I had the honor of speaking to renowned and New York Times best-selling author Whitley Strieber. He began his writing career with a pair of modern-Gothic horror novels, The Wolfen (1981) and The Hunger (1983), which was turned into a feature film by the late great filmmaker Tony Scott.
He is perhaps best known for the third phase of his career, which began with Communion (1989), an autobiographical account of his experiences with strange "visitors" who he says came to his cabin in the New York countryside. This #1 New York Times Non-Fiction Bestseller (on the list for 15 weeks) was also turned into a film starring Christopher Walken.
Whitley has written several other thrillers, and two novels about environmental apocalypse, Nature's End and The Coming Global Superstorm. Superstorm served as an inspiration for Fox's The Day After Tomorrow (2004), and Strieber later penned the novelization of that film.
"Hate is like coal, it burns out. Love is like heat, it doesn't." - The Master of the Key
In this episode, we will be discussing one of Whitley's most profound books, The Key: A True Encounter.
At two-thirty in the morning of June 6, 1998, Whitley Streiber was awakened by somebody knocking on his hotel room door. A man came in, and everything he said was life-altering.
This is the unsettling and ultimately enlightening narrative of what happened that night. Strieber was never really sure who this strange and knowing visitor was--a "Master of Wisdom"? A figure from a different realm of consciousness? A preternaturally intelligent being? He called him the Master of the Key. The one thing of which Strieber was certain is that both the man and the encounter were real.
The main concern of the Master of the Key is to save each of us from self-imprisonment. "Mankind is trapped," the stranger tells Strieber. "I want to help you spring the trap." In a sweeping exchange between Strieber and the stranger--which takes the form of a classical student- teacher dialogue in pursuit of inner understanding--the unknown man presents a lesson in human potential, esoteric psychology, and man's fate. He illuminates why man has been caught in a cycle of repeat violence and self-destruction--and the slender, but very real, possibility for release.
In its breadth and intimacy, The Key is on par with contemporary metaphysical traditions, such as A Course in Miracles, or even with the dialogues of modern wisdom teachers, such as D.T. Suzuki and Carl Jung.
It was a pleasure speaking to Whitley. Enjoy!
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