The Book of Awakening

1. Embrace the Present Moment: The Rarity of Being

Of all the things that exist, we breathe and wake and turn it into song.

Precious human birth. The book emphasizes the Buddhist precept of appreciating our rare existence as conscious human beings on Earth. We are encouraged to recognize the unique privilege of human consciousness compared to other life forms. This awareness should inspire gratitude and intention in our daily actions.

Unrepeatable existence. Each moment of our human life is unrepeatable, urging us to make the most of the present. Instead of dwelling on the past or worrying about the future, we should focus on what we can do now. This involves asking what we need to know, expressing what we feel, and loving what we love in the present moment.

Mindful living. The practice involves observing other life forms, acknowledging their unique abilities, and then focusing on our own capacity for interiority. By consciously engaging in activities that only humans can do, we can cultivate a deeper appreciation for our existence and live with greater purpose.

2. Release to Receive: The Paradox of Letting Go

We cannot hold on to things and enter.

Thresholds and burdens. The book uses the analogy of struggling to open a door while carrying too much to illustrate our difficulty in crossing thresholds in life. We often cling to possessions, stories, or emotions, preventing us from moving forward.

The sequence of release. The basic human sequence involves gathering, preparing, putting down, and entering. However, we often fail to release what we carry, hindering our progress. Learning to fall, get up, and laugh becomes essential in navigating these failures.

Meditation and practice. The practice involves meditating on a specific threshold we struggle to cross, identifying what we carry that prevents us from opening the door, and consciously releasing those burdens. By putting down what weighs us down, we create space for new experiences and growth.

3. Authenticity as a Spiritual Compass: The Journey Inward

The coming to consciousness is not a discovery of some new thing; it is a long and painful return to that which has always been.

Unencumbered spot. Each person is born with an unencumbered spot of grace, free from expectation, regret, ambition, and embarrassment. This spot, referred to by various names across different traditions (Psyche, Soul, Atman, Dharma, Qalb, etc.), is where we were first touched by God.

Lifelong task. Knowing this spot of inwardness is a lifelong task, as becoming constantly films over where we begin, while being is a constant erosion of what is not essential. We live in this tension, growing tarnished, only to be worn back to our incorruptible core.

Unlearning back to God. Moments of enlightenment occur when the film is worn through, inner meets outer, and we experience full integrity of being. The removal of this film, whether cultural, memorial, or traumatic, is the goal of therapy and education, teaching us to uncover our original center and live there.

4. The Interconnectedness of All Things: Beyond Separation

What we reach for may be different, but what makes us reach is the same.

The Infinite Wheel. The book uses the metaphor of an Infinite Wheel to illustrate our interconnectedness. Each individual is a unique spoke, essential to the whole, with the rim representing community and the hub representing the common center where all souls meet.

Paradox of being. We live out the paradox of being both unique and the same. While we strive to strengthen our individuality, looking into our core reveals a common center where all lives begin. This unity is the atom of God.

Oneness of spirit. Through experiences like cancer, grief, and disappointment, we realize that we become each other. What we thought set us apart binds us to others. In moments of unity, we recognize the same wonder and agony in each other, despite different voices.

5. The Dance of Kindness: Giving and Receiving

No matter how dark, the hand always knows the way to the mouth.

Inner reflexes. Even in the darkest times, we possess inner reflexes that keep us alive. These deep impulses of being and aliveness work beneath the hardships we face. The hand cannot eliminate the darkness, only find its way to the mouth.

Belief in life. Our belief in life cannot eliminate suffering, only find its way to feed our heart. This African proverb reminds us that things are never quite as bad as they seem inside the problem.

Practice of kindness. The practice involves bringing open hands to the mouth and heart, noticing how they know the way without guidance. This exercise reinforces the idea that even in darkness, we have the inner resources to nourish ourselves.

6. The Wisdom of Discomfort: Growth Through Challenge

Seeing into darkness is clarity… This is called practicing eternity….

Power of fear. Fear gets its power from our not looking, at either the fear or what we're afraid of. Avoiding what scares us only amplifies its power over us.

Facing the unknown. The book uses the analogy of a terrifying attic door to illustrate the choice we have: avoiding our fears or opening the door and discovering more about ourselves. By waiting until what is dark becomes seeable, we can transform our fears into understanding.

