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Standing as Awareness

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This is one of a handful of modern non-dual books that I do and will recommend to friends or anyone interested in non-duality. Here are a few striking things about this book. There is no dogma in it. There is no absolutism of ideas or fundamentalism here. It never feels as if its being written from the position of someone with authority or from a center of knowledge. It never makes ontological assertions that can't be proven. It invites the investigation of its own words and pointers. That is simply rare! It never makes truth claims or claims about reality that cannot be discovered through direct investigation or present looking. It never gives you a word--such as awareness, consciousness, being, knowing, Oneness, God, Buddha--and leaves you there, as if the word is the final "word." It doesn't make the assertion that the word is the only and right word. This book is directed towards investigation itself. It's very clear and simple in that regard.

This book reveals an awareness of post-modern philosophy. As such, there is an 'awareness in its words' of the slippery nature of views (even views about awareness and non-duality) and of holding tightly to one view as opposed to its opposite. This book never seems like it falls prey to the myth that language mirrors reality. It's more of a discovery into the very question of whether language is delivering truth. This is rare in modern non-dual teachings. There is a sweet interplay between opposites being pointed to in this book as well as a perfect stability as that which is unmovingly aware of both opposites and not separate from them. One field appearing inseparably as "two."

This book uses language while deconstructing it. It uses the intellect as a tool. So instead of feeling as though concepts are being treated as something bad, this book uses concepts in a way that assists the reader in directly investigating how concepts create the appearance of duality (or separation). So it uses conceptual frameworks to reveal that the frameworks themselves give the appearance that things exist separately. As each pointer is given, it is not given as a "statement of final truth." It is given very lightly and lovingly, as merely a pointer. You can feel the lightness in the words. And each word allows the mind to take the pointer and then just look. And as the looking takes over, the pointer itself is revealed to be not needed anymore. This reveals that there is never any pointer that is in conflict with some other pointer. No teaching (including Greg's) has ever been truly in conflict with any other teaching. Pointers are just different words or frameworks that are helpful in different "spots" in the investigation. The pointers themselves are seen to be part of the play of duality. And this is exactly why there is no dogma here and no one-ups-manship in Gregg. No inner conflict here. No agenda. No shadow boxing. Just pure humble pointing.

In this kind of looking or teaching, concepts are celebrated, instead of vilified. They are celebrated for what they really are--not statements of ultimate truth but rather simply tools of communication. And those tools reveal the limitation of language itself, which appears in a realm of opposites. But one does not feel from reading this book that the author's approach is, in the end, about the denial of form, or appearances, or stories, or worldviews. It does not feel like the author has landed on one side of an opposite including on the notion of existence v. nonexistence, being v. nonbeing, or presence v. absence. This book somehow pulls the "whole thing" off. And that is beautiful and rare.

The book does not say that nothing exists. It says that nothing exists independently. This book does something else that is rare. It invites an investigation of what appears as a gross "physical world" and reveals its transparency. It doesn't just talk about the world in terms of concepts. And in that seeing, it is revealed that the boundaries of separation are not in fact real. But the real sweetness here is that once this non-dual realization is seen, there is no one there to even make stories, ideas, language, concepts or apparent boundaries or "things" into the enemy. Greg's humility (his "absence" as a center) is a very sweet and open field that invites this seeing. I could sense that Greg is only ever pointing to space and showing that the space is none other than everything. This book is rare in its ability to reveal this astonishing paradox. This is both a celebration of the nothing and a celebration of the everything--of every story, word, idea, worldview, religion, scientific theory, and philosophy. Some teachings leave you with only the idea that nothing exists or only the idea that everything exists independently or in and of itself. Some leave you with the idea that the teacher is trying to sell you something (usually a pointer) other than what you already are or is trying to destroy some other viewpoint "out there" in order to further its own viewpoint. This book doesn't do any of that. It leaves you right where you are right now, but without the sense that there is something or someone "out there" that is separate from what you are. I highly recommend this book!

Scott Kiloby, author of "Reflections of the One Life: Daily Pointers to Enlightenment." [...].

Dr Greg Goode's book is easy to read, extremely practical and highly intelligent. Unlike most books on nonduality these days, Standing As Awareness doesn't deny the value of thought, words, mind or the world up front. Nor does it leave the objective world standing while negating the psychological self. Instead Standing As Awareness offers a comprehensive "look-see" for yourself, using what Krishna Menon called "higher reason", applied to direct, empirical experience as the way to realize nondual awareness. Standing As Awareness uses experience as the path to nondual awareness with the confidence of knowing awareness is all there is.

