Peter Ralston - Pursuing Consciousness: The Book of Enlightenment and Transformation

The Book of Not Knowing

Zen Body-Being

Ancient Wisdom, New Spirit

Reflections of Being

The Art of Effortless Power

The Principles of Effortless Power

Copyright 2015 by Peter Ralston. All rights reserved. No portion of this book, except for brief review, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the written permission of the publisher. For information contact North Atlantic Books.

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Cover art by Mike Kane
Cover design by Mike Kane
Book design by Paula Morrison

Pursuing Consciousness: The Book of Enlightenment and Transformation is sponsored and published by the Society for the Study of Native Arts and Sciences (dba North Atlantic Books), an educational nonprofit based in Berkeley, California, that collaborates with partners to develop cross-cultural perspectives, nurture holistic views of art, science, the humanities, and healing, and seed personal and global transformation by publishing work on the relationship of body, spirit, and nature.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ralston, Peter, 1949
Pursuing consciousness : the book of enlightenment and transformation / Peter Ralston.
pages cm
Summary: Pursuing Consciousness is an investigation into being and consciousness for those seeking personal growth.Provided by publisher.
eBook ISBN: 978-1-58394-873-6
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-58394-872-9
1. Consciousness. 2. Self-consciousness (Awareness) I. Title.
BF311.R287 2015
153dc23

2014033591

v3.1

Once again my masterful editor, Laura Ralston, has been an invaluable contributor. Although this book was deliberately made more difficult in order to assist readers in experiencing the material, that was my choice. I am deeply grateful to Laura for all her hard work.

Peter Ralston

In the Introduction to The Book of Not Knowing , I shared a description of my first enlightenment experience. I hoped to inspire people, but also wanted to indicate that I was writing from a direct-consciousness of the subject matter and not a belief system, as it is never my intention to disseminate opinions or fantasies. That book is a meticulous discourse on the nature of the human condition, crafted with the lofty goal of revealing the foundations of the self and challenging them as unreal, often detrimental, and largely unnecessary.

Over the years Ive encountered many sincere people who want to pursue a much deeper consciousness of themselves, life, and the nature of reality. It is a worthy yet extremely difficult undertaking because, as we saw in the six hundred pages of Not Knowing , theres not only a lot to tackle, but the dynamics and design loops inherent in a self make it very slippery to confront. Our cognizant minds are not designed to grasp the truth of our unrecognized foundations, nor the absolute nature of anything . As any Zen master would happily avoid explaining to you, intellect alone is insufficient for understanding the truth of these matters.

Limiting your investigation to intellectual understanding doesnt increase consciousness, nor does it allow you to confront overlooked assumptions and beliefs. While sustained contemplation will take any study deeper, during a few years with my consciousness apprentices Ive noticed that the most fruitful efforts are simultaneously grounded in the pursuit of self-transformation. The Book of Not Knowing was designed to guide readers to an understanding of the nature of self, which is the foundation of this work. Here I present the possibility of transforming that self while also pursuing enlightenment.

These two efforts to pursue consciousness are quite different but complementary. While enlightenment work is often limited solely to contemplation and direct-consciousness, transformation work is itself a useful tool that helps ground your pursuit in your actual experience of self and life. While challenging you to the core, it also provides feedback and an ongoing reality check about your level of understanding, helping you recognize areas of unconsciousness that wont be noticed through intellect, and possibly not even through contemplation alone.

This book begins by clarifying enlightenment and transformation, and then guides you in creating a transformation objective to use as a tool to help ground and deepen your consciousness work. By revealing the core and design of your current experience, the transformative work will help you address the very source of persistent unwanted reactions and internal struggles. Youll learn to make new distinctions in your emotions and perceptions, as well as recognize how much your life story determines your self-identity. All along the way, I will alert you to hidden obstacles both large and small, and help you to avoid or overcome them. And, of course, I will bang on the subject of enlightenment and Absolute Consciousness far more than is reasonable.

This book will speak to those whove had an enlightenment experience or two, as well as to those who havent. Ive come into contact with quite a few people whove had some sort of direct experience but still dont know what to do with it or what it means. There is a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding about these matters, and very little straightforward communication for those whove had some degree of enlightenment and wish to proceed. I want to help clarify what I can, while countering the huge mountain of nonsense that comes with the territory, even among the sincerely committed.

It should be noted that this form of communication assumes the reader already trusts that the author is genuine and coming from a direct conscious experience of the subjects discussed. If this is the case, the book can be helpful in your own work. If not, it may come off as presumptuous opinions, which will not be useful at all. Best to approach with openness, and see what you can find. Without trust, the way the book zig-zags between subjects and seemingly repeats basic communications may be disconcerting. You might get whiplash moving from the pragmatic to the existential and back again, but it is deliberate and I hope the ride is exhilarating. The goal is nothing less than to grasp the reality of you and the nature of existence. Have fun!

Strangely enough, it turns out that one of the drawbacks of The Book of Not Knowing is that it was too well written. I dont mean that its a work of literature, but that sometimes the text makes the subject matter seem deceptively simple. Although the depth and nature of the communication are quite challenging to grasp, the way its laid out is a clear-cut progression that is almost too easy to follow. Rather than grappling with the implications of whats being said, readers tend to slide over the material too easily, thinking they understand the communication because they understand the text. This is a mistake.

Im not saying this is a flaw in the reader (or the author), just a commonly overlooked impediment to comprehending anything one reads, but particularly this kind of communication, which often, of necessity, skirts the limits of human understanding. Of course, if you havent read Not Knowing I highly recommend that you do before tackling this book. A large part of what I communicate here stands on that material, so reading it first may save you a great deal of confusion. But not allyou are, in fact, supposed to be a bit perplexed.