#25

So it's Christmas at my folks' house, and the time comes at these gatherings when my brother-in-law and I start talking smack about art films, books, meditation, spirituality, 20th century classical music, Henri Bergson, etc. He's a practitioner of Taoist meditation, he does Tai Chi every morning, he has a black belt in Kung Fu, he's a surgeon, he's a classical guitarist and a classically trained cellist, he's a father, he's a collector of Japanese swords, he's a wine connoisseur. And he's a Jew, so when we were discussing Alan Watts and he said "You know, the best book I've read about consciousness and non-duality was by a Jesuit priest," my eyebrows knitted themselves together in what I'm sure was a quizzical and bemused way, because my brother-in-law laughed and said "No, I'm serious. You need to read Awareness like tomorrow."

So I ordered Anthony DeMello's book from Amazon and put it on my nightstand in The Pile. And just after I had a crisis at work, I mean like immediately after I stood in front of a class and had one of those Deep Moments where everything slowed way down and I thought "Do I really want to do this? Do I really care about these kids? Or do I merely want people to think I care about these kids?" DeMello's book was next and I inhaled it and it contained great wisdom and truth.

You should read it like tomorrow, too.