Frustrated with outdated forms of spirituality that urge us to reject the ego, the bestselling author of The Jesus Mysteries invites us to embrace our personal selves as a doorway to spiritual awakening. Is the author of more than 20 books on the world's spiritual traditions, Tim Freke is in a unique position to present a revolutionary new approach to spiritual awakening. With astonishing clarity and directness, he explains why popular spiritual teachings that urge us to reject the mind, attack the ego, and detach from the vicissitudes of life are misguided. Using the powerful tool of 'paralogical thinking', he reveals that everyone has both a 'deep I' and a 'personal self'. The 'deep I' is our spiritual essence, which is one with everyone and everything. We experience the 'deep I' as a feeling of limitless love. The personal self by contrast is our tender humanity; it feels pleasure and pain, hope and heartache, love and loss. The personal self feels separate from the world. Tim's powerful paralogical insights reveal that the personal self is not an obstacle to our spiritual essence which must be overcome but rather a doorway to the 'deep I'. Indeed, it is only through the personal self that we can find and then embody the 'deep I' in our lives. The ego is not the villain but rather the hero of the spiritual journey. When we are deep awake, we wake up to oneness and celebrate separateness. We embrace both our spirituality and our humanity. Authentic spirituality is not about detaching ourselves from life, but about wholeheartedly diving in so that we can express our deep love and our unique human passion in the world.
