Acceptance of What Is: A Book About Nothing [Paperback]

Wayne Liquorman (Author, Editor), Catherine Asche (Author), Wayne Liquorman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2000

A new look at Advaita through the eyes of the most unlikely of Sages - Wayne Liquorman. Wayne is a former alcoholic and drug addict who shortly after being 'struck sober' began a spiritual quest that led him to his guru Ramesh Balsekar and then to Ultimate Understanding. Wayne's expression of his spiritual understanding is at once irreverent and profound. We laugh sometimes joyously, sometimes uncomfortably, but always with the recognition that we are in the presence of a Master. Edited from Talks at Wayne's house by Catherine Asche.

Product Details

• Paperback: 298 pages
• Publisher: Advaita Press (March 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0929448197
• ISBN-13: 978-0929448190
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,007,462 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars easy style, to the point, requires no previous background, July 31, 2003

By 

Srikrishna Ghadiyaram (Palo Alto, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Acceptance of What Is: A Book About Nothing (Paperback)

This is a pretty useful book by considering the fact that it tries to bring home the same Advaita Vedanta message of `No Individual Doer', which is explained, in the Upanishads and the Bhagavad-Gita. Personal accounts of Wayne present the suddenness and nature of enlightenment and remove misconceptions surrounding Enlightenment, which lead a seeker into wrong and circuitous paths. This is the path of J~nana without expounding all the explanations and metaphysics of the Upanishadic teachings. It harps on only one principle "No Individual Doership". While Ramana Maharshi asks us to enquire Who is this `i/me', Ramesh Balsekar/Wayne ask us to enquire `Who is this Doer'. That is the only difference.

The book is fairly well organized in terms of chapters on The Beginning of Seeking, The Sense of Personal Doership, Paths, Enlightenment, Guru and Disciple. The quotes between the chapters are interesting and refreshing.

In my readings on the Advaita Philosophy, I found a lot of confusing books, which do not explain the `human-ness' of the `manifest multiplicity of the ONE'. Only Upanishads talk unambiguously of `All This IS Brahman', which obviously includes this `World', which in turn comprises Egos (Individuals or Individual selves, in our present normal ordinary man's awareness). I found that most books do not even come close to defining this `EGO' precisely. `Acceptance of What Is' does a good job in harmonizing this concept. On this topic this book goes a step further than Ramesh Balsekar's writings, in clarity.

Page: 211 and 212

"Okay, You see, I make a very precise distinction between the sense of personal doership and ego. And I do that for a specific reason. When the sense of personal doership disappears - the sense that I am the doer - there is still, within the body-mind mechanism, a structure which we would call the ego structure. The ego structure is that which knows it is Ramana Maharshi, such that when somebody calls out, "Ramana!" Ramana turns around. Without that ego structure there, Ramana doesn't know himself from Arunachala! (loud laughter) Because it is all Consciousness. Right? So, the sense of personal doership has disappeared. There is no longer any sense that I am doing anything. But, there is certainly a sense of presence as the body-mind mechanism that is associated, identified, as part of the body-mind mechanism. It is absolutely essential that it be there for functioning to happen. And you can say that this ego is the person-ality, where the person is associated with that body-mind mechanism. And that doesn't go. If it did, that body-mind mechanism wouldn't know what it ate, wouldn't have any memory, any culture. No learning, Nothing ! So, what goes is the sense of personal doership - not the ego structure."

Page: 234

"There's no intellectualization involved in the sage's present moment. Every aspect of the dream is real within the context of the dream. It is immediate, it is now, and it is an expression of One Consciousness. So, the sage doesn't make that kind of distinction that, "Oh, the Supreme Reality is God or Consciousness, and that world is pale, worthless vale of tears that will simply pass and hardly worth noticing, because what's truly important is God." The sage sees that all there is, literally, is this, because God has no existence or quality in any separate way, in any measurable way. This world is God made manifest."

The chapter on `Guru and Disciple' does not offer any thing other than `resonance'. It is not that helpful.

As such the books lacks the depth of the Upanishadic or psychological type analysis. Of course it stresses the theme of `No Individual Doer'.

The `loose' talk of four-letter words is a little disturbing. Too much emphasis was laid on his 19-year alcoholism and drug addiction. They do not deserve that `enthusiastic' repetition. These could have been edited out.

Nevertheless, it is helpful to read the book.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Wayne, March 13, 2002

By A Customer

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This review is from: Acceptance of What Is: A Book About Nothing (Paperback)

If you are already interested in the Advaita philosophy and somewhat familiar with it, this book is in the "must read" category. I had attended some of Wayne's talks and read some books by Ramesh Balsekar, Wayne's teacher, before buying this book. I am captivated by it. I've read about half of it so far, slowly, joyfully, savoring each idea and the cheerfulness with which Wayne presents it. At first I thought Wayne was irreverent and harsh, but I no longer feel that way. If you are new to this philosophy, this may also be a good book, but Wayne recommended Ramesh Balsekar's "Consciousness Speaks" as an introductory book, and that was a good choice for me. But this book may also work well for a newcomer. It's hard for me to judge that because this philosophy, as simple as it is, is a bit slippery. Just when I think I'm getting it, it tends to slip away. But I am hooked on it, and this book is probably the most accessible discussion of it yet. Highly recommended!!

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book !, October 13, 2001

By 

M. Donahue (Elk Grove, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Acceptance of What Is: A Book About Nothing (Paperback)

This is a great book, and it gets better with time. Its great appeal (and no doubt its main repulsiveness to some) will be that it totally deflates and tosses out the ego-balloon idea that "we are busy performing the right kind of actions that assist our own evolution".

But there's more than that here, or as Wayne said, there's even less. This book adressed the same question Advaita always asks: what remains when all of your favorite beliefs and concepts are deflated and then left by the roadside ?

One of the essential ideas from Advaita and Zen that is injested and then gradually understood is the idea of absolute non-doing. Having soaked in this idea from other writers such as Ramesh Balsekar, Satyam Nadeen, Wei Wu Wei, Tony Packer, and numerous others in the timeless stream of the expression that "consciousness is all there is", I really appreciate Wayne's book because of his humorous and insightful discussion of the many nuances surrounding the belief in personal doing-ship, as shown by the lengthy dialogues with his visitors, many of whom are precariously suspended over the void, holding onto a few remaining threads of belief in their own ideas concerning choice, control, decision-making, etc. The exchanges are very enjoyable to read !

This writing may appeal more to American and European readers, i.e., to 'westerners'. In this way, it feels to me that this book can be seen as 'the other bookend' to Ramesh's writings; its a "western" bookend. In this analogy, Zen and Advaita readers will know what's in between these two bookends.