Included along with uncomplicated, profound and non-mystical "experiments" are: important cautions about some of the traps of this sort of teaching; addressing the very subtle aspect of dissolving the "higher witness"; the unmistakable parallels of identity between the "I principle" and awareness as well as what this implies; built in sublimation along the way (even of the teaching itself in the end) and the sweetness of "falling in love with awareness". This is followed by a series of insightful one on one dialogues.

Greg's comprehensive nondual chops are obvious and his extensive background in both western philosophy and nondual eastern teachings can save the discriminating seeker loads of time and energy in their "treasure hunt". As Greg points out, "everything is awareness" has almost become a cliche today, but, if anyone would like to explore in an open, bright and visceral way where "everything is awareness" points, Standing As Awareness is a really smart way to go.

"Standing As Awareness," offers a most penetrating and original approach to spiritual realization. Greg Goode points the way toward dissolving a material, thought based view of reality using the direct path. However, his approach does not simply employ broad brush strokes. Pulling largely from eastern nonduality and integrating this teaching with the transcendent wisdom of certain remarkable Western philosophers, Greg Goode leaves no gaps. His step by step inquiry method collapses the assumed object world into the borderless, while also deconstructing the common practice of essentializing awareness. For those interested in ending the believed cycle of happiness and sadness, security and insecurity, life and death, this book will speak to you and it will not leave you. For the spiritual seeker, it shows the way out of return visits into the powerful pull of dualistic appearances and toward joyful nondual freedom. Greg Goode's "Standing As Awareness" is an outstanding read.

Don't be deceived by the simplicity and utter succinctness of this wonderful book. Be ready to set aside long-held beliefs, "common sense", and the desire to acquire additional spiritual knowledge. And become ready to have the entire structure, content, and solidity of your world-view dissolved into the simplest of simple awareness.

Added July 24, 2010: Also GET HIS NEW DVD "ILLUMINATION" (from non-duality press). It is enjoyable and effortless to experience this interview-style presentation of the basic principles in the book. It drives points home in a way the written word can't. Even if you have no interest in "spirituality", if you are just a curious observer of life, this DVD will astound you, in its simplicity, and its easily-followed deconstruction of everything most of us take for granted: There is a "me' and the "world" that are solid and independent. "You" are contained in the body. "You" are located somewhere, etc. It is simple and compelling, yet totally unravels the conventional view of reality and the suffering it brings. It will upset your mental apple-cart. The author pulls from Eastern wisdom and from western philosophy, presenting in an easy an entertaining way, clear plain-english insights that would otherwise be inaccessible to most of us.

But this is not philosophy. It is the usage of our own direct experience (unadorned by any second-hand knowledge passd down by culture) to see that conventionlly defined "reality" is pure inference. It does not hold up to our own direct looking. Looking at our direct experience is something culture does not teach, but everyone has the ability to look at their direct experience. It's innate in us. There is nothing to learn. Our own direct experience is closer to us and more accessible than any second-hand knowledge. It is so close and familiar to us, it is overlooked by most people. Once you stop relying on what you have been told, and start relying on your own direct experience, life takes a liberating turn.

Greg Goode's 'Standing As Awareness' is a major contribution in the field of nonduality.Greg explains in a practical,as well as a philosophical way, the true meaning of nonduality.With his background in the study of Western philosophy and Eastern traditions he also brings to the table a profound knowledge of the 'Direct Path' teachings of Atmananda,Ramana Maharshi and Nisagadatta.In particular he is an acknowledged authority on Atmananda.
The first three chapters of this work are as clear a description of nonduality and its 'practical' application as I have seen.
from chapter 1:'Awareness sees what arises.Whatever appears,appears to awareness.In order for form,thought,feeling,sensation,time,space,unity and multiplicity to appear to awareness,awareness it
self cannot be limited or defined by these factors.Awareness is the single subject of all objects.It is the formless that sees all form.It is the unseen seer.'
from chapter 3:'There is no difference between seer and seen,and no arising objects.Your experience as pure consciousness is unbroken in every way.Pure consciousness is full,radiant presence.Pure consciousness shines in its own glory.It is the being of you and the world.'
This book takes you straight to the heart of the matter and a must read.

