Pursuing Consciousness: The Book of Enlightenment and Transformation

by Peter Ralston

Building on his previous groundbreaking work, Peter Ralston once again proves to be a sure-footed guide for readers seeking to negotiate the challenging terrain of personal and spiritual growth. In accessible language, Ralston demonstrates how the lofty goals of self-transformation and enlightenment can be achieved with a no-nonsense approach available to anyone willing to reach beyond their current experience of self and reality. Pursuing Consciousness is a down-to-earth handbook for staying focused on the work at hand, even while tackling such unsettling tasks as investigating deeply ingrained psychological beliefs and identifying common areas of misunderstanding that hamper transformative growth. Ralston explains that deeper levels of consciousness aren't just for monks—anyone can have an enlightenment experience. He shows that enlightenment does not transform the self, and transforming the self does not produce enlightenment. Once we grasp that these two pursuits take place in entirely different domains of consciousness, we can use each to empower the other. Ralston provides specific tools for changing the very person that we experience being. His work has been acclaimed by people from a diverse range of disciplines—including spiritual teachers, psychiatrists, cognitive scientists, physicists, and artists. As with Ralston’s previous works, this book points the way to a direct encounter with the true nature of Being and the possibility of real personal change.

Genres: Spirituality, Philosophy

336 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 10, 2015

About the author

Peter Ralston works with people to authentically expand and deepen their “consciousness,” and to become more real, honest, and effective human beings. He facilitates people in understanding their own selves and minds, and in becoming increasingly conscious of the nature of perception, experience, and existence, and the nature of “being.” He also does this through teaching people about their bodies and how to be most effective in its use, as well as teaching them the Art of Effortless Power — a large scope internal martial art using an effortless power to “play” with others, deepening an understanding of effective interaction using such principles as joining, complementing, leading, and so forth to create masterful interactive skills.

Reviews

[Joseph Knecht · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here’s a simple review of the main points made in our pursuit of transformation and enlightenment:

1. Commit to transforming yourself, and create a temporary imagined-experience of a transformation objective to serve as a contrast to your present self-experience and provide a direction for action. Make this objective far-reaching, based on honesty, and challenging to obtain. Then choose realistic goals toward that end that you can pursue immediately and in your present experience.

2. Get to the source of every characteristic reaction or emotional struggle via bottom-line contemplation and investigation. Start with your most unwanted and dominant reactions. As these become experientially known for what they are and you free yourself from them, a new set of unwanted experience will become apparent. Apply yourself to these, and continue in this way until every aspect of your self and your experience is uncovered and understood.

3. To support this effort, include the following in your daily practice: • Honest “pre-manipulation” communication. • Experiencing others and things for-themselves rather than how they affect you. • Engaging in non-judgment of self and others as much as possible. • Detaching from your life story. • Discovering the self-reinforcing dynamic that validates your assumptions. • Embracing your suffering.

4. Simultaneously pursue enlightenment. Contemplate to become directly conscious of who you are. When this is clear for you, then work on becoming conscious of your true nature, the true nature of others, life, objects, existence, and reality. After many deepening enlightenments, tackle anything and everything that remains unknown or unconscious. The ultimate goal is complete enlightenment and absolute freedom.

5. As you pursue these practices, use each to empower the other. As you become more and more conscious, keep updating your transformation objectives, and use any challenges in your transformation efforts as feedback about your level of consciousness as well as indications of areas of ignorance that need more attention. Eventually, you won’t need any imagined transformation objectives since complete freedom will become the only goal.

6. Be increasingly honest, and live life as an open and constant question and contemplation. 11:66 All of this is a lot to absorb. At first it is likely to seem confusing and complex, but as you struggle to comprehend what the pursuit is really all about and begin to grasp the underlying principle and intent, it should become increasingly organic and singular—your pursuit is the Truth. From this evolution, your practice will also mature and deepen.




Most people, in fact, will not take the troublein finding out the truth,but are much more inclined to accept the first story they hear. —Thucydides

Your individual collection of motivational impulses—needs, fears, and characteristic behaviors, including how you relate to your self, others, and life—I call your self-agenda. Without radically changing this self-identity and its agenda, you can’t transform either your self or your life.

Enlightenment simply “reveals” to your consciousness that there is absolutely nothing here, and it is you, and it is reality, and it is everything. Since the mind can’t hold such an absolute consciousness, this will degrade into a form of “knowing” that can be related to; and even those who’ve had such consciousness often take this “knowing” for the consciousness itself. They are mistaken.

