The author’s writing is intelligent yet easy to follow, with a nice flow from chapter to chapter. His storytelling is vivid. Supporting his thoughts are quotes by sages, reflections that make us consider more deeply what is being said.
-The Book Review Directory
Excerpt 1
Life became not an end, in and of itself. It was now recognized as a process of being, a spiritual process that is ever ongoing. Whether we know it or not, all experience is spiritual; all life is created and sustained with purpose. It is intrinsic, essential, and inseparable from who and what we are. The choice can be made to live in ignorance of this. One can live unaware of the light and play within the relative darkness of the illusion, as many do, and that serves its own learning purpose. But make no mistake, there is a higher part of us always watching, lovingly aware of the errors and the struggle, patiently waiting for us to come home to who we truly are, to come in out of the cold rain.
My ego, which I had let run my life into the rocks, was relieved of duty that March day. In its smallness, it had no choice but to relinquish control to the loving immensity that now permeated every nook and cranny of my being, bringing with it a complete and enduring sense of peace. When the hypercritical inner judge was silenced, the inherent beauty of life was revealed.
By coming into contact with the intelligence at the heart of everything, I let go of the limiting viewpoint I had of myself as a human being. I transcended my identification with the circumstances of my life. I let go of my identification with my body, my pain, and my human faults. And by so doing, I reclaimed my heart. I reclaimed my inherent, God-given peace. I reclaimed my connection to the Source of all things. I reclaimed the compassion innate at the heart of all creation and thereby at the heart of me.
Life now shimmers.
It is within this contrast of what is real and what is not that the secret lies. When the transience and superficialities of common, everyday circumstance is measured against, and contrasted with, the infinite peace and Love dwelling at the heart of what you are, the importance of all that was thought to be essential will fade like the stars at dawn. Inner peace at this point is inevitable.
With such awareness, a flexible loving openness replaces rigidity, in body, mind, and heart. All aspects of existence soften and become slower and more deliberate, more thoughtful. The higher and more subtle mechanisms at play behind, above, and beyond physical experience become apparent, and consequently, life is experienced at a deeper, more meaningful level where joy and effortless peace are not only possible, they are intrinsic.
The ultimate irony is—human experience becomes more real by realizing it is not real at all.