Surfed onto your site via the Non Duality Salon. I loved the interviews with Lex Hixon (what a cool dude he was!) and Richard Moss, who was an important teacher of mine 1980-82. In 1984 I met Jean Klein, and his influence was, literally, mind blowing. I am an author, healer, and speaker (or at least that's what this body/mind does!) and wanted to let you know about my new book, "THE WAY OF HARMONY: Walking the Inner Path to Balance, Happiness, and Success" (Avon Books), which fuses spiritual East with practical West.

Filled with practical tools and inspiring stories, the book outlines a clear and direct path to non dual awakening within the context of health, relationships, parenting, work, creativity, money, and all the other challenges of daily life. A taste .....

"Enlightenment is seeing that you are not your story. The world you've created inside your head doesn't really exist, except as a fabrication in your mind." (p 5)

"Don't get so bound up in words and concepts that you get mentally constipated." (p 42)

"Beauty is love made visible." (p 82)

"Humanity will come together when everyone practices the religion of the heart." (p 85)

"The master knows that he or she is always a student, whereas the student still hopes someday to be a master." (p 114)

"Love is the desire to understand another." (p 125)

"If more people realized what a beautiful relationship they could have with themselves, they wouldn't remain in unfulfilling relationships." (p 149)

"Don't complain. Complaining only reinforces the feeling that you're a victim. It disempowers you." (p 159)

"You access extraordinary power when you take a stand." (p 167)

"No one can compete with you when you're being yourself." (p 171)

"If you can shape it in your mind, you will find it in your life." (p 175)

"Develop the consciousness of life's fundamental goodness and abundance first, and then the money can come to you." (p 203)

"Honor the past, keep an eye on the future, but stay firmly grounded in the present." (p 225)

"When you bring a clear and loving consciousness to your relationships, your work, and your creative endeavors, miracles happen." (p 246)

"The proof that you're on the right path is that living starts to become more effortless." (p 251)

You can view the cover (stunning artwork, rich in both Eastern and Western spiritual motifs) – and read more, if you wish – by clicking on my Website.

Many readers have written to me or told me personally it is the clearest book they have read on how to balance the spiritual and the material. My 75 year old "unspiritual" semi-retired corporate executive father in New Zealand said, "While I was reading it, I wasn't thinking that this was a book written by my son, but by a guy who knows what he is talking about. It has the ring of truth. I am very impressed." I thought that was pretty cool!

Great to hear from you, Suzanne! Synchronistic, the Jean Klein connection. I just got back from our bimonthly "friends of Jean Klein" gathering. Just a dozen of us, some knew him twenty years ago. We sit for a while in silence, share recollections of Jean, read a bit, dialogue about whatever, then have a potluck.

I just read the material on Yukio. My ex-wife lives in Boulder and did some work with him. She thought he was very clear. Certainly sounds it. One of scores, it seems, Poonja sent out into the world. Of course, he ended up disowning the first one, Andrew Cohen. Ah, well, politics and personalities infiltrate the spiritual realm as much as any other!

Your comments about my site not mentioning the value we represent to each other was interesting. I think I speak more about that in the book. The fact is we are all players on the one team, cells in the one body, reflections of the one true Self, but it seems that we have to come to that realization by first diving into this individual "person" we take ourselves to be. Ultimately, it's a solo job, in the sense that we have to face ourselves alone. But, the paradox is that in doing that, we discover our oneness with all of humanity, indeed all of existence.

At least, this is how I am seeing it, and maybe you are trying to say something that I am not quite hearing. Please feel free to continue to dialogue on this. One thing seems definite to me, and that is that the old hierarchical structure is out, and there truly is a democratization of enlightenment happening. That's what I like about the Internet – the networking, the extending outward in all directions, interconnecting. It is very democratic, though inevitably there are points of light that are brighter, clear, and attract more interest. When we feel lost in the dark, a point of light is always attractive.

Alea sounds like an interesting being to hang with. Interestingly, my "hanging" days seem a thing of the past, except for little bits here and there. Too many books to write, workshops to teach, a son to raise into adulthood...

I admire your commitment to merging and connecting, and yes, I am definitely open to allies. After all, the more of us that reach out and embrace one another, the more harmony we'll have in the world.

Just wanted to know you inspired me to take a look at the tone of my new book (proposal) – about the art of living fearlessly – which is about to go to my agent. It was written in the "you" style – i.e. me, the author, telling you, the reader, the way it is. After your comments I felt this urge to change it to "we" – as in, "We're all in this together." It makes for a much warmer and better book. Thanks!

Synchronicity city! I was really into Dr. Kaushik's books in the late seventies, early eighties and heard him speak here in Santa Rosa twice. Tall, thin, austere man in the Krishnamurti mode, with more emphasis on the body, as he was a doctor. During his last few years he talked a lot about our potential for immortality – actual physical immortality. So, when he dropped dead of a heart attack at the age of 50, it was a shock, such that I wanted to reject all his teachings. But finally resolved it by realizing that no teacher is perfect – even Jean Klein talked about perfect health being the natural expression of a fully awakened person, and his health was awful during his last few years. In fact it taught me that there are no guarantees.

