Waking Down: Beyond Hypermasculine Dharmas : A Breakthrough Way of Self-Realization in the Sanctuary of Mutuality

This book is more ramblings than a cohesive whole. The tone is very defensive most of the time, as in "don't you dare assume you understand what I'm talking about." The writing style is very similar to that of Adi Da which should be no surprise as Bonder was closely related to Da for years. If you don't care for Da, the tone will probably not be to your liking. A central premise is that of transmission, where disciples must receive the being-presence energy (my words) from Adepts (his word, similar to guru). I can't speak from experience with this specifically, but I am skeptical about it. Bonder arrived at this Way with the aid of gurus, but ultimately by himself, so why should anyone else need him or one of his adepts if he arrived at this without a human teacher? Although I did not care for the Da tone and the transmission, I could relate well to what he was saying, and he made a great effort to communicate a subject that is not easily put into words. It also helped me to put my experience into context. I have encountered few souls who have walked a path similar to mine, so it was a relief to read the words of someone describing an experience much like my own. This book got me fired up, and any book that gets me emotionally charged (whether I agree or disagree with what they are saying) has succeeded in a powerful way.

~~~Waking is being permanently aware of Consciousness, prior to form, prior to words, just before prior to....Consciousness only - "all forms are maya, illusion" is often promoted by (Eastern) spiritual teachings. However, exclusive Consciousness is a half life.Down is being aware of your very unique individuality.Mutuality is sharing your Waking & Down with others. This sharing evokes things in yourself and things in others that cannot be accessed as easily, if at all, alone. And not all of Everything is like a flood of love coming out of your chest at the wonder and mystery of everything and each other person. Everything also includes the feeling of "all the pain of the universe."All three of these, WDM, are simultaneous: You are what is infinite, awakened as Consciousness; you are what is finite as your bodymind; you are everything; all three at once. This is not really something you can wrap your mind around, but This is experienced.Saniel uses the terms second birth and second life, onlyness, seamlessness.You can also call This nonseparation, nondissociation, fusion, mergedness, one with everything - be it states of grace or dark, deep voids and all between - and one with everybody - no matter where they're at and at the same time you feel your own uniqueness.Paul Jones has stated that WDM ought to come with a warning label: "No one told me I would become the INSEPARABLE punching bag for all of existence."Or to put it another way, when you've worn out all your learned habits of trying to get "better" - whatever "better" might be, then the dissociative energy that was tied up in getting "better," that was tied up in myriad ways of "self-improvement" "a different me" is freed from those (sometimes formerly subconscious) habit patterns. Your energy is not being used up in Saniel's words, by "governing sentimentalities" or, in the Hindu, by "vasanas."Now you have the energy to be really present as yourself being everything and that is a great relief, to have awakened exactly as you are, and simultaneously, no relief, because we are unfixable.Like any book written by a fused person, you will get deeper understandings of the exact same words as this process of Being, ever more trusted, moves through you, in you, as you.

This book is an introduction to Saniel and to the process of awakening with him. Coming from a guru based background he teaches, and preaches this way of devotion. To start his path one must visit Saniel or one of his awakened associates and receive their 'transmission'.

To paraphrase some stuff from Saniel Bonder's "Waking Down": The necessary, natural, ordinary, regular, unrealized, unenlightened, normal, usual existence in the realm of identity is one of confusion about who and what you are. The necessary, natural, ordinary, regular, unrealized, unenlightened, normal, usual existence in the realm of relatedness is one of chronic separateness from all things and beings. This confusion and separateness simultaneously together is "the core wound." Patriarchs and patriarchal orientations are as natural and ordinary to human culture and affairs as their matriarch and matriarchal counterparts. These terms should dignify the responsible wisdom and power of human elders. These terms, patriarchal and matriarchal, shouldn't be burdened with negative connotations, but they are. So, out of simultaneousness sympathy with and exasperation with the frequently pejorative use of these terms, Saniel has come up with a neologism for patriarchy and matriarchy that is as yet unburdened with negative connotations: "hypermasculine." The word hypermasculine serves well, without demonizing, anyone who, in his or her family or domain, happens to be a patriarch or matriarch. The hypermasculine orientation in human individuals and groups involves the tendencies toward dissociation, from the body, from the physical world, from ordinary human relations, from desires, from feelings, from activities, from relationships. Hypermasculinity is a dissociative transcendence of all our messy, human pain and mortality. This dissociative transcendence is for the sake of control of (Occidental/Omega) embodied life and material conditions, even all phenomenal Nature, or this dissociative transcendence is for the sake of liberation from (Oriental/Alpha) embodied life and material conditions, even all phenomenal Nature. Simple masculinity is the necessary, natural, ordinary, regular, unrealized, unenlightened, normal, usual impulse, or urge, in each and all of our natures, be we male or female, that seeks to analyze, control, govern, grasp, understand and penetrate. In order to analyze, or to control, or to govern, or to grasp, or to understand, or to penetrate, to do any, or all, of these things, the masculine impulse must first differentiate itself from that, from the other, which it is seeking to analyze, control, govern, grasp, understand and penetrate. However, when this natural, ordinary, regular, unrealized, unenlightened, normal, usual masculine impulse, or urge, in each and all of our natures, be we male or female, achieves EXCESSIVE dominance, in ANY individual, in ANY group, in ANY civilization, this impulse, or urge, toward differentiation and autonomy becomes hypermasculine. Hypermasculinity becomes dissociative, self-isolaing and alienated from that from which it is differentiating. This natural, ordinary, regular, unrealized, unenlightened, normal, usual masculine impulse, or urge, TAKEN TO AN EXTRE

Saniel Bonder is unusual in that he both respects and values worldwide traditions of religion and spirituality, while at the same time recognizing and articulating how they have failed to fulfill the human longing for release from suffering and limitation. Saniel Bonder claims traditional enlightenment as described in the mystic traditions of Eastern philosophy. His description of his own enlightenment, and the path to enlightenment he recommends for others, is refreshingly down to earth and human. Never before have I read such a direct personal account of spiritual awakening that is both human and immediate, yet philosophically profound and encompassing of the human condition. I whole-heartedly recommend this practical manual for spiritual growth.END