Awake: It's Your Turn Paperback – May 25, 2021

The headline is a little grandiose, but it's hard to summarize what it means to find someone who distills so much of the world's wisdom into something so accessible. Don't expect quick miracles necessarily (we all have to do our own work, no one can do it for us), but if you've been a seeker for most or all of your life, if you've seen so many glimpses of something beyond you, from Rumi to Carl Jung to Buddhist teachings to ayahuasca to IFS therapy (and other shadow work), but maybe you have a "rational scientific mind" and don't want to be fooled or bamboozled by all the woo woo nonsense out there...Finally there's a teacher who has a scientific mind, too -- radically empirical, a medical doctor -- and breaks it down without jargon, without dogma, without asking us to believe anything or trust anything but ourselves. I wouldn't mind if he was making millions off of this, but he's not. He knows that's not what it's about. (If it happens, fine. If not, fine.)His Youtube videos are fantastic, and I've only scratched the surface. I've already listened to this book twice an an Audio book at different stages and got so much out of it both times. I also bought a paperback so I could put physical bookmarks in it for reference.His work is a great service that I can tell he feels called to do and also enjoys. If you have any interest in, ya know, the point of life, Angelo's work is one of my favorite resources I've found, written / produced for everyday modern folks like you and me who feel that ineffable call.

Angelo's Book is a master course in non-dual awakening and provides very accessible and direct methods for facilitating the process in a way that feels authentic, genuine, and worthwhile.I really admire his approach to making his pointers, teachings, and advice accessible by not using spiritually coded language and breaks down the process in a pragmatic way that really emphasizes a raw acceptance of self and reality.This book definitely has accelerated the process I've been working on for the past 5 years and has been a deeply validating and rewarding experience to engage with this book, it has changed my life.

I normally stay away from self-published books but came across the author repeatedly online. Dilullo's down-to-earth approach to the (sometimes gnarly and often misused) topic of awakening is very encouraging and very refreshing. He quickly puts the reader in touch with immediate experience, with the sense of just being--nothing added to, nothing subtracted from experience. He skillfully uses pointers to where most of us get stuck in the process (e.g., getting strongly identified with the mind/intellect or body) and provides hands-on methods for getting unstuck.The book is quite voluminous, and a skilled editor probably would have helped to pare the content down a little (and fixed some typos and other minor issues). But the author is a skilled and thoughtful writer, and some of the repetition may actually help to make pointers and instructions really stick and sink in.To get the full oomph of the book, I'd reckon that most readers would need some additional resources to gain some essential skills in meditation (the author comes from a Zen tradition and so likely had quite a bit of training in concentration and insight techniques) to recognize and work with distractions and other common problems (like sleepiness and restlessness) at a more practical level.Dilullo makes awakening look easy (and in some ways it is--at least to have brief glimpses before concepts and ideas rush back in), and one issue with books like this is that the intellect may quickly conclude "I got it" when the intuitive (or heart/wisdom) mind, which is the actual target of the practice, hasn't got there yet. A minor and probably unavoidable wrinkle to an otherwise remarkable contribution.

I think if you are drawn with existential passion to the book, the book will help you a lot. I didn't understand I was going through an awakening, ironically, because I was putting all my life effort into having one. I had some very intense and uncomfortable intentional efforts to have an awakening, over 6-8 months. But then I had horrible psychosis and a lot of despair, I never thought my feet would find the ground again. And then, after lots of rest and more time, I slowly returned to the parts of myself I once knew, but this time there was no suffering. And I don't know mentally what an awakening is, but I know much better how to handle things in my life. TRE and placing my attention in body, and breath, is immensely helpful and always there. Learning to value and trust and encourage my emotions. Learning to let thoughts go. I feel so so fortunate to have arrived, after pulling arm over arm on the threat that was my gut instinct. And I can finally see why the awakening message is so hard to convey. One thing I wish I knew earlier was that having an awakening was only important to me, but it wasn't important or needed for other people. I can appreciate how awesome other people are exactly as they are, and many people I don't think would benefit or need this book or these practices. But for some people, after experiencing things or maybe just genetics, it is immensely, and divinely helpful and useful. This is medicine from the Gods, and I guess my advice is don't mistake Angelo, or ANY non-duality teacher, for God.