Choice and growth. Whatever the door, whatever our fear—be it love, truth, or death—we have the choice to avoid or confront it. Opening the door and finding out more about ourselves allows us to grow and evolve.

7. The Power of Love: A Force Beyond Understanding

Love, and do what thou wilt.

Life in the tank. The book uses the analogy of fish confined to a small tank, even when given a larger space, to illustrate how we limit ourselves. We are often raised to fear life outside the tank of our values, shrinking our world and stifling our natural abilities.

Natural ability to swim. Spontaneity, kindness, and curiosity are parts of our natural ability to swim. Each time we hesitate to do the unplanned, help another, or inquire into something unknown, we turn on ourselves, swimming safely in the middle of the tub.

Breaking free. The practice involves meditating on life in our tank, then moving to the doorway and contemplating the nature of what is truly possible. By stepping through the doorway and entering the world, we can break free from self-imposed captivity.

8. The Art of Seeing: Beyond the Surface

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

Blindness and radiance. Each of us spins repeatedly from blindness to radiance, from dividedness to wholeness. Our impulse to stay in touch with all that is alive keeps us from staying lost.

Living with things. To live with things and not in front of them, to no longer watch but realize we are part of everything we see, is the love that keeps moving us back into wholeness when divided. To love by admitting our connection to everything is how we stay well.

Current of inwardness. Allowing the current of another's inwardness to connect with our own is the beginning of both intimacy and enlightenment. The practice involves sensing the presence of things around us, feeling the current of their silence, and opening our hearts to all that we sense.

9. The Journey of a Spiritual Warrior: Embracing the Broken Heart

Until the heart becomes an inlet, it cannot be free.

Sadness in the world. There is such sadness in the world, but there is a difference between feeling the pain of things breaking and measuring the inevitable events of life against some ideal of how we imagine things are supposed to be.

Spiritual warrior. A spiritual warrior has a broken heart, because it is only through the break that the wonder and mysteries of life can enter us. Being a spiritual warrior is the sincerity with which a soul faces itself daily.

Authenticity and heartbreak. The courage to be authentic keeps us strong enough to withstand the heartbreak through which enlightenment can occur. It is by honoring how life comes through us that we get the most out of living, not by keeping ourselves out of the way.

10. The Gift of Simplicity: Treasures of the Soul

I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These are your greatest treasures.

Threefold instruction. The legendary Chinese sage Lao-tzu gave us this threefold instruction. These things appear now like a spiral staircase and with each stepping, I find myself deeper in the life of my soul.

The meaning of simplicity. In a world that is complicated, we are often misled to believe that being simple is being stupid, when in truth, it holds the reward for living directly, which is that things appear, at last, as they really are.

Doorway to the Source. The act of simplicity—of living directly—is the doorway to the Source of all Being. When feeling lost or far away, try being direct, and the Universe without a word will come alive.

11. The Courage to Be: Living Authentically

You must meet the outer world with your inner world or existence will crush you.

Inner and outer worlds. There is a wind that keeps blowing since the beginning of time, and in every language ever spoken, it continues to whisper, You must meet the outer world with your inner world or existence will crush you. If inner does not meet outer, our lives will collapse and vanish.

The heart as a balloon. The heart is very much like a miraculous balloon. Its lightness comes from staying full. Meeting the days with our heart prevents collapse.

Inner air. This is why ninety-year-old widows remain committed to tending small flowers in spring; why ten-year-olds with very little to eat care for stray kittens, holding them to their skinny chests; why painters going blind paint more; why composers going deaf write great symphonies.

12. The Cycle of Renewal: Death and Rebirth

As a man in his last breath drops all he is carrying each breath is a little death that can set us free.

Breathing as risk. Breathing is the fundamental unit of risk, the atom of inner courage that leads us into authentic living. With each breath, we practice opening, taking in, and releasing.

Breaking momentum. When gripped by fear or anxiety, the reflex is to hold on, speed up, or remove oneself. Yet when we feel the reflex to hold on, that is usually the moment we need to let go.

Dropping all we carry. Dropping all we carry—all our preconceptions, our interior lists of the ways we've failed and the ways we've been wronged, all the secret burdens we work at maintaining—dropping all regret and expectation lets our mentality die.

Last updated: March 9, 2025