JoeJohns

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City where you live

Leipzig

State or Region

Saxony

Country where you live

Germany

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Hi Richard, love your work! When I was 16 (I'm now 34) my uncle gave me a book by Alan Watts (The book on the taboo against on knowing who you are). So that got some ideas in my head early, and I had an interest on and off but no practical access point. My more real interest in nonduality began about 5 years ago as I sought to bring more peace into my work (which is mathematics research). I began with the book "The Now Habit" which is about procrastination. It alerted me to the importance of observing my own thoughts and the effect they have emotionally. Then, by a wierd accident (which now appears fateful to me), my book was lost, and so I got another copy on amazon and amazon recommended "The practicing mind" by Sterner. It's a practical book about approaching tasks with an attitude of process not product. This book alerted me to the importance of observing thoughts, the idea that my true self *is* the observer, not the thoughts, and that peace is found in the now (all the good stuff). For me my main focus was still on trying to do math peacefully, and so I worked with that short book intensely for a year and a half or so and started meditating. In the middle of that year and half a new book presented itself to me at a second hand book table in Washington Sqr Park in NYC (I worked at NYU). It was "the power of now". I read the preface and a couple pages ... it seemed a bit intriguing, but I also felt like "Oh, this is hard-core guru religious stuff, ..." and I felt a bit threatened maybe,
and I felt "no I have what I need for now," so I continued with "the practicing mind". About a year and a half ago I saw the power of now again in a bookstore (the strand) and I picked it up again, and again felt, "I don't know this seems a little heavy handed ..." but I thought, well it could have great value I don't realize, just like the practicing mind (which I was recommending like crazy). So I got the power of now out of the library.
And ... it kicked my ass! There was this moment the first day I had it when I read a passage on Jesus in there and I got this feeling of excitement and fear at the same time like: OOOOH shit! Something's coming out of the tunnel, gonna run me over! So I closed the book quick! But I knew I would slowly crack it open again. It was scary and exciting at the same time. And so I read it very slowly over a few months ... that was only a year and a half ago, but this past year has been really intense spiritually. Anyway awakening is on a run away track right now it feels like ... I watch tons of things on youtube, but my main teacher remains Mr. Tolle, on youtube and I also read his three books cyclically (maybe 4 or 5 times each now...) So that's my story. Hope you like it.

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