Falling into Grace summary

If you’ve ever been in love or felt emotions of deep awe or wonder, you’ll know how hard it can be to put those feelings into words. Sure, we can try to express these huge sensations, but the words we have can feel inadequate, and none comes close to communicating the actual experience of feeling your heart open.

In the same way, the image we have of ourselves and others is just that: an image. A concept. 

Have you ever wished a night could last forever? Or hoped for a cloudless day? No matter how much you want things to go a certain way, you’ll find that in life, the sun rises when it’s meant to, and the rain comes whether you’re planning a picnic or not. 

While most of us struggle to accept our inherent lack of control, there are times in life when we have no choice but to face reality. Something you want doesn’t happen, or something you’re dreading does, and you realize, Oh no! My demands are not being met. The illusion of control – and the sense of security that comes with it – is shattered.

Let’s say you’re walking down the street in a wonderful mood, when you see a sign that reminds you of an unpleasant memory. Maybe a word brings to mind something unkind someone once said to you. Even if this incident happened many years ago, the memory may strongly affect your present mood. As you think it over, your subconscious is saying, That shouldn’t have happened.

The key message here is: You can choose to stop believing the thoughts that make you suffer.

Imagine someone told you you could end suffering instantly – all you have to do is to give up everything you think. That includes your opinions and beliefs. Even believing in your own identity – or what the author calls your “conceptual certainty.” You have to give all of this up, but do that and you’ll be free of suffering forever. 

For most people, giving up everything they think would be an unacceptable deal, even if they’re told peace and happiness lie on the other side of the bargain. But as we begin to see how egoic consciousness traps us in suffering, cracks may start to appear in our relationship with the world.

Years ago, the author suffered a great loss when his beloved dog developed epilepsy and died. Having lost his life companion, he was overcome with a grief he had never felt before. At the burial ceremony he organized, he got up in front of friends and family to give a eulogy for his departed pet. 

At this moment, his grief was so immense that he gave into it completely, weeping through his speech. That’s when something unexpected happened: right in the middle of this immense sorrow, right where his heart was in his chest, Adyashanti sensed a tiny pinprick of light. Suddenly, he was overcome by a feeling of unprecedented peace.

Imagine you’re on a path. There are two directions you can take: forward or backward. Ahead, there is everything that you seek – from material possessions to peace, happiness, love, and fulfillment. Behind you, there is the opposite of what you seek: nothing.

In order to escape suffering and attain true peace and happiness, you must do what the author’s teacher instructed him to do, and take the backward step, not the forward step. In other words, you need to turn around and stop looking for satisfaction on the outside.