Into the Stillness: Dialogues on Awakening Beyond Thought

Description

At once extraordinarily wide-ranging and sharply focused,Into the Stillnessoffers several deceptively simple and informal conversations about life, existence, and identity in one book. This is an important book. Don’t be misled by the casually graceful repartee and lightness of touch. Without dogma, without heavy shoulds and should nots, authors Gary Weber and Richard Doyle point toward something eternal, framed in our twenty-first-century understanding of neuroscience, spirituality, and something that arises from, and returns to, the Stillness and the Silence. InInto the Stillness, Weber and Doyle offer a practical investigation and guidance toward “the sweetest, fullest, most loving, caring, and manifesting experience that anyone could ever wish for.” Chapter headings include “Using dialogue for awakening,” “Can you ‘do nothing’ and awaken?”, “Why do we fear emptiness, silence, and stillness?”, and “Functioning without thoughts: sex, psychedelics, and non-duality.” As a journey, this collection of dialogues is inspiring, shifting, and full of little moments of insight that will linger for a long time afterward. A book has occurred Predestination, control, free will and the illusion of time Using dialogue for awakening… Can you “do nothing” and awaken? Why do we fear emptiness, silence and stillness? Attachment and suffering Can inward revolution change sustainability? DIY non-dual awakening Does the world need to be “fixed” or is it “perfect”? Dysfunctional evolution of the mind Enlightenment is a process not a goal… Functioning without thoughts: sex, psychedelics and non-duality Getting to stillness in a crisis… Guessing others’ minds through mirrors… Guilt and shame… useful or dysfunctional? Higher functioning without thoughts How much should teachings cost? Is your energy level important in awakening? Letting go into the bliss and joy of stillness Making awakening too complicated… pitfalls and barriers Nondual awakening: obstacles, tactics, misconceptions and delights Oneness… What is it? How does it arise? What does it mean? Psychedelics, sex and/or non-dual awakening? Religion has failed... now what? Self-inquiry practices on a busy schedule Sleep Spiritual practice with partner/wife/family as Zen masters The difference between pain and suffering… The “I” can’t dance The Neuroscience of non-dual awakening The wonderful surprises of awakening beyond thought What is a teacher? When, where, why you get stuck on the “path” Why the resistance to having fewer narrative thoughts? Working with relationships, emotions and grief Endnotes