Chapters:
Forward
1.Using the Alarm Clock to Stay Asleep
2. Addiction Masquerading as Spirituality
3. Paths to Awakening
4. Judgement as the Inner Guru
5. Guru
6. Spirituality and the Suppression of the Shadow
7. The Holy Grail of Romantic Relationship
8. Grace Comes by Surrendering to Helplessness
9. Quick Fixes are for Junkies
10. The Illusion of Happiness
11. Living Life with Death as our Advisor
12. Shift Happens with Intent
13. Parental Inheritance
14. Now What?
Chapter Quotes:
Forward:
It is my intention to remind you of your majesty and to clear any clouds covering that bright light ruling the night sky of your consciousness.
Using the Alarm Clock to Stay Sleep:
Here sits the great big elephant on the meditation cushion: spirituality is big business. And big business is no different whether it is selling you tobacco or the promise of salvation: it is only interested in profit and growth.
Addiction Masquerading As Spirituality:
Perhaps the thorniest issue around addiction is the secret but universal truth that at some level we are all addicts. This is as true on the spiritual path as it is in the saloon.
Paths to Awakening:
What if we could feel the planet as a part of ourselves? That direct experience would achieve what no moral or social code, guilt trip or law has been able to do (no matter how many Priuses or Buddhas we own).
Judgement as the Inner Guru:
Discernment is the inner compass that guides us back to ourselves. In our increasingly self-destructive and distorted public life it is the quiet voice that lets us know we need tranquility and contemplation. Discernment is our only way out.
Guru:
True spiritual advancement makes one feel more equal to others, all feelings of superiority or separation are the ego doing its eternal fluff job.
Spirituality and the Suppression of the Shadow:
The repression of emotions into the lower depths of our psyches always leads to their coming back to visit us with their fury. Just like the fairy tales where the warrior travels to the depths of the world to slay a dragon, we too must face our dragon, our shadows.
The Holy Grail of Romantic Relationship:
It is considered normal in our culture to pour huge amounts of energy into our work and hobbies, but the idea that a relationship demands as much attention is foreign to most of us.
Grace Comes by Surrendering to Helplessness:
We rarely acknowledge the tremendous amount of difficulty we have around the feeling of helplessness. The fact that we are all some kind of control freak is not on our conscious radar.
Quick Fixes are for Junkies:
We want our healing the way we want our internet access or favorite coffee elixir: yesterday, please.
The Illusion of Happiness:
We are all drinking the salty water of material consumption and getting thirstier by the minute. This behavior has consequences for our mental state, the condition of our environment and our fellow travelers.
Living Life with Death as our Advisor:
Our lack of consciousness shows in our unexamined belief that somehow we will be different in our relationship with death. That somehow it will not touch us or when it does we will deal with it in a masterful way.
Shift Happens with Intent:
If each moment and its message is attended to we can rest assured that we will reach the destination of our soul’s choosing.
Parental Inheritance:
Many people with genuine spiritual insight bastardize their gifts by failing to address the wounds they carry from their parents. Western society is increasingly unmoored from history, disconnecting us all from our lineage, both good and bad. It is too easy to forget where we come from and how that affects us.
Now What?:
We have to ask what it means to have integrity. Integrity is not perfection, the mirage that we chase in vain. It is acting from the proper, true place despite our imperfections.
