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As It Is: The Open Secret of Spritual Awakening
As It Is is a profound and radical work that points to the fundamental freedom that is independent of path, process, effort, or belief. In these pages the reader is taken on a journey--one that clearly reveals that there is nothing to become, nor any specific goal to attain. Rather, what is shown is how a deep-rooted misperception of our true identity has caused us to live in "apparent" pain and fear.Through the direct perception of "what is, as it is," Tony Parsons offers the reader a very practical and accessible approach to authentic spiritual realization. His invitation is to live life from a wholly different perspective--one centered in the infinite awareness of one's true Self.
- GenresSpirituality
138 pages, Paperback
Published September 1, 2000
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149 people want to read
About the author
Tony Parsons
20 books18 followersAmerican writer on new age spirituality.
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 29, 2014
A deterministic universe is not a universe that is understood so completely as to obviate free will. A deterministic universe is not necessarily even pre-determined. A deterministic universe is a universe that functions according to an infinite set of spontaneous organic impulses utterly beyond our conceptual comprehension. It is possible to have some “sense”, some intuition, of this deterministic functioning, but this sense and intuition can not be codified into a logical/conceptual explanation. And, oddly, while we can call the universe deterministic, what we mean by deterministic misses the mark, misses the actual meaning of “deterministic”. We know the meaning of “deterministic” (as we should since we invented it), but we do not know the meaning of the universe. In this way it is like “God”: a convenient mental construct; a word we can build a definition of; a verbal label applied to the profoundly non-verbal; a conceptual label that always misses the non-conceptual target. A deterministic universe is a universe of profound mystery, as it continues on its way with total disregard of human free will, unaffected and untouched by all our attempts to explain it. Yet it is not beyond us, and is not something that belittles us into absolute insignificance, but is rather a universe that sweeps us up into its spontaneous functioning; a part neither more nor less significant than anything else; a part free to exercise its “free will” as it is swept up into the deterministic flow.
I do not know what I am talking about.
This book is a personal portrait of someone who has comprehended the profound secret of a deterministic universe and is now “awakened” or “enlightened”. But Tony Parson’s particular brand of enlightenment makes no claims of having comprehended universal secrets or abstruse systems, or of having stared into the Sun and seen the godhead, or even of having any knowledge that anyone else doesn’t already have. Rather his enlightenment is thoroughly mundane and adds nothing to one’s life. His enlightenment is not constituted of an accumulation of knowledge. It is simply the acceptance of everything “as it is”, and accepting everything as it is is accepting the universe as deterministic. This acceptance might bring a substratum of calm joy to one’s life, and it might even make one a crazy street corner saint, but in the end this acceptance adds nothing, and any response to this acceptance is determined solely by the constitutuion/personality of the individual. The realization is internal and of a narrow sameness, while the expression is as varied and numerous as humanity itself.
Writing about such a state is filled with pitfalls and obstacles, as how does one downplay one’s own “achievement” and remain mundane while presenting oneself as a purveyor of obscure insights to people seeking profound psychic change. Add to this the fact that this brand of teaching has become an industry which I can only imagine is rather profitable. It’s all a slippery slope, and while I do not like the terms “awakened” and “enlightened”, and I do not like that people give themselves incredible amounts of grief following individuals who may or may not be legitimately “enlightened”, while trying to understand something that can not be understood (in any conventional ratiocinative way); I do think that books like this serve a purpose because they have the potential to turn a free individual inward where they are free to slip into the open-ended unpredictability of a deterministic universe where they may be in the “loving” arms of an incomprehensible God, but are beyond the reach of the long arms of human-created Gods and churches and philosophies.
I do not know what I am talking about.
This book is a personal portrait of someone who has comprehended the profound secret of a deterministic universe and is now “awakened” or “enlightened”. But Tony Parson’s particular brand of enlightenment makes no claims of having comprehended universal secrets or abstruse systems, or of having stared into the Sun and seen the godhead, or even of having any knowledge that anyone else doesn’t already have. Rather his enlightenment is thoroughly mundane and adds nothing to one’s life. His enlightenment is not constituted of an accumulation of knowledge. It is simply the acceptance of everything “as it is”, and accepting everything as it is is accepting the universe as deterministic. This acceptance might bring a substratum of calm joy to one’s life, and it might even make one a crazy street corner saint, but in the end this acceptance adds nothing, and any response to this acceptance is determined solely by the constitutuion/personality of the individual. The realization is internal and of a narrow sameness, while the expression is as varied and numerous as humanity itself.
