Desire: The Tantric Path to Awakening

Rating:
Summary: Placing Wonder back in the Ordinary
Review: Most books on Tantra today are Westernized versions that have little to do with the original teachings. Daniel Order conveys the essence of Tantra in this excellent book. One of the things I took from this work was the idea of "micropractices" of simple exercises that lead to greater awareness and enjoyment of the present. Such simple things as becoming aware of the breath, touch, and desire a few seconds several times a day have increased my level of awareness and pleasure in life- obviously, these things are so simple we overlook them in our quest for whaterver we are looking for in life. Daniel Order describes his Tantric path as "nothing spectacular...lack[ing] in the exotic, the magickal, the extraordinary.....there was no ritual other than to breath, walk, bathe... to look at the earth, the lichens, the trees, the leaves, common objects; to enter deeply into contact with life, reality." He does discuss the sexual aspects of Tantra but puts it in the framework of the greater goal of simply living and experiencing life in full awareness and freedom. If you are tired of mystical gurus and masters promising you a big bunch of nonsense this book is an excellent place to start finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.