Yes, Richard Moss is an MD and used to practice.

Did you ever hear Robert Adams give satsang? Lex spoke highly of him.

I am increasingly enjoying meeting the divine as it is expressed in every human being I encounter. We are all manifestations of the one energy, the one consciousness. The more of us that see that, the better for all of us.

Yeah, you're right about him. I have a tape of his and he does sound kind of dead. But I love his teaching, his truth, all the same! So right on. And so what if he wasn't the most animated. Fact was, he was THERE. I quote him in WOH: "When you wake up, the world no longer has power over you." Beautiful.

What a rich banquet of overflowing abundance you are! (That's a mouthful in itself!). You are a wonderfully writer by the way, very clear, eloquent, to the point, and so much passion and enthusiasm. The email about my talk sounds great. Thanks for sending it on.

Re "Light of Exploration." Was that the piece they did right now the end, a kind of bio, where Dr. Kaushik talked about his heart attack, how people didn't normally live longer than ten years after having one (premonitory), and his enlightenment? I loved that, but cannot put my hands on it right now.

Thanks for the feedback and positive support. Funny, how different people perceive us. "Presencing everyone in the sacred" was new! Would like to chat more about what the "rest of the stuff" should be, or at least how it might be improved. Anyway, I take your comments about stories about Adam (who is 15 now), Jean Klein, etc., into account. In terms of actual learning and transformation, it seems to me the dialogue process is important, powerful even, especially when that feeling of energy/presence is there too.

Alea sounds awesome.

I love getting your emails! You are a wonderful writer – so much passion, juice, and very clear, too. I feel honored by your suggestion to invite some people over to your house when we meet.

Your term "presencing the sacred" is lovely. I typically call it "tuning in to the Energy," or "getting connected to the spiritual presence that is our true nature," but I think I like your term a lot!

Yes, what is next? Definitely, to sit in the juice, to feel the Energy, to open up to it, to allow it to move through us, doing its healing, renewing, and transforming work. What is to be done when sitting in the circle? My immediate sense is nothing needs to be done. You say more and more people are getting the idea that "I am that" but they are still mired, no passion, no community. My interest is in finding that place, probing into it, where we still feel mired. Also, in being together, probing, exploring, confronting the residues of self/ego that still get in the way, we come to even deeper levels of freedom. And, out of that freedom, individually we get clarity about the next step, and as a group/community we get clarity.

A personal example... What I have been dealing with lately is how to really connect with more people and share this wonderful Energy that we are. Well, my work over the past couple of years has been seeing and getting the last, obstructive vestiges of "self/ego" out of the way. It's the, "Oh, look at me, now I'm enlightened" syndrome – the "stink of enlightenment" as they call it in Zen – that has to be seen through. Anyway, as I have been developing a little more genuine humility (about time, Dreaver!), things have been opening up. The next step is happening. Book signings, radio interviews, magazine reviews...and, right at the top of the list, meeting you!

What a wonderful light and being you are. You evidently have such a natural gift, or flair, for meeting and introducing people to each other, and bringing these wonderful beings – like Alea – into your circle. I look forward to meeting her myself.

Anyway, I too look forward to whatever is next, and especially to getting to know you. I feel there is a sacred movement happening here, and you are steering the way for a lot of people.

A vision I've held for a long time is getting together with groups of CEO's and other high-level executives and leaders, and sharing the teaching and the Energy with them, showing them how the timeless wisdom can transform their lives, and give them an inner richness no amount of outer success can ever buy. If we start turning CEOs and government leaders onto this, then we'll see even more social change.

Gosh, I feel my cup running over. You are a great magnet for really interesting people, and I feel very grateful to have connected with you.

I am focused right now on a new book proposal, about living fearlessly. Who is the Grossinger family? I am assuming some wealthy LA dynasty that you married into and then got divorced from and hopefully came out with lots of moolah. Well, the house anyway!

Yes, the fundamental action is aligning. I think it happens more easily as we get out own ego/self out of the way, which, for us teacher/writer types, is always a challenge! I've had my ego-bouts over the last couple of years, but I think I am learning a little humility now. Being ordinary ain't so bad.

I feel good energy moving. I really take my hat off to you, and what you are doing.

I've sent this out to my email list:

Friends,

Wanted to let you know about Suzanne Taylor's WebRadio show, Making Sense of These Times: Reflections of the Divine. I just listened and she is great to listen to. A very clear and insightful woman who has hung out with people like Lex Hixon, Richard Moss, Willis Harman, Ram Dass, and Andrew Weil. I especially resonate with her idea of moving beyond old hierarchical models of spirituality and into more community. The show is being featured on grit.net.

