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Radically Condensed Instructions for Being Just as You Are
"Radically Condensed Instructions for Being Just as You Are" is perfect for anyone who is curious about nonduality's impact on life as it is lived every day. How can a clear understanding of nondual philosophy change how we experience our lives?
"Radically Condensed Instructions" helps us use Nonduality's basic theory - that nothing truly exists outside of the 'here and now' - to radically deepen our practice of present-moment awareness or "being here, now!" When we truly understand that open and clear Awareness is really all there is, we can make an uncompromising commitment to the present moment without the distractions of distorted thinking, artificial comparisons and impossible ideals.
"Radically Condensed Instructions" helps us use Nonduality's basic theory - that nothing truly exists outside of the 'here and now' - to radically deepen our practice of present-moment awareness or "being here, now!" When we truly understand that open and clear Awareness is really all there is, we can make an uncompromising commitment to the present moment without the distractions of distorted thinking, artificial comparisons and impossible ideals.
73 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 26, 2011
230 people are currently reading
1540 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
February 16, 2023
i understood or have read/seen every reference except for one — who the hell is foghorn leghorn
December 15, 2023
A wonderfully engaging gem of a book that questions the concept of 'self', one that will stay with me, and that I plan to reread again very soon!
February 18, 2020
Nice, concise explanation of the amount inexplicable. ;)
Nothing I hadn’t heard before, but beautifully stated. Certainly a great starting point for wrapping your head around the present.
Nothing I hadn’t heard before, but beautifully stated. Certainly a great starting point for wrapping your head around the present.
January 15, 2023
The most accessible version of this discussion that I’ve read.
November 1, 2021
Not quite on the pulse…
Seemed to be running around it circles but never arriving…I was looking or waiting for an in depth ah ha moment but it didn’t do it for me.
Seemed to be running around it circles but never arriving…I was looking or waiting for an in depth ah ha moment but it didn’t do it for me.
November 14, 2024
Interesting little book non-duality with some beautiful quotes. For example:
“We cannot get anything out of life. There is no outside where we could take this thing to. There is no little pocket situated outside of life, to which we could steal life’s provisions and squirrel them away. The life of this moment has no outside.”
“We cannot get anything out of life. There is no outside where we could take this thing to. There is no little pocket situated outside of life, to which we could steal life’s provisions and squirrel them away. The life of this moment has no outside.”
December 27, 2024
Why did I read this? It’s 72 pages, and I was at 49 books for the year in a competition with my better half. Nipun cheated with short books, so I did too. Its message: stop trying to get something out of life. I wasn’t impressed.
December 10, 2019
"Alienating desire can obscure our felt contact with the mystery of life. Take getting a new, ‘perfect’ partner. Aren’t we giddy with joy? The reason we are giddy with joy is because joy is our genuine nature. We just abandoned it for a little while because we were busy bothering ourselves with fantasies. We can experience profound joy if we give ourselves permission to. Instead we look outside ourselves for a perfect situation. And it is the act of looking that takes us away from our happiness."
"How do we pull the illusion that there is some abiding and intractable “problem” with our lives, out of our lives? I would not be the first to suggest we do this by realizing that our sense of problem hangs on our sense of being a self who “has” a problem."
"Our true ‘I’ is an open, empty ‘field’ which allows experience to manifest freely. When we no longer believe there is a self that must transcend itself and its circumstances, we have achieved the only real freedom there is – freedom from our illusory sense of bondage and confinement to the adventures of a self."
”Often we get very interested in studying ourselves, without pausing to notice that we have arbitrarily defined one part of experience as our self, and not another. To give a simple example, a sunny day usually puts us in a good mood, at least in New England. And I’ve heard Scandinavians practically go manic! Is there any reason to separate our good mood from the sunlight itself? Is there any absolute reason to say that our good mood is somehow the property of a self, and the sunlight is somehow other? Can we not imagine a language in which ‘sunlight’ refers to being in a good mood, and not metaphorically? I believe there is no great reason to maintain the concept of self beyond its obvious usefulness as a designator. The ‘self’ as a metaphysical concept, or a concept that would set itself up to be a great, absolute truth, is much too high-maintenance. It simply cannot be made to exist beyond our everyday attempts at self-definition and self-description."
"When we are ‘selving,’ we are abandoning what we actually see, hear, and feel (which is always dissolving, always falling apart) in favor of concepts, which hold together nicely, but which are mere conventions. When we just look at experience; when we observe it closely, we do not discover any selves. In fact, when we observe experience carefully and non-selectively, it does slowly dawn on us that no one is home."
"...all experiences are experiences of awakening. Every experience points to the truth if you look at it closely enough."
"There is no hidden component to experience. There is no mystery anywhere to be uncovered. It is all the mystery. And it is right here, already uncovered. Its existence co-arises with, and is the same as, its manifestation. Its ‘hereness."
"We could have the biggest problem going, and I mean the biggest neurotic obsession imaginable, and still it is all nothing but present experience. This understanding is completely liberating, once we get used to it."
"How do we pull the illusion that there is some abiding and intractable “problem” with our lives, out of our lives? I would not be the first to suggest we do this by realizing that our sense of problem hangs on our sense of being a self who “has” a problem."
