Advaita Vision

www.advaita.org.uk

Advaita for the 21st Century

How to Meet Yourself
(and find true happiness)

flower picture

You think that your life is in a mess and wonder what it all means. You are looking for an explanation and a sense of purpose. You just want to be happy.

 This is not a self-help book – who you really are does not need any help. The problem is that you have completely mistaken the nature of yourself and the world. You are confusing what is real with what is unreal. Once this confusion has been untangled, both meaning and purpose will be revealed. This book will disentangle your mind! It will explain to you what you are not so that you can understand who you really are and, ultimately, come to the realization that you are already happy now!

This work of popular philosophy from an Eastern perspective analyzes our perennial search for happiness and explains why we will never find it in modern lifestyles, pleasure or fame.

It enlists the help of polls by sociologists, findings of evolutionary psychologists, historians, philosophers and others, as well as drawing on personal experience and examples, to show that we are not separate from the world and the essence of our nature is already happiness.

Published by O-Books.

You can read extracts from the book by clicking on the links at the bottom of this page.

How to Meet Yourself (and find true happiness), Dennis Waite, O Books, Feb 2007, ISBN-10: 1846940419, ISBN-13: 978-1846940415.

Order from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk or Infibeam India.

Book Cover: How to meet yourself

Endorsements received to date:

Many self-help books challenge the negative beliefs that we have about ourselves. Dennis's ‘How to Meet Yourself’ goes way beyond this. He examines belief itself - in particular, the belief that we are something individual and separate. Dennis exposes this belief in all its tricky varieties, and shows that it is completely unfounded. As a friendly and experienced guide, he demonstrates that we are nothing other than happiness itself!

Dr. Greg Goode , Doctor of western philosophy and practising philosophical counsellor in New York .

*****

Dennis Waite has written a rigorous and fascinating book about the way life really IS for most of us - as we try to find happiness in all the ways humans believe will deliver - despite the repeated disappointments that come as an inevitable part of such beliefs.

This is a book for real people who are seeking the ever elusive state of true happiness. But, rather than start at some fabulous sounding paradise, Dennis starts out where we are - in the middle. Because the middle of living day by day is where our desire for happiness arises. Ultimately, the book shows us the way back to the beginning - to our own true and natural state of uncaused joy.

His anecdotes ring a bell in the heart and the plentiful scholarly quotations and lucid explanations thereof vibrate the mind into a new seeing. As we dive deeply into the book, fascinated by the clarity of his writing, we find that Dennis reveals - and then dismantles - all manner of beliefs that keep the happiness we seek at arms length. With the help of many great philosophers, Dennis weaves subtle yet powerful pointers into the book. These gradually and surely reveal the actual Source of happiness - The Real You.

I love this book! Highly recommended.

Charlie Hayes, Author of "From I Am To I Am, With Love"

*****

Dennis Waite ’s new book, ‘How to Meet Yourself’ offers an insightful overview of the Great Questions of life itself:“ What is the meaning and purpose of existence? What is reality? Who am I really and can I ever hope to discover the Truth?” The Author skilfully invites the Reader to move such philosophical inquiries past their historical roots and to enter the quantum-like universe of non-duality.(I.e. In spite of appearances to the contrary, there’s still only one Consciousness.)By not shying away from addressing the paradoxical questions that arise in this age-old inquiry, Dennis successfully weaves a compelling inner tapestry that encourages the Reader to willingly embrace life being exactly as it is. Readable, relevant and recommended.

Chuck Hillig , author of ‘Enlightenment for Beginners’, ‘The Way IT Is’, ‘Seeds for the Soul’

*****

‘How to Meet Yourself’ takes the mainstream by the hand and pragmatically leads them away from where they believe that they are in their minds, to where they actually are here and now in Heart. The guide is friendly, clear and intelligent, with well documented research.

Katie Davis, author of ‘Awake Living Joy’

*****

This is Dennis Waite ’s second book on the theme of advaita or non-duality. Like ‘The Book of One’, it is a comprehensive survey of the psychological and philosophical dynamics of the human condition, offering an everlasting solution to discovering true happiness in the moment.

