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C
H A P T E R S U M M A R I E S
The Introduction:
Awakening to the uncommon path
The
aim of this book is to dispel any possibility that
concealed conditioning
is commanding your quest to awaken. The Introduction starts
with a radical
distinction between conceptual-free-will and
conscious-free-will, which
forms the basis for the entire book. This sets the stage for
your awakening
to flourish as you integrate the unfolding perspectives into
your current
ways of being. Your subsequent willingness to express
your awakening -
in communion with other people beyond conditioning - holds the
key to
a new world. The Introduction tells the first real-life
stories that appear
throughout the book. The opening of the book also reveals
that Awakened
Relationships and Awakened
Love allow us to evolve consciousness by
affording the spiritual development of humanity.
We will return to these
point often as the book progresses.
In this chapter you
will learn:
-
The difference between conceptual and conscious-free-will.
-
How to untangle your free will from conditioning.
-
How the ego's dharma drives the search for the awakened
life.
-
How to recognize concealed conditioning in yourself and
others.
-
The joyful possibility of relationships without conflict.
-
That freedom is really a matter of choice - yours.

Chapter 1:
The Four Insights - An Overview
This
chapter is an overview of the Four Insights of Awakening that
create
and sustain the conditions for the awakened life. They are: Renounce;
Reclaim; Recall; and Relate. The 4 R's
guide you in identifying concealed
conditioning that may be affecting the outcome of your
quest to awaken.
They also show you how to unhinge the effects of
shadow and concealed
conditioning from your
decision-making process, thus ending their
reappearance in your future. The Four
Insights are the cornerstones of
The Uncommon Path. This chapter prepares
you for the exercises
included later in the individual chapters on each of
the Four Insights
(Chapters 9-12.)
In this chapter you
will learn:
-
How to evolve your consciousness by choice.
-
How to evolve your awareness through many levels.
-
How to let go of concealed conditioning in your motives for
living.
-
How to make great decisions that are free from hidden
habituation.
-
To access the power of an awakened life together with other
people.
-
How to co-create reality in harmony with those who have
awakened.


Chapter 2:
The Whole 'I'
Awakening your full potential implies that you are a
self-confident, self-
reliant and an emotionally intelligent individual. Included
in Chapter Two
is a simple exercise on identifying and curing shadow. It is
only when
the 'I', or the Freudian Ego, is complete in you, that you
are free to focus
on the path of complete liberation. The second chapter goes
on to help you
identify the separate sense-of-self and the ego - the
part of humanity that
is motivated by seemingly personal fear and desire, which is
compounded
by long-term interactions with family, media, culture
and the world. Here,
we also distinguish between the healthy and unhealthy
aspects of the ego.
This chapter outlines several new perspectives on the
independent force of
conditioning, beginning with behaviors in which
conditioning and
unconsciousness are most obvious. Identifying the
unhealthy-ego
simultaneously reveals the awakened choices that
allow you to transcend
its influence in your life and relationships.
In this chapter you
will learn:
-
Why a whole 'I' is essential to your awakening.
-
The distinction between the healthy and unhealthy-ego.
-
How to locate the wisdom of true individuality.
-
How to see the ego-mind moving in yourself and other people.
-
The key to advanced emotional intelligence and nonviolent
dialogue.
-
How to end all unnecessary conflicts in your personal
relationships.

Chapter 3:
Two Ways to Joy
This chapter takes a lighthearted look at the origin of the
separate
sense-of-self and the ego-mind whose role it is to defend
that
concept. It explains how we unknowingly develop an attached
to
this
'me'-sense because of the natural process of
development,
which occurs between four to seven years of age. Chapter 3
continues
by describing the ways in which we craft and secure our
separate
sense-of-self and how we eventually are molded by the
opportunities
and limitations of our particular culture. We also discover
that there
are two ways to joy. This chapter explains what these two
paths are,
how to recognize them, and how to select the way for you
that will
allow the complete expression of your full potential. This
chapter
ends with a look at the ego's response to the process of
dead and
dying with a beautiful except from author and Diamond Way
Buddhist
teacher, Lama Ole Nydahl.
In this chapter you
will learn:
-
When the ego first appeared in humanity.
-
The difference between healthy individuality and narcissism.
-
How to prevent the unhealthy-ego from draining your
awareness.
-
About the separate sense-of-self and how to let go it when
needed.
-
How culture influences our personal fears and desires.
-
About the preconscious mind and the after death process.