"Our true ‘I’ is an open, empty ‘field’ which allows experience to manifest freely. When we no longer believe there is a self that must transcend itself and its circumstances, we have achieved the only real freedom there is – freedom from our illusory sense of bondage and confinement to the adventures of a self."
”Often we get very interested in studying ourselves, without pausing to notice that we have arbitrarily defined one part of experience as our self, and not another. To give a simple example, a sunny day usually puts us in a good mood, at least in New England. And I’ve heard Scandinavians practically go manic! Is there any reason to separate our good mood from the sunlight itself? Is there any absolute reason to say that our good mood is somehow the property of a self, and the sunlight is somehow other? Can we not imagine a language in which ‘sunlight’ refers to being in a good mood, and not metaphorically? I believe there is no great reason to maintain the concept of self beyond its obvious usefulness as a designator. The ‘self’ as a metaphysical concept, or a concept that would set itself up to be a great, absolute truth, is much too high-maintenance. It simply cannot be made to exist beyond our everyday attempts at self-definition and self-description."
"When we are ‘selving,’ we are abandoning what we actually see, hear, and feel (which is always dissolving, always falling apart) in favor of concepts, which hold together nicely, but which are mere conventions. When we just look at experience; when we observe it closely, we do not discover any selves. In fact, when we observe experience carefully and non-selectively, it does slowly dawn on us that no one is home."
"...all experiences are experiences of awakening. Every experience points to the truth if you look at it closely enough."
"There is no hidden component to experience. There is no mystery anywhere to be uncovered. It is all the mystery. And it is right here, already uncovered. Its existence co-arises with, and is the same as, its manifestation. Its ‘hereness."
"We could have the biggest problem going, and I mean the biggest neurotic obsession imaginable, and still it is all nothing but present experience. This understanding is completely liberating, once we get used to it."
March 1, 2023
The book succinctly summarizes “Awakening” is knowing “Now” is all there is.
What really drove it home is the philosophy of AA. Just as promising oneself of staying sober for one month or one year could feel insurmountable for an alcoholic, just take your present moment and live it fully without expectation of something that is outside yourself and over the horizon.
What really drove it home is the philosophy of AA. Just as promising oneself of staying sober for one month or one year could feel insurmountable for an alcoholic, just take your present moment and live it fully without expectation of something that is outside yourself and over the horizon.
November 6, 2017
Nice little read on awareness.
Enjoyed this little read on awareness and the idea of coming back to the mystery of the present moment. May be of interest for those into nonduality and awareness teachings. I liked the advice at the end regarding addictions and a resolution.
Enjoyed this little read on awareness and the idea of coming back to the mystery of the present moment. May be of interest for those into nonduality and awareness teachings. I liked the advice at the end regarding addictions and a resolution.
April 27, 2022
Why waste time? This is brief but to the point. Instruction for how to live in existentially. Consciousness and awareness help construct our own realities. "Experience is beautifully, sacredly and non-conceptionally perfect, in this present moment, now"
October 3, 2025
This funny little book was mentioned in Four Thousand Weeks. It's on nonduality. The title joke seems to be that usually people say even more, writing on this topic, when arguably not much needs to be said. There are still pretty many words here, and many of them are "poignancy."
My personal philosophy has some affinity with this nondualism stuff. My starting point is that experience is the only thing we have direct experience of. Nondualists seem to argue that this should be both starting point and ending point. I'm all about living in the moment and all, but I tend to feel that just because we can't prove things exist, it doesn't mean we shouldn't believe that they do. But it's okay to grant that this is a leap.
There's some cute discussion of how trying too hard to live in the moment is a good way to take yourself out of the moment. I think this is kind of like falling asleep: trying to make yourself fall asleep is stressful. You have to relax, and again, you don't relax by trying hard to relax. Also like meditating, where you aim to let thoughts come and let them go, not by trying hard to do this, but by not trying. So we have a "philosophy of not-philosophy," and a perfect practitioner doesn't need to read this book. I'm not sure the comparison is perfect, but it reminds me of Star Wars: "I don't know; fly casual."
Thinking about this more, I wonder if what Four Thousand Weeks is really trying to offer is a time management of not-time-management. The idea that you shouldn't be trying to manage time, but that you should be living and doing things without worrying about the time management. I think there's something here: getting in the flow of doing something, not focusing on planning but on doing, etc. This feels like a better interpretation of Four Thousand Weeks than I had previously given it. (Maybe better than it really deserves...)
Anyway, sure, cute short book.
My personal philosophy has some affinity with this nondualism stuff. My starting point is that experience is the only thing we have direct experience of. Nondualists seem to argue that this should be both starting point and ending point. I'm all about living in the moment and all, but I tend to feel that just because we can't prove things exist, it doesn't mean we shouldn't believe that they do. But it's okay to grant that this is a leap.