"The world, body, and mind appear as sensations, feelings and thoughts. These appearances are all arisings in awareness. The person does not see these arisings. Rather, the person is made up out of these arisings, including the supposed act of seeing." -Greg Goode

Over the last few years, Dr. Greg Goode, (he has a doctorate in philosophy) has emerged as an authority on many eastern and western non-duality traditions. In 2007 he put out an e-book called, "Standing as Awareness: Dialogs from Non-Dual Dinners." It contained transcripts of informal non-duality talks held at various New York restaurants from 1997-2005.

In 2009, Non-Duality Press put out an expanded hard copy edition which includes three new chapters, followed by all the original dialogs from the e-book. Says Goode in the new book's Preface:

In the years since the books initial publication, I received many comments and requests that boiled down to two issues. People wanted a more step-by-step unfolding of the teaching, and they wanted exercises, experiments or guided meditations. Towards that end, I added three new chapters.

The three new chapters are:
1. How to stand as Awareness
2. Falling in Love with Awareness
3. The Witness--From Establishment to Collapse

First, let me say that the three additional chapters are a welcome addition. Thus, even if you have the original e-book, I would recommend that you get a copy of this expanded edition. That's because the "dialogs," as Greg himself mentioned above, don't really give you a step-by-step 'here's how you go about it' approach. Rather, they are more a collection of commentaries about various aspects of non-duality, depending on whatever questions happened to asked by those seekers at that dinner.

Now, many of Greg's answers are very good (no pun intended). The problem with only reading the dialogs is, if you are new to non-duality, they can very easily lead to confusion. Sort of like trying to learn chess by eaves dropping on a conversation between a chess master and his student; you may grasp a few points, but most of the material will leave you with more questions than answers. Thankfully, these three new chapters help break down and explain much of the material (although, I can't help but feel an even further breaking down of the material is possible--think "Standing as Awareness for Dummies" or "Standing as Awareness for Children").

Greg begins chapter one, very logically, with an explanation/definition of Awareness:

Awareness sees what arises. Whatever appears, appears to awareness. In order for form, thought, feeling, sensation, time, space, unity and multiplicity to appear to awareness, awareness itself cannot be limited or defined by these factors. Awareness is the single subject of all objects. It is the formless that sees all form. It is the unseen seer.

What does this mean? It means that whatever arises within your consciousness, whatever you are aware of, is NOT seen by an "individual" or a "person" or an "I." But rather, it is seen ONLY by Awareness. Period. No exceptions! Why? Because Awareness is ALL that is.

And yet, this is not how most people experience the world. For most human beings, there is a distinct sense of being a separate self, of being a "me" inside a body, with all its positive and negative qualities. And when this feeling of separation is intact, we spend most of our time trying to get rid of our negative attributes and replacing them with positive ones (someone once described this as rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic!).

Even for those on the spiritual path, who intellectually know that they are not their body or their thoughts, it can still feel as if there is a separate self inside of them. They say things like, "I had it (awareness), but I lost it and now I want to get it back." And so they are suffering psychologically because they want that experience back. However, the error in their thinking is obvious to you once you have read Greg's book: They are still seeing themselves as a separate being, who can gain and lose something. However, once again, because Awareness includes EVERYTHING, then it even includes the thought, "I feel like I lost it" or "I feel as if I am not awakened."

A similar mistake I see (and I can write about these errors with confidence because I have made them myself!), is having a mental image/feeling of what enlightenment is suppose to be/feel/look like. The problem with this is when my current experience doesn't match the picture in my head (or doesn't feel like I think it should feel), I reject it in search of something better, something that will be more in line with how I envision awakening to be. The result is a sense of never feeling fully complete, never feeling "at home." And so the search must continue... and for many of us, it will continue until we take our last breath.

And yet, the solution lies in making one single, but extremely critical shift. What kind of shift? A shift in identification. Instead of identifying as an individual person who is separate from the rest of the world, you claim ownership of who/what you have been all along, but simply forgot: pure Awareness.

Now, your mind might try to tell you that you have no basis to believe this, but let me ask you a question: who told you you were a person inside a body? Is that not too also simply a belief? "No Michael, because I can really feel that there is a 'me' inside of my body." Yes, I know it feels that way, but is it really true? Can you actually find this 'me' anywhere inside you? Seriously, have a look. The reality is that society, our parents and teachers, etc. were all brought up believing that they were separate individuals, so they simply passed onto you the way they experienced the world. However, now it's time to wake up!