 What distinguishes ‘How to Meet Yourself’ from its predecessor, however, it is the way in which the material is presented – written in a fluid and engaging style, Waite illustrates his text by drawing on themes taken from literature and the arts, science and technology, in order to convey his perennial message. Through a subtle process of deconstructional analysis, he is able to show us that investing our hopes and desires in the transient world, in all its beautiful and beguiling forms, can only ever lead to pain and loss; it is through resting in the here and now, wanting absolutely nothing, that peace can truly be found.

 I highly recommend ‘How to Meet Yourself’ and feel it is of particular value to those embarking on a spiritual search for first time or those looking for something devoid of technical jargon.

Coupled with 'The Book of One', ‘How to Meet Yourself’ serves to reaffirm Dennis Waite as one of the foremost contemporary writers on the subject of Advaita Vedanta in the West.

Paula Marvelly, author of ‘The Teachers of One’ and 'Women of Wisdom'

*****

 It is an excellent study for an intelligent novice on the path to reality. No one who will read it with an open heart can fail to benefit greatly.

Burt Harding, Self-realized teacher and author of ‘The Embodiment of the Heart’, ‘The Three Gems’, ‘You are a Light Being: Embracing your Natural State’.

*****

Waite's book is a well-considered, user-friendly examination of the way concepts such as meaning and purpose are not necessary for a happy life and may, in fact, be contraindicated.

Catherine Ingram, author of ‘ Passionate Presence’and ‘ In the Footsteps of Gandhi’.

*****

This is a good, even very good introduction to Advaita philosophy. There are two things in particular that impress me about the book. First, its honesty in being open and clear that it is written by someone who is in the throes of asking the tricky questions of Advaita for himself. And second, a persistent taking of the reader into confidence, so that that there is a careful and sympathetic consideration of common everyday experience, with a gradual and very clearly reasoned transition to Advaita enquiry. So I would whole-heartedly recommend the book. For its clear and simple presentation of ideas and information, I would say that it is outstanding, among other books and writings that I have come across on the subject it describes.

Ananda Wood, author of 'From the Upanishads' and 'Interpreting the Upanishads'.

*****

In order to find out where happiness really lies, Dennis Waite uncovers the false sources of happiness which most of us spend our lives chasing. He unpicks these layer by layer, suggesting why materialism and status-seeking only bring temporary happiness, and shows that true happiness exists within us, as the essence of our being. With admirable clarity, he shows that to become truly happy we need only to become our true selves, and transcend desire and duality. Waite incorporates many ideas of positive psychology but goes beyond them, and creates a truly spiritual concept of happiness. This book will enhance your life, and bring you closer to your true nature - and therefore to true happiness.

Steve Taylor, author of 'The Fall: The Insanity of the Ego in Human History and the Dawning of a New Era'

Reader Reviews:

Crystal clear introduction to your true nature
You have probably read many reviews which begin with a line proclaiming the unique worth of a book. Take your pick: this is a must-have book for the spiritual seeker, this book will clear up the Great Matter once and for all, etc. My line: this is an absolutely first-rate presentation of the heart of nonduality without lexica borrowed from the New Age (which, as Robert Bly once remarked, rhymes with "sewage"). Do your True self a favor--read this book. If you are new to the spiritual marketplace--read this book. If you are an Advaita old salt--read this book. Dennis has done us all a great service in presenting a profound, perrenial truth in a disarmingly easy to digest form. I initially balked at the presentation, as it is admittedly disguised as a self improvement book. Mid-way through the book it became quite obvious that the self-help premise collapses delightfully--that self improvement is an oxymoron. Thank you Dennis for this gem of a book.

Tom Davidson-Marx

 

Order from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

 

 

Extracts from the Book
Summary and Endorsements
List of Contents
1. Mars does not exist
2. What do I want?
3. Money
4. Self-delusion
5. Direct your attention
6. Stuff
 
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Page last updated: 21-Nov-2017