Awakening to the Dream [Paperback]

Leo Hartong (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2003

Awakening to the dream is a very clear, approachable overview of the often confusing and rarefied philosophy of Advaita Vedanta, also known as non-dualism. Essentially, this is a book about you. It points to and from the source of your true identity. The clear seeing that it refers to is neither complex nor simple. It is not something exclusive for intellectual or spiritual elite, nor is it remote or hiding in the future. It is all inclusive, pure presence, closer than your breath. It is the heart of hearts, your birthright and innermost self. This is your invitation to remember what was never really forgotten.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Leo Hartong lives and works in the Netherlands. Life is his study and teacher.

He has tried many roles and is currently simply sharing in, and pointing to, What is. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Random Excerpts chosen by Christiana Duranczyk

Christiana is an editor for the NDhighlights news letter from the Nonduality Salon

The mind not only appears in Awareness, it tends to confuse its own intellectual activity with Awareness. In fact, Awareness is not a product of the mind, but the mind is a product of Awareness- the silent and permanent background common to everything, including the mind and its activity. Like the screen on which we watch a movie, this background is generally ignored in favor of the impermanent activity that appears on or against it. Zoom out, and Awareness and its content unify in a Self-luminous singularity about which nothing can be said or known for the simple reason that anything said or known is part-and-parcel of this singularity. p. 40

Awareness is the consistent characteristic in and behind all experience, yet it is also that which most easily escapes our attention. Attention is not the same as Awareness. Our brain is designed in such a way that giving attention to something automatically implies ignoring something else. We see the stars and ignore the space; we read this text and ignore the page; we see the movie and ignore the screen; yet it is obvious that the ignored space, page, and screen are as fundamental to our observations as the stars, the text, and the movie, which hold our attention. This is an important point, as the mechanics of attention often get confused with Awareness. Attention works through noticing something in contrast to something that's ignored, while Awareness is the non-dual space that sustains both the noticed and the ignored. Attention may require effort; Awareness simply is. Everything that comes up is contained in and embraced by this Awareness, including objects perceived as "out there" (rocks, cars, other sentient beings) and emotions, thoughts, and feelings experienced as "in here." In this sense, Awareness is as much in the body-mind as the body-mind is in Awareness. Compare it to a clay pot, which contains space and at the same time is contained by space. Breaking the pot will not affect this space. p. 61

Another way of seeing this is to follow your path backward. Instead of going after the realization you want, look to where the want arises; then take another step back and observe from where the "I" arises. What is the silence before the "I"? What is this no-thing-ness, this absolute presence? Does it strive to get something or somewhere? Does it need to become something, or does all becoming arise from and in it? p. 82

It is the sort of experience that people who want enlightenment are looking for; and many have confused it with enlightenment, as did I. What is generally overlooked, however, is the silent background in which both the experience and the "I" that remembers and interprets it occur. To this mirror-like Awareness, such an experience is simply another cloud drifting by.

The silent background in which experience appears and disappears had escaped the attention of the "me" that thought he "got it." p. 103

This vibrant, pulsating display of energy has no purpose beyond itself, and in this very purposelessness lies its infinite delight. To the one hearing this music, it extends an open invitation to realize the ever-present flow that is going on, to simply go with it and surrender to its causeless joy. When this invitation is accepted, it becomes plain as the nose on your face that any step taken to get closer to one's true Self is one step too many. p. 116

The truth is, of course, not in these words but in the understanding of them. If you really hear, you're really here, and you encounter the answer everywhere. It is repeated in and as everything and says again and again, "All is One. This is IT. You are IT." p. 135

If no answer or concept can jolt you from your sense of separation, if you have reached a dead end in your search, perhaps it is possible to disregard all concepts, to simply surrender to what is and stand naked and alone as this. Perhaps you can stop waiting for an event to confirm that you are fully awake and simply accept that it must be already so. To accept that there is no separate you, and therefore no one in need of waking up, is a shortcut. You might call it the final "stepless step." Rip off all the labels, ignore the ever-changing stories in your head, and see what remains unchanged. p. 136 --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Non-Duality Press (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0954779215
• ISBN-13: 978-0954779214
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #216,655 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

113 of 119 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars easy to read and understand; an important book to read, January 26, 2004

By 

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

This review is from: Awakening to the Dream: The gift of lucid living (Paperback)

This book covers, in very simple language, the illusion of ego and seeking. It is comprehensive and like a smooth story. It removes the possible misconceptions about enlightenment, one-by-one, in simple style. This should be highly useful for anyone who seeks clarity in one's spiritual pursuit, as it is sure to bring some objectivity to the search within and without.

On Page 9, in the foreword, Tony Parsons, the author of "AS IT IS", says

"The book begins very well, with a clear explanation of its intent, and throughout the work there is the feeling of reading a letter written by a friend who gently, but passionately, wants to make something very clear. As the writer communicates his perception of the mystery, he intersperses his ideas with appropriate traditional and contemporary quotations.

In simple terms, it is the absence of seeking that reveals the wonder of that which already is, but although this simple and awesome mystery is impossible to express in words, Leo's exploration is a joy to share in."

The above is a very apt description of the content and style of writing in the book.

The following excerpts from the book explain very clearly what is enlightenment.

Page 12:

"So here we go: The answer is that you will get nothing out of it because enlightenment is the realization that there is no you to get enlightened; that the sense of separation and individuality is an illusion."

Page 13:

"While reading texts from non-dual systems such as Zen, Advaita, Taoism, or Dzogchen, you will find the affirmation that Self-realization has no promise other than to release you from your belief in a separate self or ego. That's it. The dropping away of an illusion simply revealing THIS AS IT IS, often summed up in the phrase 'Before enlightenment chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water.'"
. . . .

