During the past forty-five years of studying, practicing, and teaching meditation for the purpose of awakening intuitive insight into the nature of consciousness, I have observed countless ways that the beautiful heart of spirituality is corrupted by views and concepts that may mean well, but often result in unnecessary sectarian divides, intolerance, animosity, and even warfare in the name of religion. It is unlikely that cultural hatred will change unless individuals see through the ideologies that divide them. For the sake of peaceful reconciliation and compassionate reflection, I would like to offer a brief but comprehensive view of this field that provides a way of understanding spirituality that a person of any persuasion might find helpful in clarifying his or her own foundational beliefs as well as recognizing the common good in others.
Imperience: Understanding the Heart of Consciousness pertains to the divine, universal nature of absolute consciousness and how to know for oneself, from the inside out, the heart of supreme being. By design, this book is not about anyone’s personal experience or life story. My next book, The Dharma, the Tao, the Here and Now, will offer more about my own journey, practicing with many teachers of nondual spirituality, and teaching as a lineage holder in the Buddhist tradition.
In this book, I describe each foundation of our being and how it relates to absolute consciousness. Because a comprehensive, unified view of the absolute is nondual by nature, everything points in the one direction and may sound repetitious at times. This feels right because some people will naturally relate to some aspects more easily than others, and there is value in understanding how they all fit together and function as a whole.
Because spiritual development is ultimately intuitive and not just about beliefs, understanding core principles can be useful guidance in any language or religious interpretation. We don’t have to agree with any particular description in order to awaken conscious awareness, but we do need to know how to look inside our own minds if we are to see our true nature for ourselves. Spiritual awakening has less to do with the content of our stories than understanding the screen of consciousness on which they play.
For those who have never considered spirituality in this way before, please don’t be dissuaded by how abstract this may sound. There is a reason why spiritual traditions generally have two very different aspects to their practice and teaching. One is about living socially in the relative world, providing wise guidance to nurture love and compassion in our daily lives. The second aspect relates to our intuitive journeys into the depths of mind to see firsthand the nature of absolute—or divine—consciousness. This requires a different set of skills and conditions than apply to the relational world. When we comprehend the unique, nondual relationship between these two aspects, we can employ wiser strategies for nurturing both.
It isn’t necessarily a disadvantage to be unfamiliar with intuitive, meditative understanding and practice before reading and engaging this material. On the contrary, it can be beneficial not to carry fixed views, opinions, or preconceptions about it. If you read slowly and reflectively, you will have a much better chance of seeing where these words point and how this fits with your own experience. In this way, intuitive wisdom will awaken and mature, both gradually and at times quite suddenly, revealing the nature of your heart of consciousness.
