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Both of Dr. Jerry Burgener’s books, "Desert Journey" and its new sequel "Return to the Desert," are fictional, but largely autobiographical, portrayals of a man’s spiritual journey toward greater understanding about life, its value and purpose. Jerry travels into the desert where he learns lessons from his Native American spiritual guide, Tom. Together, the two men explore what has held Jerry back in life, and also how life, with all its events—joys and tragedies—is always a blessing.
In "Return to the Desert," Jerry finds he needs a refresher on lessons he previously learned, but also that it is time to build on previous lessons to advance farther in his self-knowledge. Devastated to find his girlfriend has been cheating on him, Jerry seeks sympathy from Tom, not at all expecting Tom’s reaction that the situation is a blessing in disguise because it will provide among other things a new learning experience for Jerry.
Return to the Desert
Dr. Jerry Burgener
iUniverse (2010)
ISBN 9781450205238
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (04/10)
“Return to the Desert” is the sequel to “Desert Journey.” In this adventure, Jerry continues on his spiritual path with lessons and guidance given to him by Tom, a Native American spirit guide. On this journey, Jerry experiences past-life regression. Freshly out of a relationship in which he felt betrayed, Jerry is able to make the connection between incidences that he did not clear up in his past lives with those that he is re-experiencing in this life. As he progresses through his memories, he begins recognizing the connections between the different relationships and gains an understanding of how he needs to heal them, so that he will not keep reliving them.
Most of Jerry’s regression memories involve experiences with a father who he felt abandoned him. By not clearing up those negative feelings, he finds himself feeling betrayed again in a relationship with a woman. Recognizing similarities between the two experiences, Tom helps him to figure out what he needs to do to heal so that he can move on with his life. Jerry also has a friend named Sam who offers him some very sound, good advice. Between Sam and Tom, Jerry is given a lot of things to think about.
“Return to the Desert” is beautifully told in vivid detail so that, as a reader, I felt like I was seeing Jerry’s life directly through his eyes. The settings were also beautifully described and Jerry’s relationship with his horse, also added a special touch to what he had going on in his life because he knew that he could rely on her. His spiritual guide at times seemed very real, and at other times seemed to be an enigma. I felt that this demonstrated that Jerry was progressing to the point where he could use his intuition to see the lessons that the guide had for him, especially since many of their contacts were in dream like states.
I gained some powerful insights from reading “Return to the Desert.” The first insight focused on the importance of clearing up past life issues so that we no longer have to relive them and so that they will not hinder our spiritual growth. The second and third insight came to me at about the same time. I realized that it is important to clear up relationship issues in this life time so that I do not repeat the same mistakes in this life, as I have seen many people do, and also that I do not need to repeat them in future lives. Jerry’s story taught me to clean issues up now, so that they do not hinder my spiritual growth. “Return to the Desert” is a wonderfully written story of a man’s spiritual journey that will also have an impact on the reader’s journey and spiritual growth.
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