We tend to focus on what we might get out of transformation, not what we’ll lose. But most of our focus needs to be on what we can let go of or get rid of, which is often looked on as a negative.

Any objective we imagine must be based on the following: on honesty—in order to align with the truth; on freedom—to activate the principle requiring the dissolution of what binds; on grounding—so that we remain healthy and balanced within the physical and psychological; and it needs to be far-reaching—to make it a challenge for us, demanding that we extend beyond what’s familiar.

You will not be punished for your anger,you will be punished by your anger.

To maintain integrity and honesty, we’re obliged to keep our communication and behavior consistent with our internal state.

If I deny myself I gain freedom but lose comfort.If I indulge myself I gain comfort but lose freedom.Indulge, deny, what is myself?

Consciousness is about what “is,” transformation is about changing what we experience and identify with. Yet we also see that once we get past the superficial relationship of mere self-improvement and instead entertain a significant transformation of our very selves, consciousness becomes not only a central requirement, but a byproduct of the effort to change.

[Temo Tchanukvadze · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent book by Peter Ralston. Basically, Pursuing Consciousness dives deeper into the enlightenment work. He discusses the difference between enlightenment and transformation and how often transformation is confused with enlightenment. This little guidance from the book explains the intent in a nutshell:

...Don't look elsewhere. Simply be present. Now you can better ask the question, "Who am I?" Just focus on the fact of being aware, and ask, "Who is aware?" Don't try to fill in your awareness, just focus on trying to be conscious of the fact that you are aware...

[David Dvali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overestimate this book is impossible. Peter Ralston is doing incredible job to describe indescribable and his writing goes from all directions to help seeker to not fall into the traps. This book might be called "Not Knowing Part II". This is the best book, I have read, person can visit and revisit when he is feeling that he is stuck in pursuing truth

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gosh darn. Basic questions I had never thought to ask about myself. Reflecting on the ideas in this book has left me in times where the 'emptiness' of reality comes throbbing lightly to the forefront. Shaking up 'my' whole reality. This book has lead to more consciousness shiftingness than any other self-help book, besides Leo Gura's summarized videos eBook and Ralston's other book: The Book of Not Knowing. This book is an absolute Gobsmack of simple yet profound questions and truths I haven't seen in countless other books. Ralston has dissected the self / POV human experience more than Freud, Jung etc. Smite me, oh mighty smiter.

[Shante · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book at a time in my life where I am toying with the idea of 'consciousness'. A lot of the reading I have come across is very 'fake deep'. WAY too serious. This book is written for you and I, the average joe. The language is very simple and extremely down to earth. It was a pretty good read. Somewhat of a mind screw at some points, but I think that's the nature of 'pursuing consciousness'.

The books ends: "Free yourself. Know the Truth. Be happy and enjoy whatever you experience." I feel more equipped to pursue 'truth' having finished this book.

[#DÏ4B7Ø Chinnamasta-Bhairav]

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[Max · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely profound, like The Book of Not Knowing, but the information here is much more actionable and less didactic.

In this book, Ralston gives you the tools to investigate the truth for yourself, in your own experience. Unlike other 'spiritual teachers', his communications are remarkably straight forward without relying on any mysticism or creating any opportunity for self-deception.

I cannot reccomend this book enough.

[Yu-Shih · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! Recommend!! A great follow-up to the book of not knowing

[Fernando · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pursuing consciousness explains in detail how human beings relate themselves by creating personal life story of themselves. It teaches us how our true self is nothing more than what we are experiencing at this moment without any type of interpretation. It is basically saying that if your mind is constantly interpreting, you are not just being and are living a lie, you are living based on all your past experience. Being is our essential truth and nothing else. Enlightenment is not something you seek or feel. It is our most real truth. Let go of everything you have learned and learn how to utilize them only for external circumstance but always be aware of your inner being, doing these will help you always be in touch and be aware of reality as it is.
If you want a change and experience, start seeking non-transformation and start contemplating, this will direct you towards a more realistic living experience.
A must read if you are in a working towards an experience of the self and reality.

[Edvardas Garbenis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hint: you can have an enlightenment experience an still require loads of work to actually transform yourself from the depths of your being. Yeh, enlightenment gives you truth, but it doesnt mean that you will abide in that truth permanently. Re-identification with mind still comes back if it wasnt a permanent enlightenment.

[Amara Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter is a good boy.