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Many of us think that spiritual awakening is out of the ordinary - an extremely rare state that is practically impossible to attain, unless you're prepared to become a hermit and spend decades in solitude and silence.However, after researching mystical experiences and interviewing people who claim to have had them, psychologist Steve Taylor found that spiritual awakening is far from uncommon. It doesn't just happen to Eastern sages but to seemingly ordinary people in all walks of life - people with conventional jobs, ordinary lives and even those with no background in spiritual traditions or practices.In this book, Taylor explores the different ways in which spiritual awakening can occur and the reasons why it occurs. He uncovers:- The triggers or causes of awakening- The different types of wakefulness: natural, gradual and sudden- What actually happens inside a person's being or psyche when they experience awakening- How awakened people experience the world, and how their relationships, values and goals are different- The difference between fraudulent spiritual teachers and the genuinely awakenedThis book will be of real benefit to those who are either already undergoing the awakening process or who have reached a point of readiness, perhaps as a result of deep turmoil in their lives. Readers may even discover that they have already had awakening experiences without realizing it, or that they have been going through a gradual awakening for some time without recognizing it for what it is.

Steve Taylor is the author of several books on spirituality and psychology, including The Fall and Waking from Sleep. He has also published two books of poetic spiritual reflections, including The Calm Center. He is a senior lecturer in psychology at Leeds Beckett University. Since 2011, he has appeared annually in Mind Body Spirit magazine's list of 'the world's 100 most spiritually influential living people'. www.steventaylor.com