This is where the title of Greg's book comes in handy. Instead of seeing yourself from the perspective of being an entity within a body, what if you took a stand as Awareness? In other words, what if you claimed your true nature once and for all, i.e., that you are nothing more and nothing less than pure Awareness... and always have been!! Something in you knows this to be true, or you wouldn't be searching in the first place.

Note that the subtitle on the front of the book is, "The Direct Path." This is a phrase used by one of the great, but lesser known Indian sages, Sri Atmananda (a/k/a Krishna Menon 1883-1959) whose two advaita classic works, Atma Darshan and Atma Nivriti, Greg studied extensively. It is called the direct path because it makes no distinction between your direct experience and Awareness. In other words, there is nothing you need do or become. All that is required is to see that the conceptual "I" that you take yourself to be, is simply one more thing that is arising within your awareness.

This quote by Greg, which I found in a short article by him at nondualitydotcom, sums it up beautifully:

"The world, body, and mind appear as sensations, feelings and thoughts. These appearances are all arisings in awareness. The person does not see these arisings. Rather, the person is made up out of these arisings, including the supposed act of seeing."

In other words, every single thing you experience is arising within your awareness. This includes all thoughts, bodily sensations, feelings, beliefs, ideas, likes, dislikes, etc. All of it. Even the thought, "I feel like a separate individual"... that too can arise within your awareness.

Lastly, I want to encourage you to be patient with yourself. The material is such that you may want to put the book down after reading a paragraph, or even a sentence, and let what Greg is pointing to "marinate" within your being for a while. The result, which can happen quite suddenly and unannounced, is an "opening up to," "a shift," or a "seeing of" something that has always been right there in front of you, closer than your next breath, but was previously overlooked: the spacious Awareness that is your true nature.

Blessings,

-Michael

Greg is like a pianist playing a complex composition with a light touch. I've read this book about four times and each time something new emerges.

This book creeps up on you. Although I wrote a friendly Foreword, and Greg Goode comes across as kindly and with a clean cut ego, this book takes you to where there is no person. It's good that this book creeps up and doesn't hit you all at once.

You've heard over and over again that "there's only awareness." Standing As Awareness delivers that knowing.

This book is about self-inquiry, using methods you have probably never seen. It also comes with this notice:

"Don't stop if it gets rough. The search is sweet, but it is not always comfortable or reassuring to the assembly labeled as the person. Be unafraid of what might come up." ... "Comfort is not the criterion of being in touch with awareness, and discomfort is not the criterion of being out of touch with awareness."

There are many other exquisite nuggets of revelation. This is a rarely heard statement:

"One can wait until the dissolution (of the witness) happens. There is no reason to hurry, because there is no suffering, and the witness is sweetness itself. ... One may wait for the dissolution to happen, or one may feel called by higher reason to investigate the dualities. Either way is fine."

Greg shows you how to bring about that dissolution of the witness or the I Am, whatever you want to call it. That you can dissolve the witness without waiting, is an amazing teaching, and delivered so effortlessly. That effortlessness of rare teachings is what makes the book creep up on you.

I recommend Standing As Awareness even if you are already familiar with nondual teachings and books. If you are first exploring the teaching of nonduality, this book may be challenging but it will smarten you up quickly about the game of enlightenment, satsang, and nonduality itself.

Greg's book made its way from the UK here today and as I'm already deeply immersed in it-a big Bravo!

Written with such clarity shining through every page, and a down-to-earth language that gets right to the core of Truth, it gently deconstructs every overlay on Awareness one might have previously identified with.

Dropping one concept after another, a clear, yet utterly profound practice, elegant in its simplicity and never betraying what is true and available right now, right here, timeless, unlike so many progressive paths that suggest a fall from grace, yet at the same time ignore what is.

Cutting deep through all layers of solid objects, mind, world, this jewel establishes consciousness as immanent and our only reality, no more separation/duality is seen or felt, the overlay gently collapses into True Self as one turns each page.

Truly a masterpiece and must-read, couldn't agree more with the previous fellow reviewer!
Many thanks, dear Greg, for this immense gift!

Update Feb.12, 2010:

This is one book I come back to again and again and treasure deeply when seemingly stuck. For those of you who, like me, come more from a Christian Mystical background, combined with classical Eastern teachings, finding common Truth in all of them, I'd like to add a few notes that might prove helpful:

Firstly, do yourself a favor and definitely get the revised edition from 2009, those first three added chapters are just IT!

