in chapter 4. However when asking about our roles as human beings Johnson receives the response that we are made in God’s image…so we must be an extension of him. If we are made in God’s image, which I believe we are, this does not mean that we are extensions of God. If you make a statue of a cow it is made in the cow’s image, but it is not an extension of the cow. Now if she had touched on passages in the Bible where we are referred to as the body of Christ this would be a more accurate association, but this passage is of course not stating that we are a part of Christ.

Now later sections of her book have a great deal of truth about living life filled with love and about the origins of words within them. The book does however lose a great deal of the flow and almost seems sporadic in topics. I will not even get into the tangent about sexism or the badly written narrative. It also contains a constant theme of misquoting of the Bible and other sources. The worst of which is that which she ends the book with, and I choose to end my review with noting that this passage was part of a song about God, the italics being a quote within the scripture. “There comes a moment to go within and be still, and know that I am god. This comes from Psalms 46:10…”… (altro)