Writing about such a state is filled with pitfalls and obstacles, as how does one downplay one’s own “achievement” and remain mundane while presenting oneself as a purveyor of obscure insights to people seeking profound psychic change. Add to this the fact that this brand of teaching has become an industry which I can only imagine is rather profitable. It’s all a slippery slope, and while I do not like the terms “awakened” and “enlightened”, and I do not like that people give themselves incredible amounts of grief following individuals who may or may not be legitimately “enlightened”, while trying to understand something that can not be understood (in any conventional ratiocinative way); I do think that books like this serve a purpose because they have the potential to turn a free individual inward where they are free to slip into the open-ended unpredictability of a deterministic universe where they may be in the “loving” arms of an incomprehensible God, but are beyond the reach of the long arms of human-created Gods and churches and philosophies.
November 22, 2016
Tony seems to want to deliver a simple message, that is difficult to receive in the right way it seems. The book is very repetitive and as he tries to present his simple message from many different angles. Somewhere near the end of the book something shifted in me. I never quite understood what people meant when they said transformation is when 'Nothing has changed but everything is different'. Now I get it. Thank you Tony.
December 18, 2022
I found this book both interesting and disturbing. The concepts of Presence, being a Watcher, allowing were all very useful to me. However, the idea that Consciousness not simply runs through us, but is in charge and so there's nothing to do but go along for the ride doesn't really fit with my own experience. I find existence to be more of an integration and being active and focused in a certain way does define my fate. I did find this book inspiring at times (which is what I look for in spiritual reading), and I think it also demonstrated to me that there are as many spiritual paths as individuals.
April 23, 2023
I found this book both interesting and disturbing. The concepts of Presence, being a Watcher, allowing were all very useful to me. However, the idea that Consciousness not simply runs through us, but is in charge and so there's nothing to do but go along for the ride doesn't really fit with my own experience. I find existence to be more of an integration and being active and focused in a certain way does define my fate. I did find this book inspiring at times (which is what I look for in spiritual reading), and I think it also demonstrated to me that there are as many spiritual paths as individuals.
February 21, 2019
So relaxing...
November 2, 2010
This particular book MIGHT offer one a wake-up call...
We all feel down and out at times. This is a far reaching book into the depths of our observatory nature. What is meant by awakening or enlightenment? It's not always really clear when the author keeps reiterating the fact that 'nothing matters'. However, 'in the end' what matters is that we search for the positive aspects of living Life. There are some very significant lines in this book that I will certainly take away with me, too. For instance:
When the bird has flown, the essence of its song is often mislaid, and then all we are left with is an empty cage.
By letting go our fascination with the extraordinary and spectacular, we can allow ourselves to recognize the simple wonder that lies within the ordinary.
We are hardly ever at home.
When I look back at my life as openly as possible, I see how I have attracted to me the people, the events, and teh pattens that have been perfectly appropriate to the kinds of influences and images that my particular belief systems have been expressing.
And yes...there IS more because that's the way it "is".
We all feel down and out at times. This is a far reaching book into the depths of our observatory nature. What is meant by awakening or enlightenment? It's not always really clear when the author keeps reiterating the fact that 'nothing matters'. However, 'in the end' what matters is that we search for the positive aspects of living Life. There are some very significant lines in this book that I will certainly take away with me, too. For instance:
When the bird has flown, the essence of its song is often mislaid, and then all we are left with is an empty cage.
By letting go our fascination with the extraordinary and spectacular, we can allow ourselves to recognize the simple wonder that lies within the ordinary.
We are hardly ever at home.
When I look back at my life as openly as possible, I see how I have attracted to me the people, the events, and teh pattens that have been perfectly appropriate to the kinds of influences and images that my particular belief systems have been expressing.
And yes...there IS more because that's the way it "is".
September 19, 2014
I was delighted by this book that explains in a straightforward way what many people pay thousands of dollars and years of searching to discover. It is a mirror and a lamp, a pointer, and a secret chuckle at ourselves. I highly recommend it to anyone who has ever thought they were anybody going anywhere doing anything!!
April 24, 2012
Excellent teacher of Advaita Vedanta
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews