Awake: It’s Your Turn by Angelo DiLullo
"There are some cases in which a person overcome with pain, his mind exhausted, grieves, mourns, laments, beats his breast, & becomes bewildered. Or one overcome with pain, his mind exhausted, comes to search outside, 'Who knows a way or two to stop this pain?' I tell you, monks, that stress results either in bewilderment or in search." Buddha
One of the few positives during my occasional bouts of insomnia is the opportunity for some nighttime listening. Rather than toss and turn under the duvet, I'll head into another room and stick on the headphones. I keep the lights off and don't bother browsing any of my devices or turning the tv on. Sometimes I like an audiobook, but generally, I have a list of podcast episodes to get through.
As you know if you've read this blog before, I have a lifelong interest in meditation and mindfulness; like a lot of people, I'm always searching. I've been using the Waking Up app a lot over the past few years, and become interested in the subject of non-duality. Teachers like Sam Harris, Rupert Spira, and Adyashanti have helped to deepen my practice. In a sentence, nonduality is the recognition that there is one single, infinite, and indivisible reality, whose nature is pure consciousness. There are probably simpler explanations than that, but I'm not going to get bogged down in semantics here.
Algorithms are good at picking up on these interests, so a podcast episode by someone called ZdoggMD featured an interview with Angelo DiLullo popped up on my feed. Curious, I thought I'd give it five minutes to see if it caught my attention.
The whole idea of my listening to podcasts is that I'll get sleepy and slip back into bed again. As if listening about awakening will get you sleeping - I found the conversation between ZdoggMD (Dr. Zubin Damania) so utterly fascinating that I finished the whole episode and my brain was so engaged and excited with the conversation that I ordered a copy of 'Awake' to add to my collection of non duality books. It arrived a day later and I launched straight into it.
Podcast
The Angelo of the podcast and the book are the same - direct, accessible, and utterly authentic. It's not just a book about the subject - it provides the tools for you to investigate non-duality and see how there is no separate self. His voice is so clear that it's like he's talking directly to you.
The realisations came so fast to me with this book that I had to slow down. The chapters on emotions, meditation techniques, and beliefs are all really useful, and the section on self-enquiry opened my eyes to that process. It's something that I've dabbled in before, but here I was able to apply it.
There is work to do - slow, deliberate work but you can see the shifts almost immediately, or I could anyway. Angelo has a wonderful way of constantly pulling the rug from beneath your feet, bringing you back to direct experience again.
Practical
One of the strengths of the book for me is that there aren't any spiritual terms or arcane mediative terms to get bogged down with. It reminded me a lot of another book I read a few years ago called 'The mind illuminated', which offered a jargon-free, practical guide to meditation. It would be petty to say anything about the writing style in ‘Awake: It’s your turn’ - much of the power of the book lies in its absolute simplicity.
Angelo has helped me realise that 'awakening' isn't some mythical (or mystical) state that I can only achieve with years of mediation. It's achievable if we open ourselves to it - it's here now, and as Angelo says, we can wake up from the dream of separation any time we wish.
Everyone will have their favourite format but I've thumbed back and forth through this book so much that I'm glad I have the physical copy - I realise you can bookmark on ereaders, but for me it's not the same - some non duality books I just like to have. As you can see, my copy has already taken a bit of a battering and is lovingly dog eared - I’ve only had it a couple of weeks. There is an audiobook on the way, so hold out if that's your preferred method of consuming a book. In the meantime, check out the website 'Simply always awake' and Angelo's YouTube channel.
Summary
I can't speak highly enough of this book, as you can probably tell. If it's a subject that interests you, I suggest trying this non duality book out for yourself. It's helped me realise that I can drop into experience any time I want. I have thought of nothing else but non-duality since I finished 'Awake'; It’s your turn’ - it has completely reinvigorated my practice. With time, patience, and the advice in this book, I really feel I can end my suffering in this lifetime, which for me is what the search has always been about. Thank you Angelo!
474 pages May 25, 2021
Feb 24 - Just discovered there’s an audiobook on release now as well. It can be found at Awesound. Great to be able to listen to this on the move and Angelo’s voice rings clear as a bell. Soothing interludes from Erik Ireland as well, who should certainly consider more Voiceover work.