A Natural Awakening: Realizing the True Self in Everyday Life, was my first book, published in 2005. It is currently out of print, but a PDF of it is available for $10 USD. Contact me if interested.
This book was not easy for me to write. I began writing it around 1996 and labored on it on and off for about seven years (in contrast, I wrote The Three Dangerous Magi in five months, even though it is more than twice as long). Around 2001 I became fed up with my inability to finish it and tossed the manuscript aside for a year, without even glancing at it. In early 2002, shortly after closing the doors of Shamballa Trainings, the large (and intense) personal growth school I'd run for seven years, I underwent some significant deepenings in my Understanding (to echo David Carse's capitalization of the word) and realized that much of what I'd written up to that point was inadequate, as it reflected a viewpoint that was too linear and artificially progressive (see Ken Wilber's work for a linear viewpoint that is properly comprehensive). I set about re-rewriting significant portions of the book, and finally finished it by 2003. But that wasn't the end. I couldn't find a publisher, and so decided to self-publish (this remains my only self-published book). It took me two further years to marshal the resources to do so. So the entire book was 9 years in the making.
In the years since I published it, I believe I have further refined some of my understandings (realization must never remain static, except in the very rare case of one who is totally 'cooked'), and some of these refinements are presented in my work Rude Awakening (released in May, 2012). That said, I still believe that A Natural Awakening is a worthwhile read, and in some respects presents a more straightforward approach to ultimate matters.
ISBN 0-9733419-0-4
Copyright © 2005 by P.T. Mistlberger
Published by Tigerfyre Publishing, Vancouver, BC, Canada
All Rights Reserved
Cover photograph, “Blue Forest”, by Thomas M. DeVange © 2004
Foreword (by Brian Haley)
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Essence of Spiritual Enlightenment
Seeking for Enlightenment in All the Wrong PlacesConsciousness and External Reality
What is Enlightenment?
Unobstructed Consciousness (the Natural State) and Separate Identity (the ego)
The True Self and No-self
Chapter 2: The Problem
The Cause of all Suffering
Loss and the Certainty of Change
Chapter 3: Thought
The Source of Thoughts
The Difference Between Thought and Consciousness
The Purpose of Thought
Chapter 4: Feeling and Emotion
The Emotional Body
The Lightening, Thunder and Rain of our Inner Landscape
The Failure of Drama and Repression
The Negative Emotions: Anger, Jealousy, Grief, Fear
The Inner Blocks
The Source of HappinessGuilt and Innocence
Chapter 5: Identification
The Basics of Identification
The "I"
The Process of Identification
The Ego’s Cultivated IdentityThe Myth of Narcissus
Nirvana, Emptiness, and the Fear of Death
Eliminating Who I am Not, reveals Who I am
Chapter 6: Projection and the Self-Image
Projection and Separation
Awareness of Projections
Judgment and Perception
The Natural State and the Original Separation
The Root of the Ego: The Self-Image
Chapter 7: Relationships
Relationship with the Whole
Heartbreaking Honesty
Attraction and Repulsion
The Edge of Desire
The Joyful Delusion of Romantic Love
Unattainable Love and the Anxiety of Rejection
Triangulation
The Lucifer Syndrome
Abandoning Hope and the End of Possession
Being Here, Being There For
Sharing the Self-Image
The Function of Boundaries
The Willingness to Be Wrong
A Spiritual Practice and Autonomous Fulfillment
No Ego-Back Guarantee
The True Meaning of Being AloneChapter 8: Sex, the Body, and Male-Female Gender Issues
Ordinary Sex and Conscious SexThe Deeper Bodies and Pure Energy
The Alchemy of Sex
Denial of the Body: The Dark Side of Religion
Scapegoats and Why Bad Guys are Popular
Male-Female Gender IssuesGender Ego Impediments to Awakening
Not Good, Not Bad, Just Is
Chapter 9: Myths and Misconceptions
Spiritual Growth: Is There Such a Thing?Do we really Create our Reality?
Old and Useless Paradigms
Phony Holy and the Denial of the Dark SideWhat is the Higher Self higher than?
Who Reincarnates?