Thanks for that wonderful quote from Lex that was in the email to Yasuhiko Kimura that you copied to me. God, what a great guy he must have been. Great Swan is one of my favorite books, by the way. He really captured the spiritual ambience that I imagine must have been around Ramakrishna. Makes it very real, alive. I love the chapter about the two "dry" advaitins!

I think the "democratization of enlightenment" as I like to call it, is the wave of the future. We will come together, share our perspectives, and delight in the relating. Someone asked Jean Klein once, "What if everyone in the world got enlightened?" and he replied, "Why, then there would only be dancing!"

I like the Buddha's definition of enlightenment as being "the end of suffering." If there is still some suffering (around health, relationships, money, work, or whatever) then there is still some degree of identification going on – or, as the advaitins call it, avidya, ignorance of one's true nature. It is an interesting thing for me now, to speak before a group, or to facilitate a group event, and create a space where we can just dance, play, and celebrate – and, when needed or appropriate, explore or probe those areas where identification/suffering still exists.

Did you say earlier you had a fascination/love with crop circles? I just saw a program on The Learning Channel about some large crop circles in New Zealand (my country of origin) that were made – over six hours – by three guys who say this is what they do. It's their art form. Anyway, to me, ever the skeptic when it comes to UFOs, etc. (though always open to seeing one) it made a lot of sense. You probably have a different take on it.

Will check out crop circle sites. I have to admit, they have always fascinated me. Like, wow, how did THEY get there!

I have been in dialogue with Mariana Caplan, who wrote a book called Halfway up the Mountain: The Error of Premature Claims to Enlightenment. She interviews a lot of teachers, including Andrew Cohen. She actually did a great job with the book. In a recent email to me, she expressed her reservations about the Advaita path, that is she wonders if it doesn't detach one too much from humanity. I thought you might find my response to her interesting, especially in light of your recent insights into service. Here it is:

"I empathize with your feelings about those on the Advaita path. There is often a certain dryness that is evident in such people. Here's my take on your questions, based on my experience. When we see through the illusion of 'me and my story' there definitely is a freedom from psychological and emotional fear. Nevertheless, there are always fragments or residues of ego left. I don't see how anyone can function in the world without an ego. Saying, 'I must go and pick up the kids' is the ego – but the ego as an instrument in service to the being, an ego free of all the psychoemotional qualifications.

"Anyway, usually what happens is that when, through the Advaita approach, an individual wakes up, one of these fragments then creeps back in and says something like, 'Oh boy, now I am enlightened.' Sometimes it says, 'That makes me special,' or 'God, I don't need anyone or anything.' Or, as you point, the individual can then go and do things, like sleeping around, and truly feel no guilt or shame. After all, who is there to be guilty and ashamed?

"In my own case, a friend pointed out to me recently that he felt I was still attached to my story about 'my enlightenment.' Those were not his exact words, but it seemed that's what he was saying Anyway, after looking at it, I felt he was right. Some months ago, as I was reflecting on the negative feedback I was getting from certain people, and why I was getting it (I get a lot of positive feedback, but the positive doesn't necessarily teach us anything new about ourselves), I realized that ever since I was young, I had had a strong need for attention, recognition, validation. A lot of what I had done in my life was to fulfill that need – not totally, but the need was there. I think, at some level, in addition to really wanting to be free, I thought, 'Okay, I'll get enlightened. That'll show them!'

"Anyway, in sitting with this whole matter, it is as if I have dropped into a more expansive and solid place of just being. Just being present as the awareness, the consciousness, we all fundamentally are. And, in that awareness I notice – at least over the past week that this shift has been happening – that I am naturally more available to people, naturally a better listener, probably because I am no longer thinking about my 'self,' how to communicate the message, how others may be receiving it, etc.

"So, this is something new and it feels right. Jean Klein used to say it was important to live one's understanding. The understanding, from the Advaita perspective, is that there is no 'person' to be enlightened. To really live THAT understanding, I am now discovering, is the new challenge. It feels very new – and yet not new, too – to embrace it. To really be free of the idea of 'Jim Dreaver,' whether as a healer, writer, spiritual teacher, or whatever, not just at times, or a lot of the time, but all of the time. I guess that must be the real liberation. Certainly feels like it. We'll just have to see how it unfolds....

"Lastly, to get back to your question about our obligation to humanity, the deeper insight into this is still new to me, but it seems that if we truly are free of attachment to 'self,' then we really are available to the other. Then, perhaps, we really can become instruments of genuine love and service."

I just notice how impressed I am by the quality, depth and intelligence of your writing. You did a book once. Maybe it's time again?

When I hear you talk of your dialogue with Brian Swimme, and read the echoes of your ongoing conversation with Lex, it is clear you need a big, expansive, wide-ranging stage to play on, and on which to bring really interesting people together. I like the idea of a group of three or four dynamic minds involved in a conversation, maybe facilitated by you, and then the audience can participate with their questions, comments and sharings.

