Jan Frazier - When Fear Falls Away: The Story of a Sudden Awakening

Jan Frazier's When Fear Falls Away is a breathing translation into language of an advance in evolution that is available to the focused heart and the fortunate intention. She speaks of the causeless joy that permeates her. She is blessed. It is noted in the annals of the science of evolution that when reptiles evolved into birds, not only did they become freed from gravity, they also became able to dream. Reptiles do notbut birds dream. Imagine what other leaps in the evolution of consciousness might lie ahead. Might there be an evolution into mercy and awareness, into causeless joy and simple clarity?

Stephen Levine, author of Unattended Sorrow: Recovering from Loss and Reviving the Heart

In When Fear Falls Away, Jan Frazier shows us the anatomy of epiphany and reminds us of the ever-present possibility of healing and freedom and grace. This book is a nightlight.

Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., author of Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather's Blessings

This book will change your life. Line after line holds an idea you will return to for clarity and peace from this day forward. I found myself breathing in sighs of relief coupled with peace while reading and I will love rereading it because of how it made me feel. The hope that what happened to Jan Frazier can happen to all of us is guaranteed. As she says so eloquently, the recognition of choice is all that's really necessary.

Karen Casey, Ph.D., author of Each Day a New Beginning

Read this delicious, liberating, radical book. It offers the best of gifts, finding the joy and love of your own freedom.

Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart

If you have ever wondered if a life filled with freedom and free of fear was possible, then this is the book for you. Jan Frazier shares her personal journey with a level of intimacy normally saved for one's closest confidants. The result is a book that serves as a beacon for anyone who is ready to experience joy on every level.

Shelly Rachanow, author of If Women Ran the World, Sh*t Would Get Done

For Gurumayi

sine qua non

Only that day dawns to which we are awake.

Henry David Thoreau

First published in 2007 by

Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC

With offices at:

500 Third Street, Suite 230

San Francisco, CA 94107

www.redwheelweiser.com

Copyright 2007 by Jan Frazier.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC. Reviewers may quote brief passages.

ISBN-10: 1-57863-400-8

ISBN-13: 978-1-57863-400-2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available upon request

Cover and text design by Maija Tollefson

Cover photograph Brian Hagiwara/Brand X/Corbis

Printed in Canada

TCP

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I became privy to Jan Frazier's spiritual transformation because I was one of a small group of writers in the workshop where she first recorded much of what has evolved into the book you have before you. Having remained loyal to a spiritual journey for much of my life, yet having been for years disheartened that enlightenment could ever be within my reach or that such a state even existed, I kept my ears tuned closely to her words, words I could barely believe were true. Had they come from someone else, I may well have discounted them. But knowing Jan, as genuine and unassuming an individual as ever you'd want to know, I took them in and considered them seriously. This consideration, flecked with amazement, grew rapidly into my own renewed thirst for truth.

Thus began an insatiable devouring of the current spiritual literature, book after book recounting spiritual awakenings and offering insights into the nature of reality. Many were extraordinary, and my life continued to blossom with a commitment to know and live what is real. None, however, have been more transformative than When Fear Falls Away: The Story of a Sudden Awakening. The generous offering of Jan's experience, her presence on the page, is a gift that buoys me through each day. I believe this is because Jan herself is so ordinary. She is you; she is me. And so it is not such a leap to see myself in her, to understand that the enlightened perspective that has become her daily experience is one that is also fully awake in me, just waiting for me to roll up the shades to its brilliance. Her words carry such truth, they have reached deep into my heart and planted a seed of faith, loosening doubt's hold on my own realization.

As a writer who values clarity of expression and skilled prose, I consider When Fear Falls Away to be in a class of its own. Most books in its genre are either how-to's or written solely to deliver a message, and can therefore lack the literary magic that imbues Jan's every turn of phrase. There are passages that are pure poetry and others that nail a concept with such bull's-eye mastery they leave you reeling. Still others describe Jan's personal life with such poignant relevancy one is left standing in her shoes. Other spiritual authors tend to tell their tales from an after-the-fact perspective, whereas the journal format of When Fear Falls Away places the reader in the passenger seat as Jan navigates her awakeningfirst with befuddlement, then with awe, and finally with a seasoned understanding that proves highly instructive. Through intimate descriptions of what has changed in the way she approaches all the messy details of daily existence, Jan succeeds in imparting powerful counsel, thus activating the very nascence of awakening in her reader. Her humble retelling invites us to celebrate the descent of self-realization from the mountaintops into our ordinary lives.

BARBI SCHULICK

Barbi Schulick's essays have appeared in The Sun, Yoga Journal, and Spirituality and Health and on NPR affiliate WFCR.

The support and guidance of many people have sustained me through the conception and realization of this book. The boundless generosity of my beloved friend Mary Mauzey has provided the spaciousness I needed to keep my writing life alive. Just as she has been a life raft for me and my family, Mary has also, for more than a decade, given financial aid to enable people to take my writing workshops, so they didn't have to forgo the creative life in order to pay the rent. My partner, Peter Klein, has ridden roller coasters with me, metaphoric and actual ones, and has been close beside me on the most thrilling adventure of them all. I thank him for putting Franklin Merrell-Wolff into my hands, for his willingness to teach the writing teacher, and for being my life's dearest love.

I extend my deep gratitude to Barbi Schulick, friend and fellow traveler, for reaching out to me early on, for letting me know that writing about my experience could be transformative for others. I am grateful for Barbi's keen editorial eye, a guiding force in the early shaping of the manuscript;for her moving testimonial, which helped the manuscript find its right home; and for her skill with naming. My heartfelt appreciation goes to Lava (Laura) Mueller, Suzanne Kingsbury, Louise Cochran, and Jayne Stout for their love and encouragement, and for helping the book to find its form. Suzanne was invaluable in teaching me how to get the book out of my computer and between covers. Cheryl Wilfong, Claire Stanley, and Jill Johnson have been steady, sustaining lights. I am grateful to Ellen Tadd for showing me there is more than one way to see. I give great thanks for Pat Pease, dear heart, whose wise counsel has helped me get my footing in this strange new land.