These were questions posed to me from students, clients and friends regarding the book, “Apocalypse of the Mind: Transforming Ego into the Stillness of Consciousness.”

Q: What was the inspiration behind The Apocalypse of the Mind?

A: There were several reasons I felt inspired to write such a book. The first reason I noticed in my private practice where people who were going through an awakening experience had no understanding of what was occurring in their lives. These people would encounter emotional and psychological difficulties and challenges in their relationships and careers. In some cases where the awakening process is profound I have seen people go into psychosis. Many people did not know how to work with a spiritual practice to assist with an awakening process that is dangerous, indeed. I basically took what I used with my consulting clients and students as well as in my own daily practice and laid it out as clearly as I could in this book.

The other reason is that I find people who work a spiritual practice seemed to be leaving out major elements such as compassion and getting out of the way or getting down into seeing their own ego and its drive for power. I have witnessed friends victimized by groups who purport themselves to be “the way” to spiritual enlightenment but use fear tactics as a motivating tool. This type of manipulation is not coming from a compassionate heart but inflicts suffering onto others. I could not resolve within my own mind a time where infliction of pain onto another was coming from a place of an evolved mind.

A third reason was I wanted to impart how difficult this journey is. It is not all about light and angels or even in some cases where spiritual seekers were elevating themselves above others who were unconscious, not seeing how unconsciousness also serves.
I wrote about my own personal journey as a way of providing examples of how to work with the awakening process which I have not see in other books on this subject and which may be helpful to people who feel drawn to this practice.

Q: Can you talk briefly about your own awakening experience?

A: Well, I saw myself as fortunate in many ways. First, I had the experience to connect to a teacher, initially in his book about his own awakening process in which he left his position as a physician in a major hospital to become a teacher. Secondly, I attended a few of his classes. So, I was the typical seeker a few years before I had a physical awakening. I had a good foundation of meditation and an understanding of how to use heart-centered awareness along with physical movement to help ground myself on an energetic level. I also had enough time to build a level of trust in my practice. So, when my awakening began at such an intense level, I was able to employ my practice to help me to allow the process to continue unhindered by my mind. Then, came the challenges in my life that were not in alignment with the integrity of who I am at my essence, such as difficulty in my marriage that almost drove me to the point of suicide and other major life threatening challenges that I discuss in the book.

Q: But people go through divorce every day in western society. How is your experience different?

A: It became important to me to break through negative or non-serving belief patterns and ego defenses that were in place to cover deep-seated fears. I wanted to be a more compassionate individual in the world. My meditative and self-analytic practice was a key cornerstone in order for me to not inflict suffering on myself or others. The more I was able to be present with my fears, the less the fears controlled my creative choice I had in the moment with situations and with people in my life. My book The Apocalypse of the Mind discusses these practices and techniques.