Here's a really good site worth looking at.... They happen to list my book – but that's not the only reason I'm telling you! It's SpiritSite.com.

Last night (Monday, April 3) at 2:30 AM, Terence McKenna took his last breath and crossed over.

In December, 1999, at Esalen, Terence said:

"Everything is a blessing and everything comes as a gift. And I don't regret anything about the situation I find myself in. If psychedelics don't ready you for the great beyond, then I don't know what really does. And we're all under sentence of 'moving up' at some point in our lives.

I have an absolute faith that the universe prefers joy and distills us with joy. That is what religion is trying to download to us, and this is what every moment of life is trying to do-if we can open to it. And we psychedelic people, if we could secure that death has no sting, we would have done the greatest service to suffering intelligence that can be done.

And I feel that death is close, and I feel strong because of this (psychedelic) community and these people and plants that it rests on, and the ancient practices that it rests on, and I am full of hope, not only for my own small problems, but for humanity in general."

Thanks for the Terence email. I actually cut his obituary out of the Chronicle today. I felt a few tears come to my ears. He was a beautiful guy, one of us, yet a pusher of the envelope without doubt.

Consciousness rules!

Drizzling steadily all day here, but the light of pure awareness shines on, needless to say. I checked out the Sophia site. Most interesting, and maybe a group to connect with at some point.

The current inquiry and message.... What we fundamentally are is consciousness or awareness, and this can be proven, because no matter what we think, feel, say or do, there is the awareness, the consciousness, of thinking, feeling, saying, or doing it. Ergo, everything begins with, exists because of, awareness. Awareness is behind everything, in other words.

So, when we abide in awareness, fully realizing that we are the source of our entire experience, we no longer need to suffer. After all, if we are creating everything, why would we want to create suffering? Instead, we naturally and effortlessly dis-create, see through, the concepts and beliefs – especially the belief in "me" and "mine" – that engender suffering.

When we abide as the consciousness or awareness that we are, there is a great sense of spaciousness and freedom (whenever we look back within and notice it). In this spaciousness there is energy, love, joy. There is great beauty, immense gratitude, a genuine fullness of being. Our work, our destiny here, becomes clear, and because we are not attached to the final outcome – so engaged and fulfilled in the present are we – we are able to do it in a spirit of true creative freedom.

There may be a better way to live one's life than this, but I haven't seen it. Frankly, my cup runneth over, and I have an abundance to share.

Indomitable spirit? I remember teaching my son that we Dreavers are not quitters. A good teaching for a child, I guess! Hell, I wanted to be a published author by the time I was 24. If I'd been told in advance it wasn't going to happen till more than 20 years later, I might have quit back then. Something to be said for not knowing the future, eh?

Here's some copy I just wrote, for a satsang I am planning on offering:

Has the enlightenment bug bitten you?

Are you a genuine seeker, one who is inwardly consumed by the desire for truth, freedom, enlightenment?

Have you read the spiritual books, sat with different teachers, meditated for years, feel like you're almost there, almost free, but not quite?

Still looking for "It"?

Still fall prey to self-doubt, conflict, and other states – minor though they be – of suffering?

Is the quest getting in the way of your getting on with your life?

Would you like to have the search come to an end, find "It" once and for all, so that you can then get on with something else-whether it's family, work, making money, making love, exploring your creativity, serving others, or saving the world?

Then, relax. There are only three things needed for enlightenment:

1) The intense longing for it (without this, forget about it)

2) The belief that you are already there (i.e. stop doubting yourself)

3) The guidance of someone already established in freedom, in his or her true nature (we all need support, we all need a periodic reality check to make sure we're not deluding ourselves).

Fulfill those three requirements, and success on the journey is assured. How can it not be? Enlightenment is your true nature. It is who and what you are beyond all your beliefs and ideas about who you are, beyond the "story" you have fabricated about your life, including even your story about being a "spiritual seeker."

Enlightenment, in other words, is seeing through the illusion of "me and my story." In The Way of Harmony, I call it the core insight. Get that one, and freedom unfolds quickly. Then your life flows. You feel spacious inside. You're at peace. Your happiness no longer depends on things or people outside. All psychological and emotional fear leaves you. Your work here becomes very clear. You feel like a kid again. Every day, every moment, feels new. What blast! What a gift! Gratitude, and a tremendous love for life, become your predominant emotions.

[Jim came to sit in our Mighty Companions circle. When I invited him to come, he wrote, "I would enjoy exploring the next level of the consciousness dialogue with those who feel so moved." Music to my ears. It was quite a wonderful evening.]

Jim's response to the evening:

Totally enjoyable evening and thanks for the lovely food. What a great hostess you are!

I want to create a Global Leadership Initiative (or something like that), where the mission is to integrate enlightened awareness, high performance, and loving action.

