“The End of Your World” and Other Resources

I’m adding a few more books to the resources section.

First, a new section, on Vigils & the Monastic Cycle:

• Art & Death, by Chris Townsend

Each of the following books represents a unique take on awakening, a broad term that factors in our vision statement: “The Art Monastery Project is dedicated to cultivating personal awakening and cultural transformation through art, community, and contemplation.”

• No Self, No Problem, by Anam Thubten
• The Experience of No-Self, by Bernadette Roberts, who spent 15 years as a Carmelite nun,
• Into the Silent Land: A Guide to the Christian Practice of Contemplation, by Martin Laird, an Augustinian
• Putting on the Mind of Christ, by Jim Marion, forward by Ken Wilber
• The End of Your World, by Adyashanti, whence the above image and this:

When the shift of perception…called ‘awakening’ happens whatever our senses come in contact with is experienced as ourselves… Just as you see a chair, someone who is awake sees a chair. You see a car, and someone who is awake sees a car. The difference is that when one is truly awakened, when one has gone beyond the veil of duality, things that look different and distinct to everyone else are perceived as essentially the same. We see the chair, and at the same time we do not see ourselves as separate from the chair. Everything we see, everything we feel, everything we hear is literally a manifestation of the same thing…

In ancient times, people having this experience entered protected environments such as monasteries—places where those around them would understand. They’d be put in a nice little cell and left alone to let the process happen. They were fortunate to experience awakening in a context in which it was understood, seen as normal, and given the space it required.

In today’s society, most of us having these realizations are not living in monasteries; we are not in a particularly supportive environment. In fact, in our society it is possible to have an amazing realization on Saturday and be back in the office on Monday morning.