Licking the Razor's Edge (2015)

It is important to remember – especially in industrialized, “first world” nations – that
being addicted to any behavior is actually a reasonable response to the oppressive world
in which we live. In such lands, people are constantly bombarded both by a mass media
that tells them that they are insufficient, as well as by an “intelligentsia” (their teachers,
preachers, saints & gurus) who tell them that they “could be so much more”.
On one side we are branded “naive” & “ignorant”, while on the other we are persuaded to
strive for “personal growth” and “self improvement” …
*We are told to be afraid – that enemies lurk in every nation and that criminals wait
around every corner.
*We are told that we are poor; that we could have so much more – a better job, a better
home, a better life.
*And we are told that we are “lost”; that we could also BE so much more – more joyful,
more peaceful, more successful, more “enlightened”.
Realizing this, it really is no wonder that we tend to resort to one addiction or another to
escape from such an innately unwinnable arena.
And yet, even though our addictions are understandable forms of escape, they are also
self-destructive ones. In-deed, running from stress only allows our stress to escalate,
bandaging sadness only allows our despair to fester, and hiding from fear only allows our
anxieties to intensify. Our addictive behaviors, however justifiable they might be,
ultimately bring us more of the very suffering they were enacted to alleviate in the first
place.
And so this book was born – a humble attempt, not to force freedom upon you (for we
each must depart from captivity of our own accord), but rather to provide those seeking
liberation with a lamp to light their path thereto.
More than a few of you were put off by the imagery of its title picture, a distaste with
which I can certainly empathize. And yet the imagery of licking honey from a razor’s
edge was both consciously summoned and purpose-fully placed – symbolizing not only
how we injure ourselves while engaging self-gratifying activities, but also how important
it is for us to return to paying the closest of attentions to our choices & deeds – both to
what we are doing as well as why we are doing it.
In-deed, it is only by acutely attending to the intentions that inspire our choices (as well
as the actions that follow them) that we can leave the fear-full world of the subconscious
behind, and thereby enliven a fresh existence imbued with a courage freshly empowered
and a calm freshly renewed.
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