On the End of Your World

I was really excited to read this and it didn’t meet my expectations. It offers a lot of the same guidance as Be Here Now, The Power of Now (itself derivative of Be Here Now), and The Untethered Soul, but in a far more abstract, unmoored way — and for someone seeking spiritual guidance, as I am, concrete examples and anecdotes make a big difference. I don’t doubt Adyashanti’s wisdom, but it needed a better presentation. The book is, more than anything, a series of lectures followed by an interview. Adyashanti’s view of “enlightenment” is humanistic and grounded, less about transcendence than about inner peace and being satisfied with what is; non-action, the “uncarved block,” and other concepts central to Taoism are relevant here, even if he uses different language for them. Unfortunately it’s nearly as illegible as the Tao Te Ching — which, thanks to its poetic, literary value, I often found more comprehensible than this. The book left so little impression that I don’t have many specific examples to point to. Adyashanti seems to have been well received by much of the public, but the book doesn’t work for me, and I’d urge spiritual seekers to look elsewhere, especially as they’re starting out.