Customer Reviews

The End of Your World: Uncensored Straight Talk on the Nature of Enlightenment

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I purchased this book for my husband. He had it loaned to him and had already read it, loved it and wanted his own copy so he could re-read it. Two friends of ours belong to a book club and are going to recommend reading this for their next book.

Adyashanti is currently my favorite author. Not only because his writing is eloquent, speaks the truth and is easy to read, but because of his obvious experience of the Stillness. I just have to pick up the book and read a few sentences and it seems as if I have been meditating with him for hours.

If you like his writing, also try reading "Chit Happens" by Narain Ishaya.

I have enjoyed some of Adya's writtings and teachings over the last couple of years. I have found his commentaries to be very clear and direct. This latest presentation is very focused and speaks to the ones that have already begun to understand their true nature. The title says it clearly and unambiguously. I would recommend to listen to this program along with "Spontaneous Awakening" many times in being presence and silence. All the best - to all.

The End of Your World by contemporary spiritual teacher Adyashanti is a rare flower among the vast selection of books about spirituality and enlightenment currently available. Most books on spirituality and awakening deal with the process leading up to enlightenment and liberation, but this book goes into considerable detail about the process that is likely to take place after somebody has been through a spiritual awakening. It is perhaps taken for granted by most spiritual seekers that once you're enlightened, everything is all hunky dory, bliss and beauty, but the truth of the matter is that spiritual seekers for the most part know little or nothing about what enlightenment truly is.

With spiritual awakening a new kind of journey begins, and it's a journey into the unknown and the unknowable. For many people, finding oneself in a new kind of paradigm, a new dimension and a new context isn't necessarily all that easy. When the illusion of being a separate individual, a me, an ego, starts to fall away, the fallout is often years or even decades of mental, emotional and spiritual adjustment. It is common to feel very disorientated after going through a spiritual awakening and this isn't made any easier by the fact that for the most part the world knows absolutely nothing about this phenomenon. As Adyashanti says in The End of Your World: "Enlightenment is a destructive process. It has nothing to do with becoming better or being happier. Enlightenment is the crumbling away of untruth. It's seeing through the facade of pretence. It's the complete eradication of everything we imagined to be true."

It is obvious that this is a book that's written from a place of first-hand experience, deep understanding and rare intelligence. Adyashanti has been through it all, and also seen it in many of his students. In this book, all the various ways in which one can run into problems after spiritual awakening are spelt out in considerable detail and it's done in a manner that is both very clear and eminently practical. Everything that is discussed in this book can be directly related to one's own life as it is in the moment, and this makes The End of Your World a book that's infinitely more than just a theoretical discussion about enlightenment and spirituality. It's a useful book more than anything else, and anyone who has been through some kind of spiritual awakening should easily be able to relate to this book. Every chapter details one or more aspects of the process, and the kind of challenges one is likely to face after awakening.

Adyashanti has a rare talent for expressing spiritual truth in a clear and straightforward manner, and he often uses his own life and spiritual process to illustrate the points he is trying to make. This works very well and plays a big part in making this book very readable and accessible. The last part of the book contains an openhearted and revealing interview with Adyashanti, in which he goes into considerable detail about his own spiritual awakening. Just like the rest of the book, this interview is full of wisdom and no-nonsense, practical advice. It is a fitting conclusion to one of the most important and significant spiritual books of our time.

Adyashanti's other books and audio programmes are also well worth checking out, and especially the 6-CD set Spontaneous Awakening is an excellent companion to The End of Your World.

Pathik Strand, author of All This Is That

Clear and concise. This is the caliber of book that you keep on hand and open regularly at random pages to keep reminding yourself of the way forward. Don't hesitate. The value is uncountably higher than the price.

A good read for anyone on a journey of growth and wondering where they are situated on the path. It has a less practical than spiritual focus, more example from author could have provided how-to's of bringing all this down to earth. Nevertheless, it is well worth reading - reassuring and inspiring.