Customer Reviews

Acceptance of What Is: A Book About Nothing

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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.

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!!

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.

this is as non-dual as it gets, folks.

As to the reviewer who asked why his photo is on the cover, many seekers fall in love with a guru through a photo. The connection is that vibrant. in case that reviewer hasn't noticed, Ramana's photo is thrown around like candy. And check out the bookstore - Ramana's pictures ARE on his books.

but that reviewer raises a good point, indirectly. The non-dual teaching is not for everyone. If you are reading other folks like U.G. Krishnamurthi and the like, and like them, Wayne, and this book, are fantastic. If you are looking for a pious guru who will give you prescriptions and say that your true nature is far away and difficult to reach, and that you must do a great deal of work before you reach the phantasmagoric state of enlightenment, don't waste your money on this book.

In 2001, having read Wayne's first book, NO WAY by Ram Tzu, a friend and I decided to invite Wayne Liquorman, a.k.a. Ram Tzu, to our center in North Carolina. It was an interesting decision because Wayne was not the stereotypical spiritual teacher, nor were his teachings an expression of the pop spiritual culture flourishing through-out America at that time.

My friend rented the local downtown theater for Wayne's initial talk. It was an outstanding talk and yet during intermission some people were running out of the doors with terror in their face. You'd have thought Wayne was the devil. It has been fascinating to hear people's interpretations of what Wayne said that night. He obviously pushed some buttons but people were not hearing what he was really saying. They were hearing their mind's interpretation of what they thought he was saying. It was very clear that Wayne was not there to stroke their spiritual belief systems, but rather to point out some difficult but important considerations that could lead to a depth of understanding that could change lives forever. For many, it was a very uncomfortable evening. But if you were interested at taking an honest look at what may turn out to be a profound yet obvious truth, it was a very fortunate place to be. And it was all videotaped so we do know what Wayne actually said!!! ( available on DVD from Wayne's Advaita Fellowship)

This book, ACCEPTANCE OF WHAT IS, is an excellent in-depth introduction to Wayne and his teaching. It covers much of what Wayne presented at our center years ago. It is not for everybody. In fact, it may not be for most spiritual seekers. As I have mentioned, we lost a few students that weekend and the next year when Wayne returned. But for me, Wayne hit the nail right on the head in a way that could not denied or avoided. I am deeply grateful to Wayne.

I highly recommend all of Wayne's books because if you are ready to get this, well, some would consider these books a blessing. :-)

This is only the second time I have ever reviewed a book. Probably it will be my last. But sometimes the connection I've made with an author through reading his book has created such a change in my life that I'm left ever after with the desire to somehow repay this benefit he gave me. That is the motivation behind both these words and the other review I attempted. Wayne Liquorman has so many qualities that I find attractive :

[1] He is alive, (unlike many other spiritual teachers). Therefore you can go to his talks in person, question him, watch his videos... see where he is coming from with your own eyes.

[2] He is Western. He is part of our own culture. So he both knows exactly where we're coming from, and he helps de-mystify the spiritual quest, (which otherwise gives the inescapable impression that the only people who ever succeed in the quest come from India, Tibet, pre-communist China, or Japan.)

[3] His absolutely outrageous wit somehow manages to be, at the same time, both breath-takingly funny and as precise as a surgeon's scalpel. The term 'sense of humour' is far too ordinary to even begin to describe the prepostrous stories and analogies he spins in this, the first published story of his life experiences.

[4] And finally,... he was an alcoholic and drug user for the 19 years of his life immediately before the strange beginning of his spiritual transformation. For me, once again, this helped remove the idea that somehow only "saintly people" had the remotest chance of winning the spiritual lottery. Plus, as a fellow 'child of the sixties' and all the varied experiences of those times, it helped me feel a shared life-connection with him rather than feeling I was only able to sit child-like at the feet of some remote-but-wise Eastern guru.

I won't write anything more about his book here. In the spirit of what Wayne himself wrote on its back cover, (the place traditionally reserved for publishers to print praise from the popular press, and extol how long it has been on the 'Best Sellers List'), I'll leave you with his own suggestion on the matter :

"Read the book and form your own godamned opinion !"

Personally,I don't think you will regret the experience.

Wayne Liquorman is an American, a Californian. And he speaks with a good deal of American wit. Of course, he is speaking about the "heaviest" of subjects (Advaita, the self, determinism) in this light manner. It makes for a good read in Acceptance of What Is, his first non-poetry book.

Like many Advaita books, this one is made up of excerpts from Wayne's "satsangs". Seekers come and ask him questions and he answers in very illustrative (and non-academic) ways.

This book was great for me. I read it in the matter of a couple days. I hold it in my trifecta of best Advaita books, along with Who Cares?! by Ramesh Balsekar (Wayne's guru) and Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self-Knowledge by Arthur Osborne.

If an American came to me and asked what book should be their introduction to Advaita/nonduality, I would tell them Acceptance of What Is.

This book made a deep impression on me.
It is exceptionally entertaining and those who aren't threatened by Wayne's honesty, lack of cliche guru posturing, and wild sense of humour peppered with obscenity- very refreshing in the "spiritual world"- will feel the warmth shining through.
It also contains some wonderful poems and quotes, old and contemporary, including some work by my musical hero Leonard Cohen.
We all have different tastes, of course, and things can be approapriate at different times, but I found this book to be both enlightening and entertaining.
I wish the chap who put his copy in the recycling had passed it on. What a waste.
But.. Nothing out of place!!

halfway up a mountain, neither fully awake or totally asleep. this is the state of modern western advaita and wayne is a perfect example of it.

the uninvolved, distant realisation he is describing is a stage, a mark on the road to awakening, that the ten ox-herding pictures in zen both go beyond and fully complete.

see, there is no return to the market in wayne's teaching, no deeper understanding of the world as 'that'. so if you stop at the zero point, where wayne suggests you fall into vacancy, you miss brahman AS the world and ultimately miss the whole damn point.

so i would suggest you have a more careful and considered look at ramana before you settle for the shallows here, considering how the core and point of wayne's whole teaching is just a push towards greater depth when the understanding is more mature.

Faux-Advaita drivel for the lazy and the naiive. The sad thing is, this poor man really seems to believe he is Self-Realized.

Anyone who has had even a glimpse of their true nature, the Self, would never characterize the experience by saying "literally, nothing happened." (pg. 205). An experience of the Self is a beautiful and powerful moment of Grace that cannot be mistaken. A presence peers from oneself that is distinctly "other" than anything one has ever experienced before.

Do not believe those who would tell you that "no effort is required", "you are already awake", etc. There is no such thing as "drive-thru enlightenment".

If you have a sincere interest in Advaita look to works by Nisargadatta or Ramana Maharshi. Also there is an excellent book available free online titled "The Imposter" by Michael Langford. I don't know anything about the author, but he presents a serious no-nonsense, approach for anyone who is serious about awakening and not just interested in playing with concepts and pretending.

I actually dumped my copy of this book into the recycle bin rather than try to sell it to a used book store. I would not want to be responsible for this being passed onto someone even by accident.