Imperience

A far-reaching study explores pathways to awakening absolute consciousness.

As a student, practitioner, and teacher of “meditation for the purpose of awakening intuitive insight into the nature of consciousness” for 45 years, the author draws on significant meditative experience and spiritual understanding. This short but densely packed debut volume sets out an informative journey toward the awakening of spiritual “imperience,” while pointing out the many obstacles along the way. The study is divided into four sections: “The Domain of Absolute Consciousness,” “The Relational Being,” “A Spiritual Life,” and “Understanding the Heart of Consciousness.” Despite tackling a decidedly complex, amorphous subject, the approach becomes refreshingly easy to follow. The author draws an analogy between readers’ disconnection from absolute or divine consciousness and the attempt to see the hidden image in computer-generated 3-D poster art. He notes that the image “located in the third dimension” only reveals itself when a reader’s focus softens, and the individual is not looking for the obvious. Similarly, when searching for absolute consciousness, readers must soften their gazes. This leads into a thorough unboxing of the term “imperience,” which is, in short, a reader’s intuitive “experience” of consciousness. The author is particularly skilled in subtly leading the reader to contemplate the nature of the inner self: “We might delight in the first cookie we eat, but our feeling will change by the tenth. The cookie is much the same; our desire is probably not.” Again, this is a particularly digestible approach to comprehending the difficult question of human wants. Knud-Hansen’s discussion of the limitations of scientific study may prove contentious for some: “Science cannot be the ultimate authority on the origin of life or its nature because it cannot explain, define, or quantify consciousness—only the material cosmos….The cosmos did not create consciousness. Absolute consciousness created the cosmos.” This provocative statement demands further qualification, which is insufficiently offered. Nevertheless, this is an expansive, learned study with a focus beyond the realms of scientific proof. It will certainly appeal to those who have already begun to explore spiritual consciousness, along with those wishing to begin the journey.

A spiritually transporting, thought-provoking volume.