It is about the biggest challenge I can think of taking on, and one that should inspire lots of participation. Should keep all involved busy and happily occupied for a full lifetime.

I took my son to see GLADIATOR. Astonishing movie. Superb. Epic. Absorbing. Moving. A 10 plus.

Love that Edna St. Vincent Millay poem. I can see why you resonate with it. I also feel the flame of urgency within you around getting something going. You are a networker, a person who makes things happen. I, too, love the idea of reaching out to great minds. My main focus right now is on getting my newest book published, and then developing a leadership program. The internet, as you say, is a key. It is how we met. There are ways to do cyberseminars, or forums. I'm not sure how, but they exist.

As for opening move, I am not sure. As I say, right now, there is this book project which has most of my attention.....

LOOKING FOR LOVE? LOOKING FOR FAMILY? LOOKING FOR INTELLIGENCE? LOOKING TO SERVE THE WORLD? ARE YOU RICH? I am looking for funders. I operate a highly unconventional 501(c)3. I need funders who are unusual, too.

The proposition is to create a setting (an inn? an estate?) in which great minds with great souls can be pampered – in proximity to Los Angeles for its weather, it's convenience, and the support base that exists of a Mighty Companions community. In a home-like atmosphere, the objective will be for connections to be made. As we recognize each other, we weave the new reality, where we are one. Let wayshowers and thoughtshapers merge their fields...

"...to unite a great, raging forest fire of love, to sweep us forever out of this deadening sadness of egos and superficiality."
Brian Swimme

I like the funding proposal. Nothing is coming through yet on the Website idea but it is in the mental/creative hopper and I will keep you posted. Now I am off with a friend to see enlightenment in the form of baseball, Giants vs. Cardinals. Now, there's game that is pure meditation in action!

I look forward to the Brian Swimme tapes. Empathize with your feelings about why he hasn't been crowned king. Funny about why some make it huge, most don't. When my first book came out, I felt so charged up – my mantra was, "Move over, Deepak!" Do you know him, by the way?

I am looking forward to my next trip to Los Angeles next month.

I appreciate your enthusiasm. I am always up for joint play. ("Joint" play? Well, Shiva liked that medicine!).

Yes, I loved ONE TASTE. Have you met Ken? Cool guy, by all accounts.

I never read Inside the Intelligence, so I am printing it up now (a small book!) and will read it this weekend.

Funny, but I am just re-reading The Power of Now at this very time. Yes, I think it is an excellent book. I was reminded of Jean Klein's clarity. I heard Eckhart speak once. He is very leprachaun like, very unassuming, very present. Doesn't do much dialogue, though. Just talks. But he was the only one to get a standing ovation at the last Inner Directions gathering, and they have invited him back.

Maybe, if we know the truth, it's important to say that. It certainly establishes your credentials and attracts a certain level of attention. Of course, one had better really know! Like me writing about fearlessness... I had better be fearless!

I like your four principles very much. I am not so inspired about the collective book idea, only because I am so focused on getting my own books done. But some kind of website of awakened ones in conversation, chipping in with their different perspectives? Or else a cyber-satsang of some kind?

Keep pushing, probing, brain-storming..... It's coming!

I already started reading the version of Inside the Intelligence I downloaded. It's really good. My appreciation for you, your intelligence and creativity, your commitment to transformation, to bringing it out to the world, grows even deeper. I feel quite privileged to be part of your circle. Thank you.

Re your formula for living, just the other day I said to someone, "The quickest way to wake up is to hang out with people who are already awake."

And, yes, if we've found it, maybe it's important to state that in some un-egotistical way. That's my tack now. It has worked for Eckhart. Of course, he is able to back up what he says. That's important. It is about taking a very strong stand, I think.

Yes, a shift at hand. As I go deeper into your Intelligence piece, I am impressed by the honesty with which the voice has pointed out your human, shall we say, shortcomings? We all have 'em, and in seeing them clearly they are less likely to bite us in the ass when we're not looking.

Yes, certainty makes a big difference. My own confidence has grown in leaps and bounds, mainly because this awareness that I am (that we all are) has been like this for over five years now. And that's 24/7. Hell, I was trusting it after the first few months... Occasionally something happens to cause a ripple in the infinite field of consciousness, but not very often, and not much more than a ripple.

When we no longer hold on to any concept or image of "self," because we have seen that it's all a self-created illusion anyway, then there's nothing in our consciousness to resist the flow of what's happening in the present anymore. We truly are endlessly spacious within.

I like it – the 24/7 Club – composed of people committed to being fully aware and present (even during sleep.... during those times they are aware they are sleeping/dreaming!) 24 hours a day.

Am totally digging the Brian Swimme tape! I love all the new physics stuff, the quantum explanations of reality, and I can see why you love him. I think I shall have to get the whole series of Canticle. Do I get it from Sounds True?

