Radical Awakening: Cutting through the Conditioned Mind [Paperback]

Stephen Jourdain (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2001

At the age of sixteen, Stephen Jourdain experienced a radical awakening while contemplating (in the manner of a Zen koan) the famous Descartes statement "I think, therefore I am." As a result of this fundamental change in perception--and at that very moment--the essential basis of Jourdain's identity collapsed once and for all, as he realized the truth of what all of us essentially are: the fundamental "I" principle, or Consciousness.Radical Awakening is a collection of extraordinary dialogues between Jourdain and the well-known writer, Gilles Farcet. These spirited talks--provocative and highly original--offer the reader an exceptional vantage point into the nature of authentic spiritual awakening and its embodiment. Jourdain lives the gift of awakening in the most ordinary manner, clearly articulating both the reality and the myth of enlightenment through deep understanding and piercing discernment.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Stephen Jourdain, the author of more than twelve books, is highly respected mystic/philosopher throughout Europe. Now in his late sixties, he lives in the French countryside, where he informally meets with people from all over the world.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Inner Directions Foundation (April 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1878019163
• ISBN-13: 978-1878019165
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #897,101 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

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fresh and deep water., November 9, 2001

By 

"baudinusfr" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Radical Awakening: Cutting through the Conditioned Mind (Paperback)

I devoured this book. I believe Stephen Jourdain to be truly enlightened ; this word seems so cheap sometimes and so many books claim to come from enlightened beings. What truly fascinated me is how personable and passionately alive SJ is. Great masters have explained that when you renounce (or lose) your individuality you truly find what makes you unique. This is what this book will reveal to you : the intensity of love, the delightful pleasure of living together with the knowledge and awareness. This book will make enlightenment closer to your heart I believe. And very funny too.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars worthwhile reading, July 28, 2003

By 

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

This review is from: Radical Awakening: Cutting through the Conditioned Mind (Paperback)

This is a well structured conversation with Stephen Jourdain. Probably, the original conversation took place in French and then later translated into English. The translator used words which are not very common in American English conversations which forced me to use the dictionary. I had difficulty understanding what Stephen really intended at some very important places because of lack of clarity in translation or punctuation or correctness of expression or some other fault.

Nevertheless it is a special book. It is different from `As It Is' by Tony parsons or similar books which talk of pure Presence etc. Because the author does not have an established framework and vocabulary, the explanations are difficult to grasp completely. However there are brilliant presentations of awakening which may work as hints on how a seeker can approach to understand it.

However, the book lacks in establishing either the cause, preparation or a clear-cut path to this realization. There are some discrete ideas which are helpful. But, they may not form a complete guidance for a seeker.

Stephen has not given any Yes or No answers to Reincarnation, who will get this enlightenment, a path and other questions. We have to live with this ambiguity. At times the answers are contradictory.

Page 37:

SJ: "There is certainly a union of the subject and the object but they do not "Fuse", they do not disappear in some kind of undistinguishable magma. What's miraculous in these experiences is that, without in the least losing my identity, in legitimately remaining who I am, I become the table, the stove, or the mountain, or the entire landscape, which in turn, remains integrally itself." . . . . . ..

. . . . "The extraordinary thing is that two completely different things can be truly joined while each, at the same time, maintains its original nature."

The nature of an awakened is explained quite forcefully through out the book. The essays on `The Powers', `Practical Work' are very important and highly forceful. These present the nature of illusion and the solution in a very direct way. The thoughts are very profound (but at some places unclear) and one needs to read the essays in completion. I am quoting a few thoughts here.

Page 55 and 56:

SJ: " . . . . . . I'm talking about certain qualities of discernment that do not exist in the normal conscious state and which are the properties of the awakening. When the awakening presents itself, they take their place in the same way that the faculty of attention, the faculty of reasoning, etc., return automatically and instantly upon awakening in the morning."

GF: What are these faculties ?

SJ: "First and foremost, the discernment of a primordial thought springing forth directly from the spiritual essence. Therefore, it does not concern the thought that emanates from the usual psychological subject, but from the original thought preceding that. This thought does not gush from the faucet but from the spring itself which, as everyone knows, is the ultimate source of the faucet. This discernment is immensely important because it is what brings about the "disidentification". Following that is the conscious discernment of this combination called my "spirit" or my "inner life" as an image. The usual state of consciousness proceeds from the postulate that if I can create a mental image of my mother or of a tree, they're like little paintings hung in a room, yet the room is not an image, no more, infact, than I who produce all that. But the awakening brings the recognition of a primordial, mental imagery issuing directly from the source. In other words, the picture my own spirit has of itself is a presentation of nature full of images. There is not, of course, any kind of awareness of this in the state of normal sleep. The extraordinary thing is that doing away with that means doing away with "my spirit". Finally, I'll mention the discernment of the me as originally conceived, which can be declared as the mortal enemy of me in its integrity. The usual state of consciousness is "me degrading into a thought of me"."

Page 171:

"In order to reabsorb the hallucination, bring back what is only thought to the source of thought in such a way that it appears in its true mental nature, that is to say as nothingness, a first method would consist of making an attack at the very heart of the dream. The central rivet of the hallucination is nothing other than the absolute belief in myself in the act of producing a thought, of dreaming of this or that. Whether my thoughts are happy or sad, it would appear that I can't place the objective reality of the situation into doubt: I am there and I secrete an inner world, yet my mood swings, and I question myself about the existence of the awakening, about my chances of getting there or, quite simply, of boring myself silly; all that has no real existence. There's a paradox here: having no power over your own inner states, you endure them. You'd prefer not to worry anything while, at the same time, establishing that the generative thoughts of worry resist you. You can't easily chase them. Yet, that means that, while having the intuition that what you are is not reducible to your thoughts ("I worry" necessarily supposes the existence of an "I"), you confer on the latter the fact that they resist you, an objective status. In other words, the usual state of consciousness has the characteristic of an extraordinary madness: having the presentiment that at the center of myself there is only myself while at the same time, being certain of the presence at the center of myself of a not-me - as a matter of fact, if the worry wasn't from the not-me, I would be able to reabsorb it and not endure it. The most interesting way to accomplish this is to question the reality of what happens within me now, immediately, right away."

Some people may complain that Stephen sounds very egotic in referring to his personal privileged gifts which opened the awakening for him. Some may even get discouraged that it is not for them. We only have to accept what he is saying whether we like it or not. After all he is very un-conventional through out the book. Whatever may be our feelings, the book has profound explanations of awakening and has clues into the mind of a man who lives by it.

It is worthwhile reading it.

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Remember, you pretend to believe., July 24, 2002

By 

Stephen Norquist "S. Norquist" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Radical Awakening: Cutting through the Conditioned Mind (Paperback)

This is a very useful book. I found the dialog with Stephen Jourdain authentic. I had an experience about a year ago that left me on one hand profoundly and ultimately changed, but on the other hand utterly the same. Hearing Stephen speak about what it is like to see the world from his awakened perspective gives clarity to many of the things I have been perceiving since then. I know that his descriptions are true not from an intellectual standpoint but from an experiential one. The most important thing Stephen said in the whole book (see pages 95 & 96) and the thing that helped me most to return to the world was this- "But--watch out--he pretends to believe because if he doesn't, reading becomes impossible." I had begun to forget how to read, Steve's warning helped me to return to the stage, but with a bucket of ice water poised carefully above my head just in case I get drowsy.
Thanks Steve.