Great Sweetening: Life After Thought

Jan Frazier experienced a radical transformation of consciousness at age fifty, in 2003. Her teachings are drawn from direct experience, relying on no particular tradition or set of beliefs. "The Great Sweetening: Life After Thought" invites the spiritual seeker to ask "What am I?" Am I what my ego and mind tell me I am? Or am I consciousness itself? This collection of essays explores how the sense of self is created by thought patterns, memory, and beliefs. Frazier gently shows how the ego uses the mind to keep this self seeming real and worthy of the enormous attention it receives. She offers helpful guidance about how to relate to mental activity so that painful thoughts no longer imprison. The compelling reality of the self thus begins to soften, making it possible to sense the larger reality within every person.

The profound peace that is universally longed for is innate to our humanity. It's only because the mind-made self seems to be what we are that this sense of well-being is not realized, not experienced in moment-to-moment life.

Frazier's first book, "When Fear Falls Away: The Story of a Sudden Awakening" (Weiser Books, 2007), is an account of her awakening, as it unfolded over the first eighteen months. "The Freedom of Being: At Ease with What Is" (Weiser Books, 2012) offers guidance toward the reduction of suffering and the prospect of radical freedom. Both books are available in paperback and eBook. "Opening the Door: Jan Frazier Teachings on Awakening" is an eBook collection of essays on the nature of spiritual awakening. The book opens the reader's awareness to the possibility of a richly human life, beyond what appears possible to the ego and the mind. The teachings point to unresisting present-moment attention, where the truth of existence is known.