The remaining chapters, derived from dialogues during many years of Non Duality dinners in New York, are also very helpful and extremely lucid, but those first three chapters alone can do the trick to any advanced seeker.

Greg's outstanding book is based on Sri Atmananda's teaching, "Atma Darshan," or by many called "The Direct Path."

What might be unknown to those of us from a Christian background is that Sri Atmananda is nowadays widely regarded as one of the three most important sages of the 20th century, the other two being Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta.

There's an aspect of devotion and sweetness in Greg's book that greatly appeals to me, the way he brilliantly explains the Atma Darshan in these first three chapters, shows it also as the gentlest, kindest spiritual path in many aspects, not at all as harsh as the "Course in Miracles" can be or other teachings that deconstruct the ego.

To the wary seeker who has been on a seeming path for a long time, this almost resting alertfulness is a fresh breeze as a practise that stands apart in that the practise itself is done with joy and ease, rather than dread and effort.

Having said that, and I hope Sri Atmananda will forgive me in this dream, I much prefer Greg's modern day language to the ancient document itself, which may have to do with English not being my first language, but I almost suspect that it's even more the method and manner in which Greg shines his own clarity onto this material, dusting it off and presenting it original, fresh and ready for the 21st century.

Starting with the premise that we are that One, unchallenged Pure Awareness already, how much more direct can it get?

What is so very helpful regarding this gem of a book is how dear Greg explains in detail how to dissolve anything that seems to cause pain, physical or psychological, spiritual, back into its Source, untying that knot similarly to the "forgiveness-practice" in many devotional teachings.

Anything that appears in Awareness, such as dense objects, among them one's own body (a prime obstacle to many seekers), the `outside world', or subtle appearances (mind/ego) such as thoughts or sensations, Greg helpfully bundles together and simply names "arisings."

Here's an excerpt of "Higher Reason," or in devotional teachings "Grace," exploring experience:

On page 11, he writes:

You examine the gross and subtle worlds, as well as the body, senses and mind. You come to see that they are experiences as objects in witnessing awareness and cannot exist apart from witnessing awareness.

You then investigate the witness itself and come to see that it is an ever-so-subtle structure suprimposed upon awareness.

When this is realized, the witness gently and peacefully collapses into awareness itself, which is pure consciousness.

Higher reason establishes that pure consciousness is the truth of the world and your experience at every moment, and leaves you unshakably established in this truth.

(Many Eastern teachings would refer to this last sentence as the "natural state" as does Greg later on, too.)

On page 24, he goes:

When arisings occur, they appear to witnessing awareness in a serial stream. They arise, abide and subside, one after another. Sometimes there are gaps in between.

And through it all, awareness is present. You, as this awareness, are continuous and unborken even if no arisings are present.

On page 25: "Your nature as awareness is presence itself."

Then, on page 27:

Higher Reason comes to realize that any candidate that seems as though it personalizes awareness is instead already internal to awareness as an arising.

Awareness is infinitely more subtle than space, and is whole, unbroken and continuous.

After explaining why "arisings are inert and have no causal power" (now my words: as they borrow any seeming presence only from what is prior to, and immanent always as Pure Awareness), Greg moves on to the biggie, at least in my own experience: the witnessing awareness.

To me, this is the knot and all-important factor that likely remains hidden and keeps one stuck, subject to pain in various ways, if not tackled directly.

One can "undo," "forgive" arisings ad nauseum and, if enough patience persists, eventually will get to their collapse back into Pure Consciousness, but it can be a seemingly endless road and is not for those "on fire" that yearn for a faster way...

Even with the loving intention to "forgive" whatever "one" sees "outside oneself," for the most part, separation will ensue, as whatever object one forgives is experienced still as separate from oneself, not seen as part and parcel of the same, a stream of sense impression-projections, and very likely, more often than not, as a consequence one will feel subject to what ever is seen to be causing pain and tries rearrange the outside world in a hapless effort to make it "go away," really only ever chasing shadows, obviously quite futile.

On page 33, Greg explains that:

Witnessing awareness collapes peacefully into pure consciousness when it is realized that the witness is just as dualistic as walking up to the Eiffel Tower and giving it a kick. The witness is much more subtle, but just as dualistic.

The witness was a structure consisting of a seer and a multiplicity of things seen. But it was realized that this structure wasn't verified by experience.

