The School for Awakening 2008

An Eight-Month

Program of Teachings,

Intensives, and

Individual Guidance

Now Accepting Inquiries
and Registrations

for Spring 2008

Click Book To Order

 

We're pleased to announce that Stephan Bodian's new book, Wake Up Now: A Guide to the Journey of Spiritual Awakening, is now available from McGraw-Hill. To read an excerpt, please click here. To read praise for the book, click here. To order a copy from Amazon.com, please click on the book cover to the left.

Each moment of life, with all its apparent imperfections and shortcomings, is complete, perfect, and sacred just the way it is. Nothing need be added, subtracted, or changed in any way--nothing, that is, except your perception, your point of view. Throughout history, all the great masters and sages have realized this essential truth. In fact, this truth is your birthright, your natural state.

As simple as this truth may seem, however, it tends to elude us because we've been conditioned to view life in terms of the apparent separate self we imagine ourselves to be. From this point of view, which is grounded in time, life is a struggle to survive in a difficult, imperfect world.

The spiritual "journey" involves awakening from this dream of separation and realizing the peace and joy of our essential nature, which is pure wakefulness or presence, untouched and undisturbed by the struggles and circumstances of life. Only by awakening to your essential nature can you experience complete relief from suffering and dissatisfaction--what the Buddha called the "sure heart's release."

Sometimes this awakening occurs spontaneously--and then it can be invaluable to have a seasoned spiritual teacher or counselor who knows the terrain themselves to help guide you through the process. More often, this awakening can be ignited and clarified by a relationship with such a person, someone who is grounded in wakefulness and devoted to nurturing it in others.

In addition, both before and after awakening, numerous issues and challenges arise on the journey that invite us to look more deeply at our conditioned patterns of thinking and behaving and loosen our identification with our beliefs, stories, and familiar self-concepts. For this, a skilled counselor trained in both Western psychology and nondual wisdom can be an extraordinary resource.