Am about halfway through Inside the Intelligence and I do want to say I am moved by the depth of your insight and learning, and above all your passion for awakening, for consciousness, for being all of who we really are. You are truly a gift in the life of those who know you, Suzanne. Jean Klein always said that when we wake up, the predominant emotion we live with is one of gratitude. Immense, endless gratitude. He was right.

I have tripped a little on the notion of the 24/7 Club, too, for people who are committed to being awake 24/7. We could dedicate it to Lex. Have a website, a newsletter, conferences.... Just like the Twilight Club which started half a century or maybe a lot more ago, and Yasuhiko now directs. This is a conversation we should keep going, definitely. How could there not be people who are passionate about being awake 24/7? I've got to be honest though, I don't want to get caught up in running an organization.... Krishnamurti always talked about the trap of that... Maybe it could run itself... Let's keep talking.

That Human Being Society website looks wild... Will have to check it out more soon.

I like your image of circles spinning and connecting, creating resonance.

Yes, I am happy to not be involved with an organization! Thanks again for sending that Lex quote, by the way. I love it.

Ah, such zeal you have, such fire still for sharing the good news! Re your thing on the deserted Aspen Institute stage, one night some years ago I stood on the edge of a natural amphitheater, surrounded by rocks, in Joshua Tree. There was no one around, of course. It was late, there were a zillion stars, and I spoke out loud to the several thousand people I imagined sitting there. I just laid it all out for them, the way it is according to Dreaver. It was my debut, in a way, and I was delivering the dharma to God. Heck, it could have been the same day we were doing it!

Suzanne Siegel was an enigma in some ways. She said she knew nothing about enlightenment prior to hers. But she had been a TM teacher for years, so how could she not have known about enlightenment? But she sure touched a lot of people, very deeply. To this day, a group she started for nondual therapists is still meeting.

I will check out Thom's website. Yes, I liked Joseph Pearce – did a weekend seminar twenty years with him. The surprise/disappointment was that after spending a day and a half exploring all this fascinating stuff about the brain, mind, and physics, he said that the way you get to this very clear place is by sitting down and chanting "Om Namah Shivaya," and he even played us a video of Muktananda chanting. I was very much in my anti-guru, anti-mumbo-jumbo Krishnamurti phase then, so it was a let down for me. But I have softened since and am much more appreciative of the value of chanting.

Re the dharma evening at your place in Los Angeles, my only intention is to be present with people, and in that presence, celebrate our presence. And, also, for those who want to be more present, explore what might be getting in the way of being really present. So, invite whomever you wish. If for some reason, too, this is not the best time because of summer vacation or whatever, we can also do it another time. But I am up for anything.

Most corporations, including internet start-ups, succeed because there is a meeting of minds. There are always several people or more on the team that drives the enterprise onward and upward. Maybe we are reaching toward something like that. You are, for sure. I always thought I was going to be a solo/Marlboro man type who would write his books, give his talks and workshops, help a few people get enlightened, have some fun on the side, and then one day, like everyone else, check out of here.

But I've always like the team, too. It's what I loved about playing rugby. So, here I am. Open, available, ready for whatever...

The Nudist Colony sounds like it has possibilities. "Enlightenment in the Nude." Hmmm...

Traveling medicine show? I just wrote to a friend, "The biggest problem I have, I notice, is getting people to really sit with the notion of what I am saying and to accept it as a possibility.... That we really can be free of conflict, fear, and suffering. Most people look for freedom in their circumstances: more money, sex, power, control, etc. There is definitely a freedom in all this, and their having these things is always a blessing. But most people I know and see still live with varying degrees of inner conflict and anxiety. And it is not necessary. That's the message of my book."

I have a current ongoing dialogue (argument, he might say!) with one of my closest friends who cannot believe that I am who I say I am. Every other person he knows lives with some degree of suffering, so how could I possibly be different? How could I possibly be free in the way I say I am? Ah, talk about prophets being without honor!

Of course, it doesn't matter to me whether or not he "believes" I am who I say I am, or my experience is what I say it is. (If it did, then I'd be suffering in some degree, and I'd be a liar, and he'd be right!) But as a communicator of the way of freedom, the question of how to really get this message out, the best way to approach it, does interest me vitally.

Any comments, oh wise one?

God bless you, Suzanne. I really appreciate your honesty about still needing some help to find satisfaction. Do you know what I think you are really saying? I think you know how to relax and be at peace within – you really have found the spiritual treasure. But, like every human being - -and more than most, in your case, because you have such an abundance of it – you need an outlet for your CREATIVE energy. Once when I was feeling discontent, I realized I hadn't been writing for a month or two. Then I started the new book (this was over 18 months ago), the creative energy started flowing, and I felt wonderfully alive, on fire. Later I read an interview with Jimmy Cliff, the legendary Reggae musician. He said, "If I don't create, I cease to exist. I must write to live." Confirmation, eh?