Whenever there occurs a seeming upset of any kind, it is usually normal human experience that focus is automatically outward, onto whatever is judged by dualistic, divisive ego/mind/witnessing awareness as "causing pain," "separate from oneself."

The object attention falls onto seems the culprit causing pain, when in fact, the running of separation rather than one's Natural State is what really calls pain into one's seeming experience.

Focusing outward only strengthens ego/mind/pain/body identity, and the knot between this and Pure Awareness is the-still dualistic-witness/observer.

Once attention is directed a tad more inward towards this aspect, which Quantum Physics verifies integrally as one with the observed, one has a chance for real inner freedom, as this knot is all that keeps One from experiencing Oneself, inclusive of All as Pure Awareness Itself, in no personal sense whatsoever, rather universal and infinite, beyond all dimensions, time and space.

In deep contemplation of dear Greg's lucid material, I have found it helpful to ask, when seemingly stuck:

"To whom do these arisings occur?"-then realizing that it always is to "witnessing awareness."

The first part of this answer, "witnessing," is that aspect of superimposition that is still seen/felt as the snake and consists of nothing other than a belief in otherness, duality, separation, hiding as an appearance which makes it oftentimes so tough to distinguish its real nature.

The second part of this answer "awareness" turns the first part around, as it were, reveals the harmless rope and shows that this witnessing awareness, including its objects, is in quality the very same as Pure Awareness, which contains all, and embraces all back into Its Heart.

Finishing in Greg's own words on page 37:

You will see... [t]hat you are awareness not only while taking your stand but that you are awareness all the time.

You will see that you were never anything else; you will see that there's nothing else to be made of.

You will stop believing and feeling as though you are something other than awareness. It is this simple...

[A]wareness is present as your nature from the very beginning. Being it, you see as it.

You can visit Greg's beautiful website at [...]

Standing as Awareness is truly the most comprehensive book on non-duality that I've ever read. I realized how many misconceptions I had on the subject and didn't know it. It's so easy to assume understanding and not continue to question, inquire.

So many people are looking for a feeling/mystical experience as validation of Oneness and yet still have so much confusion and unanswered questions about non-duality. Greg's approach toward having someone understand this clearly is to `scrutinize the seeming duality to see if it's actually warranted by experience.' He trains a person to inquire in a vastly different way. If one is interested, it really does allow one to fall in love with awareness without it being a personal, self-serving interest. The motivation to understand is completely different. I don't know of anyone teaching this. He offers real clarity and guidance without trying to ensnare anyone into the guru/disciple relationship. HOW RARE!!!

This is a SUPERB book. Mind you, I doubt this would be the best beginner's Nonduality title,but it's highly readable by most people who are going to stumble upon it. I'd seen it on Amazon, and had it on my wishlist, but after hearing about it from my teacher, Scott Kiloby, it then shot to the top and was the next thing I read. I'm so glad that it was.

Dr. Goode (he's a PhD, but don't hold that against him) starts off where many other teachings end: he has you standing as Awareness very early on via the experiential material in the first third of the book. This "teaching strategy" comes from Shri Atmananda (a.k.a. Krishna Menon), whom both the author (and this reviewer) respect very highly.

[I might as well go ahead and highly recommend the three-book series, Notes on Spiritual Discourses by Shri Atmananda as taken by Nitya Tripta. It's published by Non-Duality Press, available cheap on Amazon, and it's a great series, genuinely on a par with I Am That. That's about as high as praise gets around here. Most of Atmananda's other stuff seems to be out of print, but you can find a good bit of it on the website run by Dennis Waite (of Back to the Truth, 5000 Years of Advaita and The Book of One fame], which is advaita dot org dot UK.]

Greg has some hands-on experiential stuff at the beginning of the book which is illustrative, but I really found the Dialogues to be the most helpful and illuminating segment. They compose about two-thirds of the book.

You are dealing with an clear-as-clear-gets guy when you get into these Dialogues. He's fabulous at gently knocking away whatever it is you're resting on, which of course is the thing that's keeping you cloudy. If this book isn't on your list, put it on your list. If it's on your list, go ahead and put it in your shopping cart. It's a terrific book by someone who is obviously a terrific guy.

Addendum, November 2011: Let me add here that I've since corresponded with Greg at length. What a kind and generous man! He was very helpful in helping me to restructure the tone and thrust of my blog. My hat is off, and I very much look forward to his new book in the spring.