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#3301 - Friday, September
26, 2008 - Editor: Jerry Katz
The Nonduality
Highlights - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights
Everyday Enlightenment
Seven Stories of
Awakening
Sally Bongers
Foreword by Jeff Foster
Amazon.com site: http://www.amazon.com/Everyday-Enlightenment-Seven-Stories-Awakening/dp/0955829038/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222173904&sr=1-1
Amazon.co.uk site: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Everyday-Enlightenment-Seven-Stories-Awakening/dp/0955829038/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222173967&sr=8-1
Non-Duality Press web page: http://www.non-dualitybooks.com/
Review by Jerry Katz
"So I'm a number cruncher, a bean
counter - that's the historical phrase they use for accountants -
I count beans all day. It's a perfectly meaningless job for me. A
government bean counter is precisely the job you want if you are
not career orientated and you just somehow get sucked into this
spiritual consciousness thing."
That's my favorite paragraph in this book, which you may find to
be a peaceful, relaxing, and quick read, or which may scare the
heck out of you.
Other paragraphs jump off the page:
"All the clichés are dreadfully, dreadfully true. When you
say, `I am that,' it really is true, which is extraordinary
because I'd mouthed that in Sanskrit and Hindi for twenty-five
years and thought very seriously: `I am that. I am God. I am not
different from God." Indeed I'm not - but it's not quite
what I meant at the time."
HOMAGE:
Henry Smith wrote in his Works in the 19th century, "Every
man must homage his heart." That doesn't sound radically
nondual; however this book feels to me as homage to Tony Parsons.
One of the featured people in this book says,
"When I was with Osho, he was a beautiful person, but very
distant. I thought I had to become this person, a kind of holy
man, and I thought that this was `enlightenment.' Tony Parsons
made it so simple and down to earth, which possibly helped me to
recognise the moment. And to be able to cope with it."
Almost everyone in the book says something like that. Okay, so
homage to Tony. I don't know if that's more nondual than paying
homage to your heart. I'll leave that up to you.
This book consists of a foreword by Jeff Foster, a brief
introduction by the author, and seven stories of awakening.
THE FOREWORD:
Jeff Foster's foreword may be worth the price of admission. Jeff
is a master at handling the paradox: that we speak of awakening
and there is no one who has ever awakened. He handles the paradox
like a magician handles a pair of doves. "And so really
anything we say about awakening isn't true, because in talking
about it we've already made it into a `thing' and killed it. But
as Lao-Tzu knew, although the Tao cannot be told, there's no
reason why you shouldn't try," says the nondual
prestidigitator.
CRYING AT THE TV, AND OTHER COMMONALITIES:
These stories have certain elements in common. Most of the
featured people deliver a version of the confession that there is
no "me" to tell a story. All of them came to the end of
their search through interaction with a living teacher, in just
about every case Tony Parsons. None of them "got it"
through a book, a website, or an email forum. Most of them don't
like George W. Bush. Most speak of awakening or enlightenment as
a kind of relaxation and meaninglessness.
Another feature in common with most of the stories is the
response to crisis and tragedy, such as a horrible accident or an
untimely death. "There was this sense of identification with
the sad story of the moment and then it stopped. It wasn't
anything that I turned on or off," one person notes.
It seems we blow as a leaf. Another person confesses,
"...some feelings seem to be much deeper in a weird sort of
way, they're much more poignant. I cry more often at television,
which is quite embarrassing, and then the feeling's gone. I can't
explain that either but it seems to be a feeling that's less tied
up with all sorts of other stuff, it comes and goes, it passes
like the weather."
WHAT IS ENLIGHTENMENT?
They all give their take on what enlightenment is. Here are a few
quotes:
"I'm not sure if there are any signs of liberation really,
apart from being a bit more relaxed and at ease."
"There's nothing special. It's just awareness."
"There's not the mental confusion - but all the programming
carries on."
"If I had to put words to it, it is total freedom. Total
freedom to let anything arise that arises."
STORIES AS NONSENSE:
There is agreement on the view of "stories:"
"Consciousness animates me every day and that is what
interests me, not hearing someone else's story ... but rather how
it is manifesting in me."
"When there is nothing to know, absolutely nothing to know,
there is nothing. And that's the beauty of it. And our stories,
our life stories that go on in psychotherapy - this story and
that happened - its rubbish. It's total nonsense."
"There is no better world we will ever get. I used to think
that the goal was to get everybody enlightened. Well, it isn't.
There is no goal. There is no purpose."
CONCLUSION:
It's valuable and refreshing to hear ordinary people talk about
"this stuff." What these people confess is your
confession too, except that you have different words. Just be,
see, and if anyone asks, tell in your own words. Or stay silent.
Or fumble with the words. Or count beans.
THE END:
The book ... ends ... so ... quietly ... as though it had never
begun.
Everyday Enlightenment
Seven Stories of
Awakening
Sally Bongers
Foreword by Jeff Foster
Amazon.com site: http://www.amazon.com/Everyday-Enlightenment-Seven-Stories-Awakening/dp/0955829038/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222173904&sr=1-1
Amazon.co.uk site: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Everyday-Enlightenment-Seven-Stories-Awakening/dp/0955829038/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222173967&sr=8-1
Publisher's web page: http://www.non-dualitybooks.com/