Falling into Grace: Insights on the End of Suffering by Adyashanti
(Sounds True, April, 2011)
To purchase the book now, please visit our Purchase button at this site for our book store ($18.95 with free shipping).
There's something about insights that are definitely appealing to me. Even though I understand that insights are conceptual and can only “point” to the real thing, they are vitally important for people including myself who need clarity and resonance. Adyashanti's expertise within the Advaita/non-duality circuit of teachers (or people who have “awakened” not necessarily in a particular lineage) is his uncanny ability to deconstruct the “thinking” that the mind does in its day-to-day existence that keeps us suffering. There are layers and layers of peeling away to get to various truths. His subject is the end of suffering and the chapters basically originate from a series of talks given during the Fall of 2009 in Los Gatos, California.
I was blown away while reading his earlier The End Of Your World book since it not only came at a precise moment when I was trying to stop my MO since continuing with my MO was clearly insane–which is defined as continually doing the same thing while expecting different results. Reading The End Of Your World was such a breath of fresh air that some kernel of “me” felt the truth of his words since something was growing in me to question and to even stop my MO. And I instinctively knew I had to stop certain things before something new could breathe in me. I was an example of the typical spiritual story where nothing could be added to my psyche since I was already very full, full of concepts, assumed knowledge, sense of purpose, meaning and how I thought the world was and is supposed to be. In any event, Falling into Grace continues in this vein of pinpointing, focusing, clarifying, deconstructing so we can actually see how we create our suffering. Fortunately if you wish to read a sample subchapter called "Suffering is Entirely Optional," it will give you a taste of what I'm writing about here. (http://hopedance.org/home/soul-news/1902)
This book is full of Adya's personal stories as well as stories from various spiritual lineages, stories from his students questions, along with his teachings. This book is a gem of both insights and very practical steppingstones for clarity to gain the ability of deconstructing our own minds for ourselves so we can actually do it ourselves. And to feel the moments of relief from suffering and know what we need to do rather than continually playing out the same dramas or mental processing that keeps us trapped, or to remain as eternal students of someone else's teachings.
I can also very much appreciate and comprehend the popularity of Adyashanti. I've seen him live twice and the no-frills of a particular lineage or “spiritual” accoutrements as in incense, sculptures, paintings, etc… is totally refreshing. We/I really don't need more things to clutter an already cluttered “mind.” His simplicity, his introductory beginner's mind mode, his kindness and compassion to describe to us the fundamentals, the how's of untying the knots is so vital and full of love; I'm in awe. And he has absolutely no interest in people kowtowing to him. His “teachings” are basically that we become awake, that we surrender to what is already in us that simply wants to be, a surrender to the unknown, and to bring back the delicious mystery that resides in this moment.
An important feature in this book is how we have imagined that struggle is an integral part of any enlightenment or awakening scenario. We struggle at work, on our meditation cushions, at our yogic postures/exercises, earning money, working on our relationships… and he says that we can let go of our struggles. He talks about how he just stopped with his struggling, but not from some concept but for him he stopped because of sheer exhaustion. Something broke in him.
As I look through my already tattered copy of asterisks and highlights and tear-stained dog-eared pages, I want to give you some quotes that can give you more of a flavor of his latest book.
Quotes:
In order to see through the mind and the deeply ingrained sense of separation that continues to generate so much confusion and suffering in our lives, we must take a chance; we must leave what we know and enter that mysterious reality of the unknown. (Page 88)
Do we really want everyone around us to be changing to make us happy? Do we really want to be that kind of a tyrant? Does that really speak to our deepest heart, to the love that we all have inside? (Page 41)
Coming to the end of suffering is really about beginning to see all of the ways that our mind maintains suffering through habitual patterns of thinking. As we begin to understand the causes of suffering, that all of our suffering is based in various ways in which we imagine ourselves to be separate and different, we begin the process of waking up, from unhappiness to happiness. (Page 49)
Everything and everyone has their own life to live, and we can't just wipe away their suffering because our hearts are open. Although we would love to have everyone wake up and be happy, part of the heartbreak is accepting this moment, this world, just as it is. (Page 218)
And when you watch the mind, you will notice that it is always trying to make itself separate. It is expert at drawing distinctions and pitting itself, and one way or another, against some scene or someone else. And the more deeply we're in a trance, but less likely it will be that we'll even consider that we might be in a trance. The ego is very intelligent that way. This is the the dilemma of where human beings have been for thousands of years: collectively caught in a trance state of ego and thus prone to be sucked into this vortex of suffering and sorrow. (Page 61)
When we say something should or should not have happened, we're arguing with what did happen or what is happening. When we argue with life, we lose every single time—and suffering wins. (Page 117)
And be prepared to sob and sob for our hearts are eager to forgive, to expand, to be nudged, and to love ourselves. This is truly a radical book!
Bob Banner is publisher of www.HopeDance.org and is a laughter yoga teacher. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . To purchase the book now, please visit our Purchase button at this site for our book store ($18.95 with free shipping).
Also, please check out an excerpt from his book called: SUFFERING IS ENTIRELY OPTIONAL by Adyashanti: http://www.hopedance.org/home/soul-news/1902