 | The Nature of Consciousness: Essays on the Unity of Mind and Matter (2017) Rupert Spira Within the sciences there is what's known as 'the hard problem of consciousness' - the missing explanation of how consciousness arises from physical matter, as materialist science claims. "I hope … to bring the non-dual understanding out of the closet of dogma and esotericism and reformulate it in a way that is accessible to those who seek understanding, peace, fulfilment and friendship beyond boundaries; who do not feel the need to affiliate themselves with any particular group, tradition or religion; and who have become wary of referring to any doctrine, authority or institution at the expense of their own direct experience." -- Rupert Spira, 'The Nature of Consciousness'In this collection of essays, Rupert attempts to persuade the reader that the time has come for humanity to release these old materialist ideas about reality and evolve to new understanding of human consciousness, an understanding he goes on to describe with his usual penetrating insights. I have always found Rupert's meditations especially effective for confronting the illusion of ego; this book offers many of the same kinds of sharp perceptions and, with its essay format, is a handy tool for quick refreshers. |
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Books
A New Earth
 | A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose (2006) Eckhart Tolle Immediately upon gaining even a small understanding of the awakening experience, I began wondering what my new role in this world would be. Wondering ... then worrying ... then planning ... then trying not to plan. Over the weeks, 'wondering' became 'impatience' and I turned to my growing stack of books in the queue for any about 'purpose'. “Give up defining yourself - to yourself or to others. You won't die. You will come to life. And don't be concerned with how others define you. When they define you, they are limiting themselves, so it's their problem. Whenever you interact with people, don't be there primarily as a function or a role, but as the field of conscious Presence. You can only lose something that you have, but you cannot lose something that you are.” ― Eckhart Tolle, 'A New Earth'But as Eckhart explains at the start of this book, the 'purpose' in question is 'awakening'. And as millions of people have come to find out, Eckhart is very effective at crafting the verbal pointers to help awaken the mind to the Now. Though I had already awoken, as it were, the book still helped me identify the things within me, my life, and my way of thinking that must have shifted to allow this profound encounter to make its way past my egoic self. So even if the book did not hand me the keys to unlock a specific purpose (damn!), it definitely helped propel me down the path to further clarity about the awakening itself. Good stuff. |
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Waking Up
 | Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion (2014) Sam Harris “Until that moment, I had viewed organized religion as merely a monument to the ignorance and superstition of our ancestors. But I now knew that Jesus, the Buddha, Lao Tzu, and the other saints and sages of history had not all been epileptics, schizophrenics, or frauds. I still considered the world's religions to be mere intellectual ruins, maintained at enormous economic and social cost, but I now understood that important psychological truths could be found in the rubble.” --Sam Harris, 'Waking Up'I first encountered Sam Harris in his role as neuroscientist; he was being interviewed about an article he'd written on the topics of consciousness and free will. But it was his side comments on religion that caught my attention. As I mention in the "About" story, based on what I had experienced and observed of organized religions, I was no fan and Harris' well-researched and articulate critiques struck a chord. But as the quote above makes clear, an awakening brings a recognition that, at their heart, most wisdom traditions and religions have a truth to them. The same truth. This insight rang very loudly in my mind after the awakening. Harris uses this book to tell the story of his own awakening and to share instructions for a attaining a direct spiritual experience through contemplation - and sharing interesting tidbits about the brain along the way. Even though I read this book after experiencing an awakening (spoilers!), I still found it helpful to hear his insightful interpretations of this experience. |
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The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss
