The Essence by Jes Bertelsen which has just been published on People's Press, is, to put it simply, about the path to the meaning of life.

It begins by noting that over the past 50 years a stream of spiritual impulses has flowed from the East to the West, and that this stream is perhaps a response to the fact that we in the rich part of the world increasingly feel that we lack meaning.

This fullness of meaning exists, says Jes Bertelsen, when we get in touch with our human essence.

What does that mean? What is our human essence?

That is, the book says:

”a common human, transpersonal dimension that is the basis for meaning, compassion, freedom and joy in life. The gift and the opportunity, the task and the challenge is to discover, to realize, this basic, essential openness.”

The rest of the book is about how to get in touch with this dimension. As

”is based on how ordinary people in the West – and in Denmark – immediately experience themselves, experience consciousness and society, and in the way we all use consciousness, warmth and attention. The studies are brief, and they are intended for the reader to cooperate – if the reader wants to – and try for himself to imitate the steps and movements described in the texts. The suggestion is that the reader occasionally, at his own pace, put the text aside and in his own consciousness and in his quiet mind examine, notice and form his own experiences. It is not dogmas or articles of faith that are presented, but studies and suggestions and guidelines that are like fingers pointing to the moon.”

From here, the book is one long teaching flow. A flow that describes consciousness's ability for non-judgmental reflection called mindfulness. A mirroring ability whose neutral awareness can lead to the discovery that it is possible to feel consciousness as such, that is, awareness itself free from the content of this awareness.

This initial direct experience of the content-free wakefulness itself leads to one feeling or understanding that one needs guidance, for a mentor or teacher. Because the inner landscapes one comes into contact with are also wild nature. Furthermore, the text describes how it is precisely the relationship with a mentor or teacher that, together with an inner practice, can lead to the recognition of the essence we all have, we are all permeated by, yes, as we, the book says, all is.

The Essence has humor, seriousness, concern for the planet, small thought-provoking anecdotes and stories, references to comics, literature, painting and philosophy. And it has an insistent and incessant point towards our essence.

All in a strangely effortless way. Almost playful. Natural and transparent.

Up until this book, Jes' books fall – roughly speaking – into two groups: The massively condensed books of consciousness that, together with the author's first ten or so books, demand a lot from the reader. And the easier to read and accessible ones like An essay on inner freedom, Beautiful is the earth and - written together with others - Empathy – what holds the world together.

This book has taken a new step. It is an effortless read, straightforward and fluent – and at the same time, it points, again and again, to the deepest and most innermost things.

Jes once told me that as a young historian of ideas he had come across a book called The meaning of life, and which was over 1000 pages. 'I did not read it,' he said. 'The very size made me suspicious. He, I said to myself, who needs 1000 pages to point out the meaning of life, cannot have found it.'’

The Essence is just over a hundred pages long. For us, there is a feeling on every page that this has been written by a person who knows what he is talking about.

Bookmaking is an art form. The Essence is beautifully illustrated with Ninni Sodahls photographs that in themselves have a Zen-like, condensed, meditative quality and, as they are set up, are in subtle dialogue with the text.