Free Downloads The Book Of Not Knowing: Exploring The True Nature Of Self, Mind, And Consciousness
Over decades of martial arts and meditation practice, Peter Ralston discovered a curious and paradoxical fact: that true awareness arises from a state of not-knowing. Even the most sincere investigation of self and spirit, he says, is often sabotaged by our tendency to grab too quickly for answers and ideas as we retreat to the safety of the known. This "Hitchhiker’s Guide to Awareness" provides helpful guideposts along an experiential journey for those Western minds predisposed to wandering off to old habits, cherished presumptions, and a stubbornly solid sense of self. With ease and clarity Ralston teaches readers how to become aware of the background patterns that they are usually too busy, stressed, or distracted to notice. The Book of Not Knowing points out the ways people get stuck in their lives and offers readers a way to make fresh choices about every aspect of their lives, from a place of awareness instead of autopilot.
Paperback: 600 pages
Publisher: North Atlantic Books (January 26, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1556438575
ISBN-13: 978-1556438578
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.7 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #360,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #298 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > Epistemology #309 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > Eastern > Buddhism > Zen > Philosophy #644 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > Consciousness & Thought
I truly don't know where to start with this. I've never read anything like it. Take that statement for what it's worth. I'm a college student and for the past five years I've had a drive to read everything under the sun as it relates to personal growth and what it means to "be" human. As the saying goes, we're human beings, we aren't "human doings." This is in a category of its own. It sounds funny and it is, but I could just feel becoming smarter as I read this book. So many "aha" moments just clicked into place. The book just feels *right.*I can't describe this book as just something that adds more "stuff" to your head. This book is a pointer to experience. It's also an inspiration to be aware that a human being created something of such great value.After all other readings I've done from psychology, leadership, eastern philosophy, you name it - this book becomes a unifying principle of everything. And it is immense. It isn't everyday that I say that something becomes a unifying principle for many other seemingly contradictory or paradoxical "realities." Yet this one somehow manages to do just that.When you read a lot, when you experience a lot, you tend to let things just be scattered all over the place in your mind. When things in your mind are scattered, your experience of reality will equally be scattered. You will be like a leaf in the wind. And you will try to fight against any currents. This is a book that unifies everything together in a holistic manner that translates in direct experience. This book is not trying to convince you of anything, it does not, and cannot become a "belief." It is trying to SHOW you, NOW. After it has shown you, you are free to do what you like. It's a piercing expose of what it means to be human.
***** for subject matter** for executionThe subject matter is tremendous. I've been interested in this sort of thing for a long time, but have never come across a book that deals with it, at least in any depth. Since I was a teenager I've had the notion that the only thing we know is that something is itself. I remember arguing the point with a friend, who wasn't really into that kind of thinking, so his eyes glazed over before we got anywhere. And so its gone most of my life.So this book is about trying to get to a point where we can really experience ourselves--our true Being, as opposed to a concept of ourself (our conceptual self that is seemingly created by our beliefs/assumptions about everything). It deals with getting to the Truth, which in the end, involves a lot of honest indepth contemplation.To experience this a bit, sit back, relax and comtemplate the follow: What are you? Not what you do in life, or how you're feeling right now, or what you're thinking, but just what are you basically. What is it that is thinking about this right now and where is it exactly? In your head? But is it really? How do you know? Feel that itch/pain in your ankle? Is that you, the pain in your ankle? If so, are you your ankle? Now stop thinking and just be aware of your ankle. Where is that awareness? Can you be aware of it or look at it? Awareness is like looking out of your eyes, you can't see it just like you can't see your eyes directly. So where is that awareness coming from exactly? It can't be coming from anything you can be aware of, can it? And so on.So why two stars for execution.1. Because the book is way too verbose.2. There are far too few concrete examples when there could/should be many.3.
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