An Introduction to Awareness

Corrigan's book displays a rare combination of spiritual insight and philosophical inquiry. While there is no shortage of books of one type or the other, a book that combines them both is a precious gift indeed. A full appreciation of Corrigan's work, however, does demand of the reader a similar combination, at least to some degree. The academic philosopher without any contemplative orientation may find the book's perspective unfamiliar. It is, after all, not merely an analytical presentation of a system of thought, but an interpretation derived from contemplative insight. The spiritually-oriented reader, on the other hand, may find the philosophical style challenging, e.g., when encountering phrases such as "animadversion of Omnific Awareness," "a conduit of apprehension that is introsuscepted directly," and "the apodictic nature of our experience of phenomenal consciousness." Either type of reader, however, will be well-rewarded for taking the time to understand this unique work of a true contemplative philosopher. One will find it to be an exacting exploration of the immediacy of existence and an illuminating clarification of conceptual conundrums concealed in our deep, unquestioned habits of experience. Of particular value is its nondual perspective on the foundations of science and the origin of our shared field of experience. The significance of this is not to be underestimated, since it provides the key to a genuine basis for a new worldview in which modern science may be seen as compatible with contemplative realization and the ethical values rooted therein.

This beautiful book challenges the intellect to gaze upon itself from an unaccustomed place. The first time I read it, I saw it as a well-researched argument for a nondual "position", designed to withstand the criticism of a highly educated, materialistic community. The author uses logic to devour itself in a manner designed to point to the inadequacy of established philosophical dogma to explain what "is". He uses reason like a scalpel, accurately illustrating what happens as one follows a thought to its end. The reader must be careful and patient on this particular journey with James Corrigan, as he leaves no stone unturned. Reading the book again, letting it unfold, I realized that it is also a direct view of an ongoing process which begins in the mind and comes to rest in the heart. Dissolving mental arguments by following them all the way through to their inevitable demise, one lands in a unifying place of vision and poetry, where connection and love become obvious-- leading, perhaps, to more compassionate, creative solutions to our collective problems by utilizing the mind as the fabulous tool it is, rather than as a divisive and egocentric taskmaster. The book is a fine piece of intelligent art and a valuable trip worth taking, both for the exercise and the view!

'An Introduction to Awareness' is very convincing as a kind of document of secular enlightenment. The basic simplicity of the notion at its heart is presented somewhat ironically in layers of extremely rigorous and verbose academic battle-gear. I imagine that this is the case because such a tract was written to withstand what is anticipated to be withering criticism/attack from the philosophical/academic community over potentially many decades or even centuries as the tiniest chink is sought that might invalidate the entire idea. Despite its complex and demanding verbiage, the book is never less that rigorously precise in its descriptions of its many quietly radical insights. You'll find that it sits quite comfortably next to others like Sogyal Rinpoche's 'Tibetan Book of Living and Dying' and one can hop back and forth from the most advanced Buddhist thought to 'An Introduction to Awareness' and detect essentially no delta at all between them. The effect is somewhat strange, as the book feels like the kernel of enlightenment stripped of any and all mystical, mythical or historical context; which one has to concede any sort of genuine enlightenment probably should be! Highly recommended for students of Buddhist philosophy, those exploring revolutionary systems of thought or for anyone interested in learning to see the world in a different light.

James Corrigan writes on his website, "I have not studied with any particular teacher, although I have researched, and continue to research, many different philosophical and spiritual systems. ... [I] went back to school to get a PhD at age 50 so that I could engage people on a philosophical level -- for that after all, is what I am talking about." Corrigan studies in the philosophy department at Stony Brook University in New York. His prior full time work was designing and developing computer software for Fortune 50 companies. The purpose of this book is to turn the reader's view of reality toward the nondual. The author says, "There is a fundamental assumption behind this work: that our difficulties are all indirectly caused by the way we view ourselves and the world around us, and that this must change if we are to survive, prosper, and find happiness once again." This book is a philosophical presentation of the teaching of nonduality. James Corrigan uses a refined language to describe Awareness, one that establishes a position of strength from which to make judgments about world and self. The terminology includes archaelogy (not archaeology), apodictic, animadversion, omnific, surjectivity (and subjectivity), and others. These terms are available in a glossary, a wise and very useful inclusion at the back of the book. Even the term "is" is included in the glossary and discussed within the book in a way that demonstrates the author's sharpness of consideration: "Thus the statement `Awareness is real' can be interpreted as meaning: That which is necessary and non-contingent is presence for that which arises from it. The pitfall in this way of thinking is, as always with Awareness, to find some implication of separate existence in the above statement for Awareness. The difficulty with the copulative verb `to be' points up a very significant problem in delving deeper into Awareness. Language and discursive reasoning are inapplicable beyond a certain point. It is fine to talk abstractly about the concept of awareness; it is an error to do so about the real Awareness." Further description of this book can be given by showing how this terminology comes together: "Our habitual dichotomization of the mind and the body does not hold in the surjective view of reality in which Awareness animadverts, bringing into being and giving rise to consciousness of, that which it animadverts upon. It doesn't matter if this focus is a thought or a rock." ... "Awareness animadverts the world, including the framework and structure of it, spatially and temporally." ... "It is disconcerting to hold that the phenomena upon which Awareness animadverts exist, but have no separate reality and are not founded upon some substratum apart from Awareness." Not disconcerting to those with Understanding, but to those who have lost happiness, who see things materialistically or physicalistically, and create lives and communities of difficulty and essential poverty. Ultima

I have read this book through a number of times since I first bought it back in November. I continue to read chapters of it, randomly, as I sometimes do with the Upanishads and the teachings of Dogen, among others. I have been captivated by the distinctly unique approach that the author has taken to a perennial problem: how does one speak about reality in a way that does not cheapen or discount some aspect of it. Corrigan goes to great pains to leave us with a world in which Science works, but also one where the non-dual wholeness of Reality is both accepted and presented as such. This is no small feat, as you can imagine. He presents a conceptual model of Reality as a monistic dyad of immanent and transcendent aspects that both arise from the same source, which he shows is non-individuated Awareness; but he points out that this conceptual model is just that, a model, and cautions the reader to not become lost in the concept itself, for reasons that he explains very clearly. Rather, he tells us to use it to change how we take the world to be, so that we can open ourselves to greater understanding. There is a bit of a blurb on the back cover about Corrigan's career in systems development and that history shows in his skillful tackling of the arguments of those that say reality consists of just the physical universe absent any kind of metaphysical underpinnings. The writing is tight and clearly presented. It's a pleasure to read. You have to pay attention to the arguments though. If it was simple to escape our normal understanding of reality then we would not need to read books about it. This one is for those who really want to develop an understanding and are willing to make the effort to do so.