Sudden Awakening: Into Direct Realization [Paperback]

Eli Jaxon-Bear (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 10, 2004

Awakening is a living transmission of silence and freedom, writes Eli Jaxon-Bear, granting final liberation to everyone. A teacher in the self-realization movements of Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Poonjaji, and Gangaji, Jaxon-Bear presents a unique map of egoic identification as a vehicle for self-inquiry and a final realization of freedom. Sudden Awakening puts spiritual awakening in a larger context: that it is humankind's next evolutionary leap. Based on ancient Indian teachings and years of contemplation, this book offers the key to the possibility of ending world destruction. The book is written in clear, beautiful prose, and readers can peruse each chapter as a meditation, or as a gateway into awakening the highest self-attainable. It offers insight into the nature of the true spiritual quest and shows the traps as well as the signs of confirmation along the journey.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: HJ Kramer/New World Library (August 10, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932073116
• ISBN-13: 978-1932073119
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 4.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,022,932 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awakening doesn't have to be complicated, March 16, 2005

By 

Peter Messerschmidt "denmarkguy" (Port Townsend, WA, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sudden Awakening: Into Direct Realization (Paperback)

"Sudden Awakening" is one of those rare gems that succeeds in taking an idea many seem to think must be very complex, and clearly presenting it with easily understood language and ideas. Not only does Jaxon-Bear offer insights for the individual, he also offers all of humanity the glimpse of a possible future that is free from suffering. And he does so, without sending his readers on a confusing journey through 800 pages of convoluted prose.

I had the good fortune to read this book shortly before attending a weekend retreat and Satsang with Jaxon-Bear, and I found him to be a profoundly insightful and compassionate Teacher, both in person and in writing. "Sudden Awakening" offers readers an invitation to self-examine, ask difficult (and not always pleasant) questions, and find the silence and love that is already within us, underneath this trance called "the ego." Unlike some spiritual teachers, Jaxon-Bear does not talk about "killing" the ego. Instead, he points out that it has been a very real and possibly essential survival strategy for us-- up to *this* point-- but that now it is no longer serving us. And it is our "ego fixation" that has lead to a sense of "duality," that is, the idea that we are somehow "separate"-- from God, from others, even from life itself.

In this book, Jaxon-Bear uses simple (and at times funny) teaching stories to lead the reader on a journey from the invitation to embrace freedom; to understanding the nature of "reality;" to understanding the nature of mind, ego and ego-development; to finally understanding Who We Really Are, so we can awaken and be the silence and love that has always been right here.

Final thoughts: Highly recommended (9.5 out of a possible 10 bookmarks). This is one of the best teachings on Non-Duality I have read, and is an easy-- and potentially life-changing-- read for the spiritual seeker who is ready to "find" and wake up from the trance.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a real gem from a true teacher, October 17, 2004

By 

grateful reader (White River, Vermont USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sudden Awakening: Into Direct Realization (Paperback)

I found myself deeply engaged reading this book... and smiling a lot.
Eli's expression is fresh, deeply insightful, but very easy and enjoyable to read. I experienced a wonderful balance between a ruthless pointing to my own experience of what is un-examined and unconscious - and a lightness of being... a confirmation and support to realize that what I truly want and love, is what I already am, right now.

To those readers who are just hearing the liberating words of truth (spoken by one who is realizing it) for the first time, this book offers a powerful and clear initiation and invitation to awaken. To those fortunate enough to have already received that redemptive instant of Grace, this book offers deep support for staying true to what Grace has revealed. It is an offering of love and wisdom from a deeply realized Teacher.

One of the liberating insights that I have received from this book (that is still reverberating) is to view the function of the "ego" from the point of view of the DNA, with its programmed imperative to survive and replicate. I really got how what is called "ego", which is the experience of being a separate something, is just an advanced program for survival! I can see that at one stage in the evolution of our species it was effective and likely necessary, but now it is outdated and ironically the greatest threat to the human DNA's survival.

As a result of trying on this perspective, something unexpected happened. It uncovered a sense of shame that I had felt during all the years (or lifetimes) when I experienced deep suffering by imagining myself to be separate from God, my own heart and all of life. Understanding the impersonal and functional role of the "ego" allowed this hidden shame to surface and discharge into an experience of compassion for this human ordeal of life experienced as a separate self.

Eli is clearly an Ally and Friend to those who are called to realize the truth that lies beneath the appearance, and to be in service to that. I hope his book finds a wide audience and that it serves to stop the reader's mind, allowing attention to fall into direct experience and reveal the lasting peace that is already present.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book, October 7, 2004

By 

K. Birch (California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sudden Awakening: Into Direct Realization (Paperback)

For anyone who sincerely wants to have the truth laid out clearly, and concisely, leaving no traps of the mind unexposed, and who wants to receive a transmission of silence that your heart will recognize from every page - this book will be deeply satisfying. Eli Jaxon-Bear is able to transmit the truth in person and by the written word. Reading this book is being with your own self, not in any kind of New Age dream of enlightenment that just pleases the ego with a spiritual story, but in a real, tangible way that can give you the taste of what is actually possible for humanity, here and now. It is a very timely book, because when we look around and see that so many people are fed up with the results of business as usual, this book offers a real alternative, a radical shift of consciousness, that is so needed.
I am very grateful that this book was written, and that it's so freely available.