 | The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss (2012) Dennis McKenna I've been on a McKenna brothers kick lately, first listening to Terence inspire curiosity about the psychedelic space and then to Dennis, a well-known ethnopharmacologist, thoroughly detail the psychotropic chemistry. “Psychedelics are not suppressed because they are dangerous to users; they’re suppressed because they provoke unconventional thought, which threatens any number of elites and institutions that would rather do our thinking for us.” ― Dennis McKenna, 'The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss'The title might suggest the book is primarily about the brothers' pivotal experience at La Chorrera since 'the Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss" was the name the McKenna's gave to the small group they joined for this trek through the Amazon. But Dennis actually treats us to a much richer tale that begins with a few good stories about the McKenna ancestors before starting with the brothers' early childhood years in Colorado (speaking of which, I love this cover photo). We don't get to the days in La Chorrera until about halfway through the book and it's worth the wait as Dennis' retelling of the event is captivating. Having heard both Terence's (True Hallucinations) and Dennis' account of that psilocybin-fueled adventure, I can only say I soooo wish I could have been a fly on the wall, so to speak, to have witnessed the wildness. It's easy to see why this experience had such a profound impact on both men. The book goes on to describe a number of other notable happenings in the lives of the brothers - the timewave theories, ayahuasca trips and the like - before concluding with Dennis' account of his brother's death in early 2000. |
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The Power of Now
 | The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment (2004) Eckhart Tolle Eckhart begins this book with the story of how he came to be a spiritual teacher before going on to write that this book represents the essence of his work. Since it was written in 1999, some may wonder if this statement still holds true. Having listened now to many an hour of his recent meditations and lectures, I'd agree that this book captures the essence of the wisdom Eckhart Tolle is still sharing today with audiences around the world. He uses a Q&A format, the content coming from lectures, counseling sessions, and seminars. I found this format to be a penetrating way of shining a light on the illusory nature of ego and the nature of the true self. The book also provides numerous practical teachings on how access and stay connected to our true nature. “Time isn’t precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time—past and future—the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is.” --Eckhart Tolle, 'The Power of Now:'What I especially appreciated about this book is the straight-forward, eye-to-eye nature of the writing, perhaps because the message is not always easy to take. Accepting the 'death' of the ego identity is experienced as a substantial challenge by most people; this book provides the mental concepts - the pointers - to more clearly perceive the egoic self and awaken from its illusion. |
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The Secret Teachings Of All Ages
 | The Secret Teachings of All Ages (1928) Manly P. Hall I came upon this book early in my digging - loved it, couldn't get enough, wanted volume two immediately. Or a nice long chat with the author. After an informative summary of philosophical history laid out in the 22-page introduction, the author uses the meat of the book to make another mad dash through history, this time summarizing the many wisdom traditions he finds along the way. The book did a marvelous job of tying together so many of the little trinkets of information about religions, human history and philosophy that I'd picked up along my lifetime. There were lots of 'oh! so that's where that came from' moments waiting for me in this book. "(This book)… is dedicated to the proposition that concealed within the emblematic figures, allegories, and rituals of the ancients is a secret doctrine concerning the inner mysteries of life, which doctrine has been preserved in toto among a small band of initiated minds since the beginning of the world." --from the introduction to 'The Secret Teachings of All Ages'Details on symbols and teachings from the Druids, Hermes, the Gnostics, the Jewish and Christian traditions, ancient Egypt - the variety of spiritual teachings covered is impressive. This book reaches far (back in time) and wide (across many traditions) and so makes a persuasive case, to my mind, that a single core doctrine runs through the spiritual stories we've created over time to tell us who we are, where we come from, and why we're here. |
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Childhood’s End
 | Childhood's End (1953) Arthur C. Clarke As a fan of all things sci-fi, this book had long been on my radar but it never got read until I heard two speakers mention it within a few days of each other; even I can get that hint. “No utopia can ever give satisfaction to everyone, all the time. As their material conditions improve, men raise their sights and become discontented with power and possessions that once would have seemed beyond their wildest dreams. And even when the external world has granted all it can, there still remain the searchings of the mind and the longings of the heart.” --Childhood's EndI'm so glad I waited to experience this story as I have a much different take on the ending now than I would have earlier. It's just the perfect sci-fi book for the newly awakened, in my opinion, and I don't think there's much more to say about it than that. |
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Infinite Potential