Back home now, catching up. [Jim came to share with the Mighty Companions in Los Angeles again.] Thanks again for the gift of Friday night . It felt great to me, too, and I really, really appreciate your support and our developing friendship. I learned more about how to do these things. When I am the facilitator, to talk about something, some subject or area of interest – as I did – and then see what it evokes and provokes in people, give them an opportunity to share. Because the background of silence, of the energy of being, was so present, shifts actually happened in people, and that, to me, is the purpose of our gathering.

Here's something I wrote on "enlightenment" in response to a question from someone who attended the Friday evening at your house.

QUESTION: So why do we seek outside authority?

I know when I met my teacher of this subject called "enlightenment," I still did not feel free. Even though I lived in freedom (from conflict, doubt, fear) much of the time, I still got caught. Yet I always believed it was possible to be truly, completely free. Then I met Jean Klein and he said, "Yes, such freedom is possible. Indeed, it is your true nature." Over the next few years, studying his books, going to talks, a few workshops, a couple of private meetings, I gradually "got" what he was saying, and it became my own.

In any case, what is the big deal about authority? When we want to learn French, or the piano, we go to someone who is an authority on the subject. Why should it be any different with this thing called enlightenment, self-realization, inner freedom, or true self-knowing?

An email correspondent with Suzane asked me, "What is enlightenment anyway?" In The Way of Harmony, I call it the core insight. It is simply knowing, really getting, that you are not the person you've always taken yourself to be. It is not taking yourself to be a "person," period. You are a person, of course, and you have a story, but you now know you are not your story, and you are truly not identified with it.

When you no longer hold onto any concept or image of yourself because you really see that all such concepts and images are illusory, a fabrication of the mind based on perceived events and experiences, there is nothing in your psyche to resist the flow of life anymore, and so no more conflict, doubt, or fear. (Occasionally, residues of old anxieties and fears will come up – even the Buddha and Christ experienced them – but you quickly see them for what they are, and they fall way). It is really very simple, though the conditioning in all of us is deep-rooted, so it takes quite a long time, usually, to actually see though the whole thing, and come to the freedom that is our true nature.

The same correspondent with Suzanne expressed her concern about enlightenment being this carrot in front of a lost and hungry soul. And that in her view, it presents an illusion that there is some end, where all is known, and there is no more to be learned, and so no more growing.

Increasingly, I feel this is the argument of people who have spent years chasing the carrot themselves, and perhaps have not quite found it, and thus rationalize their own falling short of whatever mark they originally hoped to arrive at. So, when someone comes along and says, "Hey, this enlightenment thing is actually realizable," they don't want to believe it.

In any case, enlightenment doesn't mean that you now know everything. On the contrary, it means you just know one thing; that you are truly "nobody," and that there is truly nothing to be afraid of. This one thing you now know allows you live in the world with a genuinely relaxed, blissful body, a clear, spacious mind, and a joyful, loving heart. It allows you to be naturally, effortlessly centered and present wherever you are, and open, truly open, to all points of view, to new information, and, yes, to new learning.

As I wrote in The Way of Harmony, speaking of what became increasingly clear to me after my own awakening to all of this, "I have found the way Home, now I am learning to find my way in the world." My friend and fellow author, John Allan, told me once that he loved Aldous Huxley's favorite Latin saying, "Aun aprendo," which means, "I am always learning."

For me, the real learning, the real growing into the fullness of who we are, the unfolding of our deepest potential, doesn't even begin until enlightenment happens, until we see through the illusion of "I am this" and "I am that." In other words, all concepts and ideas of who we are just barriers to learning and communication. We so often "think" we are growing, but we just go around in circles.

Re the whole enlightenment thing, the Buddha nailed it when he said, "Enlightenment means the end of suffering." To me, if "I" am still suffering, if there's a still an "I" to suffer, then I am not completely free. I feel like the thing I have to offer people is, "Hey, freedom exists, I haven't suffered since I woke up, and this is what made the difference: I really saw that I, Jim Dreaver, the seeker, the guy in conflict, was a fabrication, an illusion. Now I don't have any concept or image of myself at all, and so there is nothing in my psyche to get upset about anything. It really is that simple!"

God, how to talk about this without making me sound special, or arrogant or elitist? Which is why I related to Wilber's comment. Heck, just like he said, you go to a basketball game to watch a Michael Jordan, not a Ken Wilber.

The beauty about enlightenment though is that we can ALL be Michael Jordans, we can all be Buddhas. Indeed, Buddhahood is our true nature. So why do so few really get it? I think that maybe they just don't want it badly enough. They still look to the world – money, relationships, work, success, a social cause, or whatever – for their salvation. As Kabir said, in Robert Bly's translation, "When the Guest is being searched for, it is the intensity of the longing for the guest that does all the work. Look at me, and you'll see a slave of that intensity."

