Always Being, Always Becoming

Book excerpt: What is special about this book? Jean Klein said that non-duality is not a philosophy but simply the truth. But if non-dual truth is beyond the mind, what good are "reflections" on it? Why is the "path of knowledge" (of "jnana" or "gnosis") more promising than just meditation? The reason is that it is difficult to let go of a mind that still believes it can give meaningful answers to questions like "Who am I?" or "What is real?" When, however, through understanding and direct investigation, the mind's skewed, limiting ideas have been seen through, when we stop believing in anything the mind has created, including our identity, it immediately becomes natural for us to live in Openness and Not-Knowing. Then we are available for Grace, for Realization. This book approaches spiritual awakening from two directions. Expounding non-dual core teachings and providing some philosophical, psychological and religious context for them, it also uses direct pointing to help you become aware of any mind-movement away from reality. Overview of contents: Part 1 is designed to help you enter a state of natural meditation, using non-dual pointers and answering basic questions about ego identity, reality and the nature of thought. Part 2 discusses psychological and emotional aspects of spiritual awakening. Part 3 provides some helpful philosophical context for non-duality. Part 4 relates non-dual teachings to near-death experiences, religion and mysticism.