Book review: "The Scripture of the Golden Eternity" by Jack Kerouac

The Golden Eternity: Religious Dogma for the Practical Agnostic
“When you’ve understood this scripture, throw it/ away. If you can’t understand this scripture,/ throw it away. I insist on your freedom.” -Scripture 45


In reading “The Scripture of the Golden Eternity” by Jack Kerouac, this is the first time I have been exposed to any of Kerouac’s poetry. Until now I have only read his prose, so I did not know what to expect. As his book “On the Road” was highly influential to so many readers, I half expected “The Scripture” to be a disappointing flop. However, his poetry, at least in reference to this book, is completely different from his prose. “On the Road” is an autobiographical work describing his trip across America, whereas “The Scripture” is a deep look at a certain philosophy of thought: that of Nihilism.

This book consists of one long poem broken up into numbered stanzas, or “Scriptures.” Kerouac’s tone throughout the piece is a play on seriousness, an ironic sort of mocking of religious dogma by creating his own dogma through “The Scripture of the Golden Eternity.” The first two Scriptures sets the stage for the voice of the poem as a personal message to the reader: “There are not two of us here,/ reader and writer, but one, one golden eternity” (Scripture [Scr.] 1). A tone of irony is also present: “I am Mortal Golden Eternity” (Scr. 2), though being mortal does not equal being eternal-or does it?

It is as if the speaker is the “chosen Messiah to die in the degradation of sentience,” chosen to release the word of the Golden Eternity in an attempt to thwart conventional religious dogma. The Golden Eternity is portrayed as the embodiment of everything religious, supernatural, and dogmatic. Therefore, I find it interesting that the speaker, which is actually the Golden Eternity, states that “there is no me, because all is/ emptiness. I am empty, I am non-existent” (Scr. 6).

The Scripture’s main purpose is to allow the reader to question reality and perception, especially the ‘reality’ of religious belief. An attempt at changing how the reader views religion is made by switching from calling “the Golden Eternity” to other names such as “God” (Scr. 12) and “universal Thisness” (Scr. 20), among others. It is also stated that everything, even the self and your own perception of reality and the universe, are empty and nonexistent. The Golden Eternity suggests that we must “Discard such definite imaginations of phenomena” (Scr. 27).

The Golden Eternity speaks of religion as a human conception that is subjective: “I call it the golden eternity-what do you/ call it, brother?” (Scr. 29). This piece’s focus on religion is also subjective, as such religious innuendo can be interpreted as a metaphor for anything and everything.

This poem lead me to question many philosophies on an existential level, especially in the development of religion and religious scriptures. Who is to say that one day in the far-off future that someone may not find this book and deem it worthy of an actual religious movement? Such would be the final irony, as the narrator states that the scripture “is easily false” (Scr. 42) and that “your mind caused the world” (Scr. 62)- not a God, a Golden Eternity, or an Eternal Thisness.