Awakening is not what you thought.

These pages explore the idea that it is possible to be liberated from the suffering of this world, but that the path is a paradoxical one of embracing your ego even as you let it go. If you seek true liberation and freedom from the seemingly endless strife of life, you're in the right place.

Spiritual traditions promise liberation but too often ignore the reality of psychological shadows and the effects of childhood trauma. Psychotherapy promises peace, but our egos are incapable of generating it for any length of time. Division seems wound into the human condition. And our world is more divided than at any time in living memory. We are at war, both with each other and with ourselves.

So how do we integrate the deepest and wisest of spiritual traditions with what we know to be true about our culture, our minds, and our physiology? How do we find liberation from suffering, without ignoring trauma, through the insights gained in a world that has come face-to-face with #metoo and George Floyd?

This book is an exploration of how, and where, we need to look.