Welcome to the Journey of Spiritual Awakening
NEW! CLick here to read Stephan's teaching blog, which will be updated regularly with new teachings and commentary, along with reader responses.
If you're new to Stephan's work as a teacher
and counselor or would like to delve more deeply into the teachings,
you may:
*Watch an interview with Stephan by Richard
Miller of Nevernothere.com (Show
1 or Show 2)
*Listen to an interview
by Michelle Morovaty of Infinite Love Radio
*Read an excerpt
from Stephan's latest book, Wake Up Now: A Guide to the Journey
of Spiritual Awakening, or read praise for the book. (To order
a copy, click on the book cover to the left).
____________________________________________________
Each moment of life, with all its
apparent imperfections and shortcomings, is complete, perfect,
and sacred just the way it is. Nothing need be added, subtracted,
or changed in any way--nothing, that is, except your perception,
your point of view. Throughout history, all the great masters
and sages have realized this essential truth. In fact, this
truth is your birthright, your natural state.
As simple as this truth may seem, however, it tends to elude
us because we've been conditioned to view life in terms of
the apparent separate self we imagine ourselves to be. From
this point of view, which is grounded in time, life is a struggle
to survive in a difficult, imperfect world.
The spiritual "journey" involves awakening from
this dream of separation and realizing the peace and joy of
our essential nature, which is pure wakefulness or presence,
untouched and undisturbed by the struggles and circumstances
of life. Only by awakening to your essential nature can you
experience complete relief from suffering and dissatisfaction--what
the Buddha called the "sure heart's release."
Sometimes this awakening occurs spontaneously--and then it
can be invaluable to have a seasoned spiritual teacher or
counselor who knows the terrain themselves to help guide you
through the process. More often, this awakening can be ignited
and clarified by a relationship with such a person, someone
who is grounded in wakefulness and devoted to nurturing it
in others.
In addition, both before and after awakening, numerous issues
and challenges arise on the journey that invite us to look
more deeply at our conditioned patterns of thinking and behaving
and loosen our identification with our beliefs, stories, and
familiar self-concepts. For this, a skilled counselor trained
in both Western psychology and nondual wisdom can be an extraordinary
resource.
