Product Description

Self-realization, true freedom, is available to all who seek it; this is Eli Jaxon-Bear’s message. Based on his own wide-ranging spiritual journey, Sudden Awakening is a practical guide that answers essential questions and assists spiritual seekers in awakening to what is already present. Having spent years practicing Zen and Tibetan Buddhism, as well as teaching in the self-realization lineage of Sri Ramana Maharshi and Sri Poonjaji, Jaxon-Bear shares a fresh approach to understanding the ego, the soul, and the nature of suffering. He offers the realization of freedom through the transmission of silence and points out the importance of personal spiritual awakening as the next evolutionary leap for humankind. Each clearly written chapter reads as a meditation, offering a jumping-off point into self-inquiry for those ready to take the final step toward full self-realization.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #548796 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Customer Reviews

Awakening doesn't have to be complicated
"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.

a real gem from a true teacher
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.

An excellent book
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.