Book – Lucid Living (Book Summary)
Author – Timothy Freke
Genre – Self-help Book
Published in – 2008
“We are so wrapped up in our opinions about life that we mistake our make-believe world for reality—just like when we’re dreaming.“
Tim Freke presents the amazing point of who we are in less than 50 pages. The book may take less than an hour to read, yet can have a profound impact on the way we perceive ourselves and all of life itself.
About The Author –
Tim Freke is a “stand-up philosopher” and best-selling author. He is a passionate voice for our collective awakening and is frequently featured in the international media.
His books, CDs, and live performances have inspired thousands of people throughout the world. Check out more of his work on his website.
About The Book –
Tim claims we all are dreaming, while we feel we are living reality, and he suggests by changing our perspective, and changing the way we think, we can transform our experience of living.
We are awareness, which witnesses the body and mind. Awareness is the constant background of all your experiences. Awareness is the unchanging witness of all that changes. Awareness is a perpetual presence that is always present.
Tim leads readers through seven powerful insights that will work together to wake you up from the sleeping sickness that keeps you unconscious in the life-dream.
Here are excerpts from 7 powerful Insights.
1) Life Is Mystery –
Loved the points he makes about life being mystery –
- As much as we feel we are awake, we are only half awake. Most of us rush around as if there is no more to life than making a living and not thinking about dying.
- People travel all over the world in search of mysteries and miracles, but what could be more mysterious and miraculous than life itself? Not just what it is, but that it is at all!
- The universe is too immense to imagine and infinitely mysterious. And if you live to be 80 years old, you will have just 4,000 weeks in which to understand it.
2) Now Is All You Know –
Most of us are so completely certain of our everyday understanding of life that this seems ridiculous. But are we right to be so certain?
Tim suggests that all we know for sure is what we’re experiencing right now.
- Haven’t you often felt completely sure about something, only to later decide that you were wrong? Isn’t it possible you’ll discover that your present beliefs are also wrong?
- You can doubt all the beliefs that you’ve taken on trust from other people because you don’t know them to be true for yourself.
- Your experience of this moment is not a belief that can be questioned. It is a self-evident certainty. Your experience of this moment is all you can be absolutely sure of.
3) You Are Not A Person –
- Common sense, of course, says you are a person. But even in everyday speech we say, “I have a body” not “I am a body.” And we talk of “my mind” as if the mind is something we possess, not something we are.
- What is this mysterious “I” that is not the body or the mind? It is awareness, which witnesses the body and mind. Can you get that?
- Right now you are awareness witnessing a flow of experiences. This is your permanent essential identity.
- Within the flow of experiences, you appear to be a particular person. This is your ever-changing apparent identity.
4) The World Exists In You –
- If you pay attention to what is happening right now, you will see that you experience the world as a series of sensations: visual images, tactile feelings, background sounds, ambient aromas. And sensations exist within awareness, don’t they?
- Everything you are aware of exists within awareness, otherwise you wouldn’t be aware of it! So what is awareness?
- Awareness isn’t something within your experience. It is an emptiness that contains all you are experiencing.
5) All Is One –
Tim claims that we are one at the awareness level and offers a good argument for it.
- When we dream, we appear to be one of many characters in our dream drama, but actually, everyone and everything is being imagined by one dreaming awareness. It is the same right now.
- We appear to be many separate individuals, but actually we are all different characters in the life dream that is being dreamed by the one life-dreamer. And that’s who we really are.
- We are one awareness dreaming itself to be many individuals in the life-dream.
6) You Are A Paradox –
Consider the following points worth pondering over –
- When you dream, you are both the source of the dream and a character within the dream. Your identity is inherently paradoxical. In the same way, your identity right now is also inherently paradoxical.
- You are both the source of the life-dream and a character within it. You are the life-dreamer imagining yourself to be a particular person in the life-dream.
- While you identify exclusively with your life-persona, you will remain unconsciously engrossed in the life-dream. Lucid living happens when you become conscious of both poles of your paradoxical nature.
7) Being One is Loving All –
Few points to focus on here –
- When we wake up to oneness, we feel a limitless love that is so deep and poignant that it embraces life in all its ecstasy and agony. And we find that our selfish preoccupations are replaced by a longing for everyone to love living.
- When we assume we are just separate individuals, we act in our limited self-interest, regardless of the suffering we may cause others. The illusion of separateness leads to selfishness and suffering.
- But becoming conscious of the reality of oneness leads to the selfless desire to end all suffering and create universal well-being.
I have also created a video of a few quotes from the book – Hope you like it. Please do subscribe to my YouTube channel – Myread4change
Conclusion –
I recommend reading this book with an open mind and you will not only love it but will also have a refreshing perspective towards life. It will help you pursue life with flavour of joy, acceptance and love towards the whole of life.
You may download a free Lucid Living E-book here.
If you like this book, you may also like The Complete Game of Life and How To Play It.
Thank you for reading. Wish you an awesome life.
Muzammil
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