Bücher von Joan Tollifson

These lively talks and dialogs are about seeing through the illusion of separation and waking up to the boundless wholeness that is all there is. They take on perennial questions such as: Who am I? Is there a way out of personal and global suffering? Can we choose to stop addictive and destructive patterns? What does it mean to be awake? What is enlightenment? Does waking up take effort, vigilance and practice, or is it effortlessly and unavoidably always already the case? What happens when we die? Joan questions all attempts to conceptually grasp and frame the movement of life, and she points to what remains when everything that can be doubted drops away. She talks about seeing through the stories and beliefs that create our human suffering and waking up to the simplicity of what is, as it is -- the ever-present, ever-changing seamlessness of being. Joan's approach is open and explorative, not methodical or dogmatic. For those struggling to reconcile the emphasis on "being here now" in some teachings with the uncompromising "this is it, just as it is" message of radical nonduality, Joan brings them together beautifully. With subtlety and humor, these talks reveal the perfection in apparent imperfection, the extraordinary in what appears most ordinary, and the freedom of being what you can't not be.

This exuberant and amazing testament is the story of a woman born with only one hand. She grows up feeling different, discovers her lesbianism and bisexuality amid the tumultuous sixties, sinks into alcoholism and drug addiction, and eventually bottoms out. She finds meaning as a political and disability rights activist, and eventually embraces first Zen Buddhism and then a very bare-bones form of spirituality which indeed has no form. Joan Tollifson describes meditation as "moment-to-moment presence that excludes nothing and sticks to nothing". Here is spiritual work happening right in the middle of everyday American life with all its complexity and ambiguities - ordinary, messy, and accessible to everyone. Bare-Bones Meditation reveals the inner process of the mind in a way that hasn't been done before, and Tollifson's account is beautifully written - unbuttoned, intense, and from the heart.