Chapter 4:
The Grace of Resistance
The fourth chapter reveals that a discomfort zone
is felt resistance
to a new direction in life for which you are already
prepared. Here
you see that trust in transformation transmutes turmoil
into truth,
and that on the spiritual path, all limiting fears
dissolve once you
obtain objectivity on the opposition―the
unhealthy-ego. Your
suffering, as well as the pain and distress you cause
others, comes
mostly from your inability to recognize resistance as
the invitation of
consciousness to evolve. We also see how anguish is not
really caused
by things that happen to
you; it is a result of conscious or unconscious
opposition to your birthright of evolution. This chapter
reveals that
often it takes more energy to pretend you are happy than it
does to
let go of unnecessary suffering. It also shows how emotional
and
psychological struggling is a manifestation of mediocrity
masquerading
as contentment and how resistance to change points the way
to your release from all unnecessary anguish and suffering.
In this chapter you will learn:
-
How to transcend and include the fear of change.
-
The difference between the
'now'
and a brief moment of
clock time.
-
How to fearlessly pursue challenges as a path of awakening.
-
The hidden shortcomings of Positive Psychology and
psychotherapy.
-
The significant causes of depression and how to release that
suffering.

Chapter
5:
Freeing Your Mind
Chapter 5 reveals the keys to acting, free of
conditioned limitations.
Since the past always appears as rampant thinking, this
chapter shows
that the awakened life emerges upon the
realization that this activity is
consuming most of your attention. The ego loves a busy
mind; when
you recognize the unhealthy-ego's hand in
your thinking, you learn to
invite ease and joy into your life. Your awakening
begins with the
understanding that thoughts are a mechanical process of
a healthy
mind. The fifth chapter also reveals that interpretation
is key because
a thought is present in your awareness does not mean it
has any
significance for you or the world. Freeing your
mind from conditioned
ways of thinking is further supported by a process by which
you can
learn to disregard thoughts that are not supportive of your
desire to
live in harmony and communion with other people.
In
this chapter you will learn:
-
Who you are is not just your thoughts.
-
How to identify the influences of the ego in your thinking.
-
How to free your mind from the struggle with unwanted
thoughts.
-
The power of being unmindful.
-
Three ways to relate to thinking and emotions.
-
How an awakened person relates to the content of his/her
mind.

Chapter 6:
Karma and the Ego's Dharma
The sixth chapter provides a perspective on karma
(the consequences
of the past) that is most applicable to contemporary living.
This chapter
begins by outlining the relationship
between action and karma in a way
that appeals to both the neophyte and the often jaded,
advanced
seeker. Since we are all inclined to act in particular ways
because of
our past deeds, we naturally assume that karma has to do
with our
actions. This chapter reveals that it is not the act that establishes
karma, because doing nothing can also create karma. Karma is
often
interpreted as cause and effect, or action and
result, hence directly
related to doing
something. We will see how this conditioned
understanding of karma tends to lead us in circles as we
create
'good'
karma and avoid
'bad'
karma. In this way, the
unhealthy-ego keeps us
busy and well clear of the true rewards of our chosen
path. This chapter
reveals that by recognizing the gift of karma, it can be
transcended.
In
this chapter you will learn:
-
What is karma and why it is important to acknowledge its
wisdom.
-
How to see the movement of karma in your life and
relationships.
-
The precise cause of karma.
-
How to act without creating karma!
-
How to let go of all your karma.
-
A technique to harness the full power of your attention.

Chapter 7:
Awakening Conversations
Your words have tremendous power - far beyond
that which you assume.
Your words either support or degrade the conditions
for awakened living.
Many of the words you use keep you separated from
authentic joy. In this
chapter, we will see how your conversations determine
your destiny.
Most interpersonal exchanges are heavily laden with the
topics and
words of the lesser-mind. This means that many
so-called
'meaningful'
conversations are nothing more than the ego in one
person talking with
the same ego in another person. This chapter
provides dozens of ways
to help you identify the presence of the unhealthy-ego
in everyday
conversations. The purpose is to show you
where concealed conditioning
is alive and thriving in dialogue so that you can
transcend and include
its influences there.
In this chapter you will learn:
-
The favorite topics of the ego-mind.
-
How to avoid putting your foot in your mouth again!
-
How to know when the ego in another person is speaking to
you.
-
How to transcend conditioned conversations in important
relationships.
-
A way to empower your speech and listening with true
compassion.

Chapter 8:
Awakening Relationships
In this chapter, the types of relationships that
are significant to awakening
are defined. For the sake of this work, relevant
relationships are those most
pertinent to your search for and/or progression
along your chosen spiritual
path. Chapter 8 continues with an exercise that helps you
identify all of
your relevant relationships. The goal of this chapter is to
prepare you to
relate with other people as an awakened person, in
relationships that are
free from personal conflict. These types of interactions
hold the keys to a
new world for all of humanity. This chapter shows you
how identify the ego
in your most important relationships and how to evolve the basis
of those
interactions. When a true shift in consciousness has
occurred, conflict in
your primary relationships will dissolve. This chapter shows
you how you
can end all superfluous suffering in your personal and
business relationships.
In
this chapter you will learn:
-
What are relevant
relationships and why they are important.
-
That not all relationships are relevant to your awakening.
-
How to spot the influences of concealed condition in your
relationships.
-
Ways to introduce awakened love in your primary
relationships.
-
How the ego is likely to respond to your desire to be
conflict free.
-
How to bring lasting peace to your most cherished
relationships.

