I became aware of John’s work primarily through his videos after a friend of mine in The Gurdjieff Work had read a piece of mine and asked, “James, have you ever heard of John Butler…?” I hadn’t. So when I listened John’s interview with Ian M. @ Conscious TV, a candle was lit and happy to say remains so. And, thankfully, I’m not alone. Like most of his over 200,000 YT followers, I learned about his further work as an author through his Spiritual Unfoldment webpage. My first book to read was Mystic Burning, Salutary Lessons in America. Mystic Burning is a beautifully crafted in-the-moment memoir of his travels through the western US. This is but one book in an expansive (and might I say) never-ending pilgrimage of a man’s search for meaning. Some of the material in this book is drawn from letters, some from diary entries–all of it blended into a highly personal and personable narrative style. John’s writing here is part travelogue, part memoir, and part naturalist treatise–we get to see the changing landscape of America, yes. But we also get a magnificent glimpse the flora and fauna of wherever he sets his compass and goes. Along the way, he observes the diverse cultures of Native Americans, farmers, truckers, and cowboys is as they work to maintain lives from the mundane to the transcendent. Sometimes the melting pot isn’t too pretty. Mostly, however, Mystic Burning deals with the subject of spiritual search–about the burning of devotion, the burning of humiliation to extinguish the false ego–the coming face to face with such ‘emptying of self’ that made way for a radiant, friendly all-inhabiting presence…one long yearned for perhaps from a time before he was ever born. Best to leave the reader to go on this journey with John–every call to be carries with it some agonizing realizations about oneself or about those with whom one is similarly engaged. All of it material for individual growth if a center of gravity is found…and out there in the Mojave Desert…perhaps there is a reason deserts are traditionally places where inner springs are found to be the most free flowing. Sounds mystic, right? John is an author who has knit together holy wisdoms from his love of the land to his home in the stars. ‘Go out one starlit night’…the one that is so clear that you can see those messenger angels leaning over into our world and brightening the dark with their pre-sence. I’ve heard that when it is most silent, on those clear, most starful of nights, they dip into the milky way to nourish themselves on the peace and comfort that human blessings bring… Safe to say, the writings of John Butler are among these – the greatest of blessings…words like stars that have made our world a better place. Of which we are comprised so spaketh Zarathustra. As is John. He has lived to lighten the burden of all creatures from his beloved farm animals to those seekers who have responded to his message. So you may ask – is this then what is called a “five star review” Yes. But then again, look up and out past the moon at midnight from any hemisphere you are in right now…and this reviewer’s reality will be much closer to the truth: all bluegold and midnight clear. May God Bless John Butler of Bakewell. By nearly every account it appears very much that he is blessed indeed. Watch his “What is Spirit…” Feet on the ground. Listen and Look. You’ll see.