A few years ago, I wrote a brief outline for a possible book.
The book didn’t materialize, which is what I suspected. I tend to do what I am drawn to, and for whatever reason, I have been more drawn to write posts. (Logically, I think that a book would make more sense.) Why didn’t life move in that direction? I am not sure. Perhaps something in me wants me to clarify a few more things first.
In any case, here is a second outline for a possible book. This one, with a more personal angle. I find that more interesting, and it may also be more interesting to readers.
- Introduction
- Purpose, not sure, mainly for myself, and if someone else gets something out of it, then that’s icing on the cake
- The kind of book I would have loved to come across early in my own process. These days, much easier to find this sharing and info than it was back then, living in a small town in Norway before WWW
- Sharing my own process, hopefully without too much ideology or references to traditions, is descriptive and not prescriptive (since we all have a different process and I have limited experience and knowledge)
- Sincere but take it with a grain of salt, have limited experience, wisdom, and knowledge
- Read whatever you find interesting, in whatever order
- Autobiography / my history
- Awakening (brief)
- 15 – absorbed into/as witness
- 16 – oneness, all is God without exception
- Following years, continuing to explore and get to know
- Before and after, and how it interfaces (is part of) the awakening process
- Out-of-body experience 3-4 months old
- Flashbacks to the time before incarnation
- Challenges in school/teens (outsider, frozen out, angsty teenager, etc.)
- 15/16 – awakening shift
- Huge amounts of energies running through the system
- Taoism, systems views, etc.
- Tai Chi, Chigong, Tibetan, Christian + Zen
- Focused on social engagement/sustainability
- Back to awakening, shift into much stronger no-self state
- Dark night – health collapse, losses, trauma surfacing, messiness,
- Awakening (brief)
- Overview and essentials
- Who and what we are
- Who we are – this human self
- What we are – consciousness, what the world to us happens within and as
- Big and small interpretations of awakening
- Small interpretation
- Psychological interpretation, to ourselves we are consciousness, and the world to us happens within and as consciousness, doesn’t say anything about the world itself
- Upside is that it’s essential, lowest common denominator, can be used by just about anyone independent on worldview
- Big interpretation
- Existence itself is consciousness (AKA God, Spirit), and that’s what wakes up to itself
- Upside is that it may be more inspirational, the downside is that it makes assumptions outside of what we can easily check for ourselves
- Small interpretation
- Awakening misconceptions
- Will solve all your problems, is only for special people, takes lifetimes, is a finishing line, is a state,
- Map and terrain
- Usefulness and limits of mental representations
- Thoughts are questions, help us function and orient in the world, cannot hold any final or full or absolute truth, reality is always more than and different from our stories about it
- Who and what we are
- Phases or aspects of the process
- Possible phases and/or aspects of the process
- Initial
- An interest, intuition, draw
- Glimpse
- Clarifying and getting more familiar
- The oneness we are noticing itself becomes a new habit
- Exploring how to live from that noticing and as that oneness
- Inviting our human self / psyche to transform within the noticing
- Dark nights
- Many different forms
- When our deeper identifications and beliefs rubs up against reality
- One form is when trauma and anything unprocessed comes up, which can be overwhelming, confusing, messy, and scary
- Getting more of us on board
- Our psyche may be largely formed within separation consciousness
- So comes up to join in with a more conscious noticing of ourselves as oneness
- From seeing to viscerally getting it
- Our metaphorical center of gravity can be more towards our human side (separation) or more into what we are (oneness)
- Will naturally shift over time towards oneness
- viscerally getting it, more clarity around it, more used to it, more of our psyche on board with it
- Initial
- Life doesn’t follow our models, so this is just a very general outline
- Are more aspects of the process, and some or all can be present now
- If see as phases, then it often won’t follow this sequence or pattern
- For me, didn’t follow it, although elements of each are here even now
- Possible phases and/or aspects of the process
- Structured explorations
- Some that I find useful
- Heart-centered practices
- Tonglen, ho’o, Jesus/Heart Prayer, Christ meditation
- Basic meditation
- Notice + allow what’s here, and notice it’s already allowed and noticed
- Training a more stable attention
- For instance, bring attention to the sensation of the breath at your nostrils, and bring attention gently back when you notice it wanders
- Inquiry
- Buddhist sense field explorations, Kiloby Inquiry which is a modern version of it
- The Work of Byron Katie
- Headless experiments
- The Big Mind process
- Mindful movement
- Tai chi, chigong, yoga, Breema etc.
- Energy explorations / work
- Taoist practices, Vortec Healing, etc.
- Nature
- Be in nature, connect with your body and mind as nature
- Practices to reconnect
- Universe story, epic of evolution, Big History
- Guidelines for behavior
- Sane guidelines for behavior
- Notice when don’t follow, find issues behind it
- Social engagement
- Heart-centered practices
- Some that I find useful
This is just the first draft of an outline. I will likely return to it and expand and update it. And if I a moved to do so, I may also link each section to a page where I will expand on each topic. (Perhaps using existing articles as a seed.)
INITIAL OUTLINE
Outline of a book
- page + subpages, based on articles
- Outline
- Bio – awakening (brief) + rest (interfacing w. awakening process)
- Who and what we are
- Big and small interpretation
- Awakening misconceptions
- Map and terrain
- Aspects of the process
- Initial
- Glimpse
- Clarifying and getting more familiar
- Dark nights
- Getting more of us on board
- From seeing to viscerally getting it
- Structured explorations
My process before and after, and how it interfaces with (is part of) the awakening process
….