"Enlightenment not only shows that your separate identity is an illusion, it reveals that sheer purposelessness is at the heart of this whole creation. This sounds absurd to the goal-and-future-oriented mind; yet I will tell you unequivocally that the whole point of this manifestation is nothing other than this manifestation."

"Realizing this is far from the bleak reality the mind imagines it to be. True, this is of no use to the ego, since it is about freedom FROM the ego, not freedom FOR the ego."

The whole book is very easy to read and covers all essential points to know about enlightenment, in simple language with some logic drawn out of our day to day life. No metaphysics is involved. Beyond the general observations, the following comments are outstanding observations of the author.

Page 74:
"Witnessing is not something we progress to. It is not about self-improvement or mental states. It is about recognizing that which is already fully present; this presence observes both the 'I' and its states while, at the same time, it remains unaffected. If we see this witnessing as a new way to make us feel good, we are back at square one. Instead of identifying with the conceptual ego, we have now identified with the conceptual witness - still an independent, identified entity, merely in different garb. From this more cushioned perspective, it's easy to get trapped again in the same old illusion. As soon as the witness has become an object or concept, it becomes part of the witnessed. The real witness will never be an object of experience, but always remains that which is aware of the experience. Objectified, it becomes the 'new ego'; non-objectified, it merges with Pure awareness - that which we so intimately are that we cannot get at it; like an arrow, able to point in all directions, but not at itself."

Page 80:

"The paradox in the suggestion that the ego should be dropped is that when one is not the doer, one cannot do the dropping. What happens is more like a falling away, which comes in its own time and which is nothing other than the impersonal recognition of the ego's illusory nature. Although this realization comes by itself - it is often referred to as grace - it is not something one has to wait for. Waiting is just another way of trying to get it, which only perpetuates the illusion that there is SOMEONE who should get SOMETHING."

Page 127:

"The silent space of Pure Awareness is not what we call attention. Attention wanders from place to place."
. . . .

"Attention moves, but Pure Awareness remains unmovable."

Page 134:

"You, as a dream character, are a temporary occurrence, while you as the dreamer are beyond space and time. When you wake up to this realization, you will be as unconcerned with your personal story as you are with the character you appeared to be in your dream."
. . . .
"In the same way, as long as you appear as a dream character, you will not wake up from
the dream, but you might awaken TO the dream."

Finally, the life after realization is explained a kin to lucid dreaming, and sums up pointing the utter futility of effort in Self-realization.

Page 135:

"Lucid dreaming is a term that refers to waking up inside a dream, realizing it is a dream, and then continuing the dream with this understanding. Seeing through the illusion of separation could be termed lucid living, as it is not you waking up FROM dream of life, but the impersonal awakening TO the dream of life. From which point could an illusion see through itself as an illusion ? What could an assumed doer do to become a non-doer ? What thought could take the thinker beyond thinking ? The answer is nothing and none. Like Rumi said,

'WHOEVER BROUGHT NE HERE
WILL HAVE TO TAKE ME HOME'

This 'coming home' reveals the illusory nature of the ego, the world, time and space. All this does not disappear in a blast of white light, but what does disappear is the sense of separation that constitutes the ego illusion."

54 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gem, March 14, 2004

By 

Rajbir S. (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Awakening to the Dream: The gift of lucid living (Paperback)

I have read wonderful words of many enlightened teachers ranging from Robert Adams, Ramana Maharshi, Osho, Poonja, Ramesh Balsekar, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Eckhart Tolle, Swami Rama, Tony Parsons, and many others through ancient scriptures and websites. They have all added something to my being and have brought about a clarity and I am grateful to them all and I still go back to them (they are all so dear to me). At some point, I decided not to buy any more books as I saw that I had reached a point where I may be reading the books for the sake of reading. Then I learned about "Awakening to the Dream" and I liked what I saw at the author's website (which is a wonderful site). I bought the book after six months of postponing it. It is the simplest, clearest book I ever read. It does not add new concepts but washes away like a gentle wave all the concepts. I found in Leo a teacher who was talking sensibly, rationally and not from the clouds or sky above. He understands what is going on in a seeker's mind and what is perplexing the seeker. On page 99 of the book, the author said something which is very meaningful to me. I don't think I'll be buying any more spiritual books (unless another one comes from the same author) but this book is the beautiful culmination of a lifelong quest. There is now an ease, a relaxation, thank you so much Leo.

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear as a cloudless sky, June 5, 2005

By 

Steven V. Ruddell "Steven Ruddell" (Kauai, Hawaii) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Awakening to the Dream (Paperback)

Awakening to the Dream is the clearest exposition of the neo-advaitin view I've read. This view can easily be misunderstood as I noticed occurred in one reviewer below, but it's understandable. What is being presented isn't easily summarized, certainly is not a blank apace in your head, and though in one sense obvious, is illusive for the objectifing mind, hence an "open secret". The danger, if there is a danger, is believing in the concept, agreeing with the speaker, or assuming "I got it!" -- all movements of the ego. The key is in the living, silent awareness: resting in that and allowing the spontaneous movement to come from that opening. Hartong has articulated all this very clearly for those who are ripe (have ears to hear). Without that ripeness, though, this might all sound too simplistic. And yet, I can see it can happen in any moment, when the ego melts back into the background consciousness and there is just this Presence, the startling awakeness, clarity, and innocence of Pure Awareness itself illuminating all without limit. What a miracle! If you feel at all drawn to this awakening, I can't imagine a clearer way to be introduced. You've got nothing to lose but illusions. Enjoy!