 | Infinite Potential: What Quantum Physics Reveals About How We Should Live (2013) Lothar Schafer Dr. Schafer gets right down to business with his title for - Chapter 1: Materialism is Wrong: The Basis of the Material World is Nonmaterial. "Behind the visible surface of things is the infinite ocean of possibility. Its waves are so beautiful and inviting. "What a wonderful world," Louis Armstrong sings. What a wonderful life, in which the playful waves in the cosmic ocean dare you, tease you, and play a game of hide-and-seek with you, all the time hoping that you will catch one and turn it into a beautiful poem, a painting, a song, or a wonderful act of human kindness." --Lothar Schafer, 'Infinite Potential'This book is an excellent explanation of the key concepts in quantum physics which are leading many in the sciences to consider a new non-materialist model of the universe and of life itself. Instead of seeing all forms and things as made of hard, dead matter, Dr. Schafer uses the recent developments in his field to demonstrate how all form is arising out of a field of interconnected and infinite potential. He goes on to describe how this field, which can arise to become anything, transforms into the 'material' forms we perceive all around us. (There's a good interview with Dr. Schafer available to subscribers of E. Tolle's website - a snippet is posted on youtube) So, a field that can be anything … exists around and in all things … It may sound like we're talking about The Force but those who've altered their consciousness to encounter the vast presence of Source consciousness (the God Mind, the Over-soul, The One Mind ...) will quickly recognize the similarities. |
Supernormal
 | Supernormal: Science, Yoga, and the Evidence for Extraordinary Psychic Abilities (2013) Dean Radin, PhD In his recent book, Dr. Radin explores a fascinating question; what would we learn about the validity - or lack of same - of psychic phenomenon if we analyzed the anecdotal information we've recorded over the years with scientific rigor? "Gaining a deeper understanding of consciousness will play an increasingly important role in twenty-first -century science. If the evolution of knowledge in this century exceeds that of the last, which seems likely, then we can look forward to a future that's likely to redefine our concepts of reality far beyond any of the strangest concepts we've encountered so far." --Dean Radin, 'Supernormal'After a nice walk-through of yoga's origins and its shorter history in the U.S., Radin focuses on the 'supernormal' abilities linked to the yogic siddhis (powers achieved by advanced meditatives) during his detailed analysis, using data from controlled experiments in peer-reviewed scientific journals. (I definitely picked up some tidbits about my newly reinvigorated yoga practice!) Radin also takes a quick look at some of the other methods people use to alter consciousness: extreme sports, psychedelics and shamanism, for example. And because there are so many methods, many people end up encountering the 'supernormal' at least once in their lives. It is for this reason, Radin argues, that a belief in spirit beyond form has persistently arisen in all human cultures. After further discussing the way in which beliefs color our perceptions, Dr. Radin dives into a thorough examination of the experimental data surrounding each of the siddhis; it gets pretty deep into math and statistical explanations but if you're up for it, the book makes an interesting case about the nature of 'supernormal' phenomenon. |
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The Psychedelic Experience
 | The Psychedelic Experience (1964) Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner, Richard Alpert Since my awakening came by way of psychedelic mushrooms, reading up on the topic has become my new favorite past-time. It used to be gaming ... I miss gaming. "You must be ready to accept the possibility that there is a limitless range of awareness for which we now have no words; that awareness can expand beyond range of your ego, your self, your familiar identity, beyond everything you have learned, beyond your notions of space and time, beyond the differences which usually separate people from each other and from the world around them. You must remember … millions have made this voyage." --The Psychedelic ExperienceBy now I've listened to at least a few dozen people recount their psilocybin experiences; the descriptions that have so far resonated with me most are found on the pages of this book. No surprise, perhaps, considering the group of experienced psychonauts who are the authors. They've combined their experiences to both describe the psychedelic experience and help prepare those getting ready for their own explorations. The book is only about 100 pages, which was fortunate as I was immediately hooked by the clear, practical and yet compassionate writing and couldn't stop until the end. As I read, I could feel the echoes of my own journey burbling up in the background; I'd say these three nailed something essential about the psychedelic encounter. And the way the authors set their descriptions against backdrop of the Tibetan Book of the Dead provides a nice peek into a details of that tradition. (I'm sure I encountered the essence of the Tibetan's Bodhisattva Chenrazee during my first frantic journey back to Source.) I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to prepare for their own spirit quest with a few possible spoilers on board. I will definitely be reading this book again. Free pdf version |
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