The One (Finding Reality & The Awakening of Spiritual Awareness) [Paperback]

I liked this book for its simple use of language, it's point blank no nonsense approach to enlightenment, and also for its great clarity of thought. It was an all inclusive kind of book. It starts out with the authors personal story of seeking and his eventual awakening, then it moves on to go in-depth into the nitty grittys of ego and the true Self. The later chapters discuss moving beyond various distractions which can occur on a spiritual path, and there is also a couple of chapters in question and answer format, which helped the clarity furthur. The main theme of the book is about what the author calls "attentive presence" which is similar to living in the now, but the way he puts this across makes it almost like a "science of mind and Spirit" which made it very exact and really helpful indeed.

The author appears to be at One with the Absolute Self.

However, I would have thought that his Ever-Presence would have alerted him to the poor grammar and poor punctuation in his text. Maybe he could not afford the services of a proof-reader, having sacrificed the material world for a world where such material details are not important.

His narrations are well worth reading, nonetheless, because he is able to describe the basic experience of being in the present, however long he may be able to experience it. As with all of us seeking to know One's true Self, it is our sanskara that needs changing, and he has related his way of changing his sanskara (& therefore his karma), which is a way that is far simpler than what many established and traditional teachings describe in their esoteric and convoluted procedures and methods.

All things being relative (not equal) in our experience of the Universe's evolution in this regard, we are born into bodies and circumstances that determine how each of our individually unique experiences begins. As he repeatedly exhorts those who might be sincere in their attempts, "let the journey begin!"

His descriptions of being at One seems to revolve around what could be described in the Mahayana Buddhist sources as being "jnana", which is non-conceptualising or non-dual awareness. Very little of the other mental states or functions are described.

My perceptions of his accounts are that he is able to maintain his Universal Presence to some degree, because most of us are able to experience at times in our lives what he describes.

I took away one star for the rating because of repeated mistakes in his punctuation. I would recommend that he read "Eat, Shoots, & Leaves" by Lynne Truss [ISBN-13: 978-0007329069 ] before embarking on relating his novel experience again next time.
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