As It Is: The Open Secret of Spritual Awakening [Paperback]

Tony Parsons (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2000

As It Is is a profound and radical work that points to the fundamental freedom that is independent of path, process, effort, or belief. In these pages the reader is taken on a journey--one that clearly reveals that there is nothing to become, nor any specific goal to attain. Rather, what is shown is how a deep-rooted misperception of our true identity has caused us to live in "apparent" pain and fear.Through the direct perception of "what is, as it is," Tony Parsons offers the reader a very practical and accessible approach to authentic spiritual realization. His invitation is to live life from a wholly different perspective--one centered in the infinite awareness of one's true Self.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Tony Parsons is an esteemed teacher who regularly shares this "open secret" of spiritual awakening with people throughout the world. His straightforward and highly effective message of awakening to life "as it is," is delivered with an impersonal authority that emanates from absolute clarity.

Product Details

• Paperback: 138 pages
• Publisher: Inner Directions (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1878019104
• ISBN-13: 978-1878019103
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #329,592 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars what's it like to awaken?, April 8, 2003

By 

Orva Schrock "Author of "Worthless Boy"" (goshen, in United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: As It Is: The Open Secret of Spritual Awakening (Paperback)

Tony Parsons is obviously one who knows what IT is. what it means to be awake. this great little book keeps pointing at the real, the truth, what we really are. what he describes has the taste and feel of something wonderful, something beyond the usual mode of thinking and knowing. he knows who he is. he knows what he is and what we all are, too. he invites us to just see it: as it is. this book is fascinating in that it points to something very special which is available to all of us, available just for the seeing. but we continue to believe in ourselves as separate beings, and in that perception of separation, the true vision cannot appear. here's how Tony puts it in his own words from the book: "this is the great game: the infinite manifests through you as a dreamed character in a grand play called life.....what you are is no thing. what you are is beyond anything you ever believed.....it's always attractive to the mind when it is offered a method or technique like stilling the mind or killing the ego. there is no possibility for the mind to still the mind, and once it is recognized that what you are is the still silent awareness that sees the mind and its activities going on, then it is also recognized that there is no need to still the mind.....ultimately, you will realize that you are not your thoughts, your mind, your body, or any other object, but that behind all of these is a still, constant, seeming nothingness from which everything emanates; this is what you are."

60 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Discovering Our Identity, March 2, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: As It Is: The Open Secret of Spritual Awakening (Paperback)

Tony Parson's book is another in a series of gifts to humanity: books by individuals who have realized the Holy Grail of spiritual seekers throughout history. Seeker/readers who found Eckhart Tolle's book 'The Power of Now' valuable will immediately connect with Parson's open, simple, and fundamental description of and access to the nature of the Prize. In brief, succinct introductory chapters entitled Awakening from the Dream, Context, No Achievement, No One Becomes Enlightened, Time, Expectation & Purpose, he describes his own experiences and revelations on his path and beautifully expresses that seemingly contradictory truth "that enlightenment only becomes available when it has been accepted that it cannot be achieved". These chapters conclude with "The Park" in which he recounts the arrival of the Recognition as he walked across a park in a London suburb. The remainder of the first part of the book deals with the perennial issues with which, I believe, we must each finally come to grips: Presence, the Choiceless Choice, My World (the nature and value of individual subjectivity), the Death of the Body Mind, Abstraction, Fear, Guilt, Thinking, Relationships. Part one concludes with two short descriptions of who "I Am Not" and who "I Am". Part two comprises a series of dialogues with other seekers which he prefaces with the statement that "words are not truth just as honey is not sweetness". If you have read and treasured any of the writings of Eckhart Tolle, Ramesh Balsekar, Douglas Harding, Gangaji, HWJ Poonjaji, it is my suspicion that you may well have come as far as "you" can go on the Path. From here on, the truth simply becomes more and more transparent. Tony Parsons deserves our deepest gratitude and appreciation for his assistance.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Burning Down the House, June 20, 2003

By 

fivefeethigh (Southern Pines, NC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: As It Is: The Open Secret of Spritual Awakening (Paperback)

Barn's burned down.
Now I can see the moon.
--Masahide

Other reviewers will tell you what this book contains (and equally important, what it does NOT contain, including rules, rituals, practices, and techniques), so let me tell you what this book achieves.

Or what it can achieve, if you are fortunate to read it in the right frame of mind. Read this book with your mind wide open, and it will serve as a torch to burn down the barn of your self-image. Lucky you! You won't just see the moon, you'll be the moon. And the stars. And the grass. And the trash by the side of the road. And you'll love it all.

Well, that's what happened to me. Whoever I am.

Tony Parsons says that everything is the invitation from the Beloved to come home. Yes, everything is the invitation, but some things speak to the heart more than others. This book spoke to my heart, in the language of my heart. It silenced all my questions and left me with nothing but gratitude for the glimpse I was given of what is real.

Reading this book is like waking up from a disturbing dream and turning to your bedside to see a dear friend sitting beside you. "It's okay. You were just dreaming. But now you're awake."

You sit up, look around, and are amazed to see that all the furniture is made of love. The bedspread, the carpet, the window, the birds outside the window, all made of love. How could you not have seen it before? It's so obvious.

About four days after I finished my second reading of the book, the world no longer seemed whole, and made wholly of love, but fragmented, with love sometimes visible, sometimes not. And yet, this too, I know, is the invitation.

It doesn't get any better than This. But This is really quite fabulous, if you think about it. Or rather, if you DON'T think about it.