The Most Important Thing, Volume 1: Discovering Truth at the Heart of Life

by Adyashanti

From esteemed teacher Adyashanti, an eight-hour audio learning series on the search for the ultimate reality beneath the narrative of our lives

"Our inner lives are every bit as astonishing, baffling, and mysterious as the infinite vastness of the cosmos." ―Adyashanti

We all define our lives through the lens of stories. Whether we see ourselves as heroes or victims, good people or bad, everyone lives according to interwoven strands of narrative.

"And yet," teaches Adyashanti, "the truth is bigger than any concept or story."

The Most Important Thing, Volume 1 presents a series of intimate, deep-dive talks devoted to the search for the ultimate reality of a self that exists beyond the bounds of storytelling.

In the first of two volumes of vivid anecdotes, incisive observations, and teaching stories, Adyashanti illustrates the felt experience of his teachings―those moments of grace in which every stone, tree, ray of light, and fraught silence reveal that none of us is alone and no one is ever truly isolated from the whole of existence.

These selections

Why a good question can be far more powerful than a concrete answer
• How grace can arrive both through struggle and as an unexpected gift
• Discovering the wisdom found in surprise, sadness, and challenging moments
• How the things you choose to serve shape your life path
• The moments of grace upon which all great religions pivot
• How revelation arises from darkness and silence
• The great vitality that underlies even the most difficult circumstances
• How surrendering the need for control opens you to a much wider experience of life
• Transcending the fear of ego annihilation
What is the story of your life? Is it happy or adventurous? Sad or lonely?

In The Most Important Thing, Volume 1 , this esteemed teacher shows you how to look past your personal narratives, delve inward, and connect with the truths that fundamentally animate all of us.

Genres: Spirituality, Buddhism, Audiobook

9 pages, Audio CD

Published January 8, 2019

About the author

Adyashanti is an American spiritual teacher from the San Francisco Bay Area who gives regular satsangs in the United States and also teaches abroad. He is the author of several books, CDs and DVDs and is the founder of Open Gate Sangha, Inc. a nonprofit organization that supports, and makes available, his teachings.

Reviews

[lala · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listening to Adya daily has been an incredible, transformative gift. Along with my own perseverence and intelligence through life’s continuous mysteries and great struggles, and along with many other supports I am implementing physcially & emotionally & organizationally, listening to Adya has helped to support a robust maturing in my whole self, and a serious growth and deepening of my Awakeness and continuous connection to Truth. My personal overall “most important thing” is just No Bullshit- no codependency, no manipulation, no love addiction, no trauma patterns, no toxicity, no ego motives, no obsession, no creepiness. It arrises within in true words as “No Bullshit,” as I navigate the “light, relative” world. Listening to Adya every day can almost feel a bit like cheating- if I’m too rushed to meditate, journal, reflect, exercise, and more- I know listening to Adyashanti will ground me in being my best, most authentic, most mature, most awake self each time. He pulls me out of illusion, and reminds me of the Truth. It’s emotional for me- I’ve listened to Adya on and off for 10 years but now I am re-commiting to the path as someone unrecognizable compared to my 18 year old self or any past selves that engaged with him. “Garden variety maturity” and general psychological & political human healing & development is crucial and key to being equipped to engage in the Way of Liberation self-directed.
3 stars because his own life has been so incredibly priveleged and so sheltered that he doesn’t explore and is clumsy occasionally referencing how to bring truth, awakeness, and spiritual consciousness into lives and circumstances of true, extreme suffering, and he doesn’t bother to collaborate with or uplift awake survivors of extreme violence, marginalization, oppression, exploitation, ect. Also 3 stars because Adya is only so powerful for me because I’ve had a lifetime of spontaneous mystical experiences. I can’t reccomend him to people who are totally brand new to Truth.

[Mark Robison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Created as an audio program, this was later adapted into a book. I'll get the book so I can highlight passages, but listening is optimal. I'm hit-and-miss with Adyashanti's talks, but I thought he knocked this out of the park. It sneaks up on you, too. It feels casual and then it hints at veering toward platitudes, but it's strong and interesting and insightful throughout.

Here are some notes I made to myself about things he said. My summaries are poor approximations of what Adyashanti's stellar thoughts:

* Questions are not safe. Answers are safe.

* We are so used to being consumers that we are in the mindset of thinking, "What can this thing do for me?" rather than "How can I serve others?" What are we in service to? What is the meaning or purpose of our life? How can I be in service to my deepest values? When you’re in service rather than merely a consumer, you’re more of a participant in life.

* After telling an anecdote about how he was gently schooled by a Zen teacher for haphazardly tossing his shoes on the ground, he wonders, "How I am in service to one thing is often how I am in service to all things. When you think "These things are not worthy of my time, love, attention," that’s seeing the world through the lens of duality.

* Seeking is in the future. The reality is that what you are seeking is here now, so if you are seeking something, you are not in the present moment. Every moment will do.

* The ego makes you feel psychologically confined.

* The only thing your mind can think is the old, the past.

* Many prayers and meditations are often the person asking for something from God. But many mystics instead I think it’s more productive to just be open and wait and see what God brings forth and that letting go rather than seeking brings you closer to God.

* He describes grace as being open to the unknown and being gifted some insight from out of nowhere. He says that often these moments come out of a tragedy and sometimes they just happen and you do not know why but they help you get out of your rigid preconceptions.