There's some cute discussion of how trying too hard to live in the moment is a good way to take yourself out of the moment. I think this is kind of like falling asleep: trying to make yourself fall asleep is stressful. You have to relax, and again, you don't relax by trying hard to relax. Also like meditating, where you aim to let thoughts come and let them go, not by trying hard to do this, but by not trying. So we have a "philosophy of not-philosophy," and a perfect practitioner doesn't need to read this book. I'm not sure the comparison is perfect, but it reminds me of Star Wars: "I don't know; fly casual."
Thinking about this more, I wonder if what Four Thousand Weeks is really trying to offer is a time management of not-time-management. The idea that you shouldn't be trying to manage time, but that you should be living and doing things without worrying about the time management. I think there's something here: getting in the flow of doing something, not focusing on planning but on doing, etc. This feels like a better interpretation of Four Thousand Weeks than I had previously given it. (Maybe better than it really deserves...)
Anyway, sure, cute short book.
December 18, 2023
I seem to vaguely recall that Wittgenstein’s criticism of most philosophical riddles was that they were simply issues of language. I kept thinking of that as I was reading this. It is a knotty read. I couldn’t decide if I was struggling because I already live as the writer prescribes, or if it was just cobblers and I have no idea what they’re on about.
May 27, 2025
Read this slowly over time. This is one of those books that sneaks up on you, it is dense but you find yourself grabbing on to a sentence or an idea and then finding it percolating through your day.
As always, my reviews are a reflection of my experience reading the book and not meant as genuine critique.
As always, my reviews are a reflection of my experience reading the book and not meant as genuine critique.
January 1, 2023
Losing ourselves..
The “I” as a non-existent entity is clearly explained.
The Hindu scriptures described this state in a mere 3 word pronouncement : tat-tvam-asi or I am that.
Well written.
The “I” as a non-existent entity is clearly explained.
The Hindu scriptures described this state in a mere 3 word pronouncement : tat-tvam-asi or I am that.
Well written.
January 6, 2023
If you have read enough books on philosophy, this book is great, because it feels like reading all the best quotes from various books (maybe that is the point of this book!). But as a standalone, it felt incoherent, though there were a lot of lines that left me thinking for a long time.
July 5, 2023
Great read
I have been reading Enlightenment books for 30 years and this is the most concise and realistic book I have read.
Very clear. Do your self a favour. Buy this book !!!
And no I am not getting paid by the publisher or author for this review.
Warm regards
Thomas
I have been reading Enlightenment books for 30 years and this is the most concise and realistic book I have read.
Very clear. Do your self a favour. Buy this book !!!
And no I am not getting paid by the publisher or author for this review.
Warm regards
Thomas
November 9, 2023
Quirky and thought-provoking
I think a reading of this essay would benefit from prior grounding in philosophy, but I still enjoyed feeling lost and confused, which I gather was more or less the point of the essay anyway!
I think a reading of this essay would benefit from prior grounding in philosophy, but I still enjoyed feeling lost and confused, which I gather was more or less the point of the essay anyway!
November 12, 2024
3.5 stars, a little bit tricky partially because of the complexity of the content but mostly because of the writing style. Lots of repetition and unnecessarily pedantic at times. Overall I like the message even if it was a little confusing
April 29, 2020
2D Point
Short AND to the point. Have a sit and catch a quick book....and, don't feel badly about reading it again.
It isn't just a toss away!
Short AND to the point. Have a sit and catch a quick book....and, don't feel badly about reading it again.
It isn't just a toss away!
February 8, 2021
Excellent Read
This book helped me understand nonduality. Although, I've listened to podcasts and read other books on the subject, they left some quandary on it.
This book helped me understand nonduality. Although, I've listened to podcasts and read other books on the subject, they left some quandary on it.
April 27, 2021
Ugh
Just when I thought it had merit, the author goes into too much philosophy, taking away the purpose of the book. You could read about 30 pages and get it, the rest is rubbish!
Just when I thought it had merit, the author goes into too much philosophy, taking away the purpose of the book. You could read about 30 pages and get it, the rest is rubbish!
February 6, 2022
Best ever book on consciousness
Best ever book on consciousness, highly recommend to anyone curious about the mind and experience, or if you have a meditation practice
Best ever book on consciousness, highly recommend to anyone curious about the mind and experience, or if you have a meditation practice
January 15, 2023
‘The idea that we are selves who pursue is a very I’ll-advised kind of fantasy. The notion that we are selves pursuing experience sucks the sense of wonder out of life.’
March 28, 2023
The present moment is perfect in that it is a perfect mystery. Experience is beautifully, sacredly, and non-conceptually perfect, in this present moment, now.
June 6, 2023
I Love This Title
In this book we learn that we don't need to spend our lives pursuing the next amazing experience. Put simply WE are experience.
In this book we learn that we don't need to spend our lives pursuing the next amazing experience. Put simply WE are experience.
July 3, 2023
Concise and thought-provoking. The author has a conversational style that is easy to read and approachable. While the topic is more cerebral, the tone of the book is practical (without irony).
December 30, 2023
Short book that explains in short and logical manner the value of living in the present moment.
January 12, 2024
A beautiful, concise, often lighthearted explanation of nondual philosophy and the illusion of self. I’ll be returning to this book again and again.
April 19, 2024
Surely found me when I needed it the most but just wow
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews