Deciphering the Golden Flower: One Secret at a Time

Curiosity and circumstance often propel individuals beyond the confines of their upbringing, dumping them into unfamiliar, unexpected life situations. Thus was JJ Semple transported into a trial-and-error process of self-discovery, a path that took him from the East Coast Brahman establishment, to France, to a meeting with Gopi Krishna in India. What he found along the way was Kundalini, the biological basis of both science and religion.

How does Kundalini come into an ordinary person's life? Is it foreordained or is it a Karmic inevitability? Deciphering the Golden Flower One Secret at a Time describes the unlikely circumstances that foreshadowed, and ultimately shaped, JJ Semple's Kundalini experience and his life!

Says the author, “Before Kundalini, I had not found anything substantial in life — nothing to believe in, nothing to work for. I had no clue that a biological phenomenon like Kundalini existed or that I could arouse it through the practice of meditation.

“I wrote this book as a memoir because I wanted to document the difficulties a Westerner faces in getting to the starting point of the self-actualization process. I have Indian and Chinese friends who grew up with meditation and Yoga practices. I had never heard of these practices until I was in my late-twenties. When I finally did, there was very little information extant. That was over forty years ago, before the current proliferation of books and videos on spiritual themes. As for kundalini, I didn't hear the term until well after I had activated it and a force field of energy within my own body — previously unknown to me — swept over me.

“Choosing to focus on my journey from birth to maturity has sparked a wholesale discussion on genres — How-To books vs. memoirs. This is not a How-To book; it’s a autobiographical narrative of my journey. If you're looking for more How-To information on the Secret of the Golden Flower meditation method, check out its long-awaited sequel, The Secret of the Golden Flower: A Kundalini Meditation Method (2018). ASIN: B07D9XTGWB

"Some readers only want information on the method, effectively bypassing the frequently perilous, and often circuitous, route I took to get there, not to mention the years I dedicated to learning to live with this amazing biological subsystem. What a waste! — not to pass this knowledge on, especially when learning to live with Kundalini demands such a high degree of mindfulness and adaptability. Kundalini is an evolutionary energy capable of modifying DNA in a single lifetime; every aspect of it needs to be documented.

“Deciphering the Golden Flower One Secret at a Time is not only an eye-opening exploration of biology, evolution, and mindfulness; it's a street level account of finding oneself in the modern world, the definitive tell-all journal of obstacles met and overcome on the path to activating Kundalini. I don't leave anything out: A childhood accident that robs me of my talents and memory, my battle with drugs and alcohol, my relationships, my slow deterioration and eventual disequilibrium. The young girl in Paris who gave me a copy of The Secret of the Golden Flower (SGF) which led to my practicing Kundalini meditation — the energy cultivation technique — that overhauled my anatomy and metabolism, a wholesale biological retrofitting that opened up a consciousness of unlimited dimension. Deciphering the Golden Flower One Secret at a Time is a full-circle account of the inevitability of karma and the self-actualization process."

JJ Semple shares his many years of first-hand practice with the SGF’s meditation method. Not even Richard Wilhelm, the translator, or Carl Gustav Jung, the famous psychologist, who wrote the original commentary to the sacred book, were able to plumb the depths of these teachings.

In his masterwork, Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man, Gopi Krishna summoned us to commence a search for, “…knowledge of the safest methods for awakening Kundalini that will yield for humanity a periodic golden crop of towering spiritual and mental prodigies.” Since those words were written, how has the search for the “safest methods” progressed? In Deciphering the Golden Flower One Secret at a Time, JJ Semple presents his candidate for the safest method — Golden Flower Meditation. It’s a method he discovered over thirty years ago through trial and error experimentation with The Secret of the Golden Flower. A method he discussed with Gopi Krishna in 1977. JJ Semple's formal education includes studying English Literature at the University of Pennsylvania and George Washington University, and a master’s degree in marketing from Hauts Etudes de Commerce in Paris. His personal education involves yogic practices and spiritual exploration, inspired by a wide variety of teachers, writers and philosophers, including Gopi Krishna, Milarepa, and Lao Tse. His newest book, The Backward-Flowing Method: The Secret of Life and Death takes an expanded look at the subject of activating the Life Force in a safe, permanent, and repeatable fashion.