Gurus, Followers, and Guru BashersPsychic Powers and the Paranormal
Soul Mates
Enlightenment Myths: Is There a Self to Work On?Chapter 10: Roadblocks to Enlightenment
Religious, Political, and Social Conditioning
All in the Family: Psychological ConditioningUnclear Motivation
Insincerity and Lack of Effort
Unresolved Authority Issues
Excessive Intellectualizing
Chapter 11: Spiritual Practice (I): The Enlightenment Process
The Pathless Path
The Enlightenment Process
Awareness of the Present Moment (Realization of the Natural State)
Connecting and Letting Go (The Spontaneous Functions of the Natural State)
Moving Energy and Staying Alive (The Spontaneous Expression of the Natural State)
Communing with the Heart (Abiding in the Natural State)
Chapter 12: Spiritual Practice (II): Different Roads to Rome
Inquiry, Devotion, or Service? Meditation, Relationship, or Action?
The Value and Limitations of Group Transformational Therapy
Relationship Work: The Realization of the One “I”
Wilhelm Reich and the Modern Body Therapies
Kundalini and Spiritual AmbitionPersonality and True Individuality
Chapter 13: Spiritual Practice (III): Usefully Useless Methods
Making Enlightenment the Number One Priority in Life
Useful Uselessness: Spiritual Methods for Clarifying our Intent to Wake Up
Chapter 14: Work and Action
Personal Will and True Will
The Difference Between Desire and Passion
Success, Fear, and the Unknown
The Art of Extending and the Golden Rule
The Realization of Impermanence and True Success
Responsible Action
Chapter 15: Spiritual Teachers, Teachings, and Satsang
The Meaning of Satsang
The Function of Satsang
Quirks and Qualities of Spiritual Teachers
Masters, Mystics, and the Deluded
Modern Versions of Timeless Teachings
Fundamentalism, Materialism, and the Third Principle
Spiritual Corruption and Clarity of Intent
Chapter 16: Spiritual Illusions
The Dreaded Boredom Monster
The Myth of the Inner and the Outer
There is No Such Thing as a Gradual Awakening
Spiritual Enlightenment is Just an Idea
The Bogus Seeker
Who You Really Are is Neither Male nor Female
Belief vs. Direct Experience
Walking the Talk
Seeing, Sensing, and Knowing the Universal Energy Field
Personality and True Individuality
Chapter 17: Space, Time, and Creation
Creation and the Origin of Space and Time
The Wisdom of Unknowing
Non-Duality and the Bigger View
Life After Death and Higher Dimensions
Modern Physics and Enlightenment
The Meaning of Creation
Chapter 18: Enlightenment: Being Home
You Cannot attain to GodEnlightenment does not Destroy the Mind
The “Stages” of Enlightenment
Enlightenment with Others, or Enlightenment Alone
Love and Compassion
Being Home
The Final Truth
Glossary of Terms
About the Author
Many students of Advaita think that to become enlightened is to attain a permanent state of peace and happiness. It seems that many teachers attempt to subvert the traditional teachings by diluting them with ideas from western psychology in order that they may satisfy this need. If they can make the person feel good (instead of undermining their idea that there actually is a person), they claim to have succeeded. This completely misses the point and invariably the student ends up confused and dissatisfied. The reason that this can happen is that the teacher is usually poorly trained in psychology and has not correctly understood the philosophy himself (irrespective of whether or not he is himself ‘enlightened’).
In order to address the perceived needs of these western students, what seems to be needed is a teacher who fully understands both. He will then be able to address the psychological issues authoritatively in their own context whilst at the same time expanding the students' awareness into being able to see the truth behind their seeming problems.
In my own studies and research, I have read many books on Advaita from all traditions and I have never encountered anyone with the ability to teach in this way - until now. I invariably pencil in notes in the margins of books whenever I encounter particularly useful explanations or helpful metaphors so that a very good indicator of the value of a book can be gained by the number of such annotations. Based upon this, I can state categorically that this is a very good book indeed!
P.T.Mistlberger succeeds in explaining the psychological background to our misunderstandings and mistaken view of reality and provides practical exercises to help in this regard (another rarity in spiritual, as opposed to self-help books). Yet, at the same time, the clear aim of all his teaching is unambiguously to steer readers towards realization of their identity as non-dual Consciousness.
This book takes the essence of the wisdom of what is essentially an eastern philosophy, often difficult to appreciate by a mind cultivated in western society, and presents it in a style that will be readily appreciated by the intelligent reader. It explores the way life seems to be, with its apparent difficulties in terms of such things as self-image and relationships and clearly explains how Advaita cuts through all of this to remove the ignorance and delusion and show us the already existing reality of our true nature.
-- Dennis Waite, author of The Book of One, and Back to the Truth: 5000 Years of Advaita.