Well, I'll tell you this, if I get a swelled head, then I hope I'll be the first one to admit that, obviously, there must have been some ego residue/shadow self in me I wasn't aware of. So maybe I wasn't so free after all, just living in denial, maybe, these past five years.

See, to me, it's all so simple and clear. Once you've seen through the illusion of the personal self, then you just live your life, you dance with the energy of the moment, you go with the flow, you live in constant gratitude for the astonishing gift of it all. And you reach out to people who are hurting in whatever way seems appropriate.

I appreciate you and thank you. A person can find inner freedom (and may it happen to all) but when it comes to putting that light out into the world, feedback and support matter greatly, and yours has truly been of inestimable value to me. I think you have a good bullshit detector and you have a truly brilliant mind, one of the most highly developed and articulate minds of any person, man or woman, I know. I have been listening to your dialogues with Lex and others, and totally enjoying them.

Thanks for your usual deep and insightful perspective, Suzanne.

Regarding satisfaction, I think It is important to begin to affirm that "Satisfaction is our true nature, and there is nothing to seek." In other words, instead of going around feeling unfulfilled and striving for some ideal of enlightenment or freedom, just beginning to accept – inwardly acknowledge – that we already are free. Not to go around telling this to people, bragging about it, but just inwardly getting used to the idea. I think that is a very important step. It was for me. Just as Ramana said, "The only barrier to realization is the belief that we are not realized."

Yes, I agree with you. "This notion that we aren't doing it right enough if the payoff hasn't happened has to go." That's the danger of positing enlightenment as some "state" to arrive at.

I think "enlightenment" is like being rich in monetary terms. The people who are truly rich and deeply grateful don't brag about how rich they are. The difference with Enlightenment, of course, is that it is something we can all have, precisely because it is our true nature. The path is a progressive letting go of all that we are not so that we can be, ever more fully, the beautiful bright beings we are.

Thank you again for your wisdom and your friendship. I don't want to set others up for failure, and nor myself. I just want to be a beacon – like the many others out there – shining a light for those who, perchance, are feeling a little lost on the way.

From Stephen Batchelor's new book, Verses From the Center: A Buddhist Vision of the Sublime, re emptiness: "It not only entails letting go of craving and confusion, but cultivating awareness of and insight into the nature of one's self and one's world. Emptiness is a metaphor for authenticity."

Yes, I like that word "authentic." To me, that's what "true nature" is. How perfect! I am in New Zealand, visiting family of origin, which in the past always had a strong element of dysfunctionality to it. Thing I notice now is how free am I of all that, and can now just appreciate loved ones for who they are, without needing anything from them.

I shall watch the Madame X dialogue/adventure unfold. Sounds filled with all kinds of promise and I am ready to contribute in whatever way. She asks, "What's beyond awakening?" Seems to me whatever we want. A moment by moment discovery. Or we can plan something, dream something, create something big, something new, something different.... The thing is that once we have awakened, we are no longer stopped by fear, so we can let our true genius, our true creativity, emerge in all its glory... Blaze forth, literally.

Seems to me, though, that there's still a major, major need for the message of awakening, for delivering it so that people actually get it in a way that truly liberates them. The vast majority of humanity, I sense, are still not awake to who they really are beneath all their conditioned ideas and beliefs about who they are.

For Swedenborg, humans have free will and the opportunity to live a life of love. He saw love as the essential element of life, and the way that it works is through truth; truth is love in action. Love and truth are the source of all life and should be at the root of all our actions. A church built for worship isn't a prerequisite for prayer. Rather, we should learn to nurture our inner church which supersedes the meaning of a church edifice. Swedenborg believed that a religious life requires acting out of love for others and being motivated to change the world. We all have the capacity to act out of love for one another, but in order to fully understand this, we need to internalize that we are all essentially one. As a result of our interconnectedness our actions have a direct effect on our neighbor, and if we choose to act in ways beneficial to others, we are not only contributing to the betterment of others, but also ourselves.

Swedenborg died in 1772 in London at the age of 86. His had been a life remarkable for its energy and productivity but even more remarkable for its evolution. In retrospect, he seems never to have rested content with his achievements or his understanding, but always to have pressed deeper. Through years of experience that caused later generations to question his sanity, he remained gracious and grounded. He was socially accessible and remained a very effective member of the Swedish Parliament to the end of his life.

Just back from excellent trip to NZ. Thanks for Swedenborg info and the url for Lex's letter to you. As a result of that, I get a better idea of the "circle" you are trying to create. A challenge, eh? But one you are up to. The corporate thing, enlightenment in the art of leadership, is the particular Everest I am focusing on right now.

I'm sure there could be a book here in our conversations. Are you inspired to do one? I say go for it. While I wait to hear on my latest proposal, I am starting on a new book, basically on the theme of "how to get enlightened," sort of a definitive, up-to-date, no-nonsense guide.