Awakened Relating

Subtitled 'a guide to embodying undivided love in intimate relationships', this lucid exposition lives up to its title and can be recommended to any couple seeking to bring more consciousness into their relationship in terms of both being and living together. Undivided Love 'is the energy, or conscious life force, that permeates all of existence' with the implication that the other is in fact the Self, that a couple represents two expressions of one Being. A critical implication is that what we are already what we are looking for: love already exists within us and is evoked by the other. So the challenge is to relate to each other from Being and to transcend the conditioning of the ego as the source of separation, unworthiness, victimhood and blame so easily projected onto the other. Relational wounding has to be healed within relationship and must be faced rather than avoided. Sacred sexuality recognises that this energy holds the same intent in all of life, namely to return to our primordial unity and experience the wonders of our shared Being. In this respect, there is an excellent chart comparing conventional with awakened sexuality, moving from doing and performance towards being. The non-dual philosopher Rupert Spira give some useful insights in terms of happiness being an inside job and helping readers become intimate not only with our partners but with the whole of life. The final chapter is on awakened activism, reminding us that we all need to serve something larger than ourselves. A very worthwhile read.