Chapter 9:
The First Insight - Renounce Conditioned Motives
Ridding yourself of all opinions
formerly accepted begins by creating
new permanent
structures in consciousness through which your
awakening can be expressed with great ease. Bringing the
influences
of concealed conditioning to your attention is one half of
this task.
The other half is to consent to letting go of these
influences. This
process of identification and renunciation - free of all
requests to
overcome or conquer - brings the unhealthy-ego
into the light of
awareness, where it cannot survive. Your awakening
subsequently
flourishes. The First Insight contains an exercise that is
based on
Ken Wilber's 4 Quadrants, comprising of several hundred
statements.
Each statement brings you to a point of objectivity on
the possible
presence of concealed conditioning in
everyday circumstances.
All major aspects of life are addressed, including:
spirituality,
family, relationships, career and money.
In this chapter you will learn:
-
How the ego-mind conceals itself in everyday situations.
-
That the desire for
love or money is never a problem!
-
The power and grace of voluntary
simplicity.
-
To see hidden habituation in thinking, relationships, and
culture.
-
Dozen of instances in which you can let go of conditioned
motives.
-
The distinction between conditioned motives and eternal
motives.

Chapter 10:
The Second Insight - Reclaim Your Consciousness
The Second Insight is all about the power of
great decision-making.
In this chapter we discuss your values and why their
composition
and arrangement is essential to your awakening. Values are core
structures by which you make all major decisions. You
value what
you consider to be important. The more essential something
is to
you, the more that value will be evidenced in your life
and actions.
Since you already possess the qualities necessary for your
awakening,
the arrangement of those existing values is key to manifesting
that
outcome. We will see that to evolve as a conscious person,
the
arrangement of your values can be shifted slightly from an
emphasis
on individual needs to a focus on inclusiveness and expansion.
To
create and sustain freedom, the arrangement of your values
must
be capable of directing such a pure intention.
In
this chapter you will learn:
-
Why inherited arrangements of values do not
allow for awakening.
-
How to tell if the ego-mind is manipulating your values.
-
The joy of never having to change
your mind again.
-
How to recognize and harness the power of awakened
choices.
-
A method of rearranging your value to guarantee your
awakening!

Chapter 11:
The Third Insight - Recall Your Origin of Oneness
The Third Insight reveals that your true nature is not
so much the
constant movement of the mind, but one of great peace, ease
and
joyfulness in which all creativity arises. This
chapter describes a
simple yet powerful practice of stillness meditation.
This practice
is often the first place you will come
face-to-face with the true
force of the ego in you. In stillness meditation,
you practice
recognizing and disregarding the ego-mind so that when
you
encounter it in your daily life you will have the
self-confidence
and willpower to let it be. Stillness meditation is a
metaphor
for awakened living. The Third Insight complements
and
informs the preceding two insights.
In
this chapter you will learn:
-
What stillness meditation is and why it is so
important.
-
Why people who have been practicing for 20 years have
not awoken.
-
How the ego can get addicted to spiritual experiences.
-
Why so many gurus have fallen from grace.
-
How to ease the burden of a troubled mind.
-
How to recognize pure stillness, simply and easily.


Chapter 12:
The Fourth Insight - Relate as Your Full Potential
The Fourth Insight is a spontaneous emergence.
The last chapter describes
how its blessing supplants a formerly conditioned trance
with the sweet
intimacies of freedom from all unnecessary emotional and
psychological
suffering. The appearance of the Fourth Insight is entirely
dependent upon
the extent of your engagement with the preceding three
Insights. The
Fourth Insight encompasses every aspect of your life. Its
emergence
becomes the foundation for our engagement with other people
as living
examples of the
infinite creative potential inherent in each of
us. The
Fourth Insight reveals the possibility of a new world. The
Fourth Insight
confirms your availability to merge with, evolve and
expand the waves
of unity consciousness that are appearing in our world
- not
so much
for your personal good, but for the sake
of humanity.
In this chapter you will learn:
-
How to recognize the emergence of The Fourth Insight.
-
How to enliven your life with awakened compassion.
-
The power and potential of forming awakened relationships.
-
How to transmit awakened love in all of your relationships.
-
The three types of collective consciousness experiences.
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How to come together with other people beyond ego-identity.

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