Eloquent Recent Reviews of Beyond Recovery
Stop Suffering – Find Clarity NOW
5.0 out of 5 stars
By Joby Bishop on April 6, 2017
Format: Audible Audio Edition
No single experience has affected my life like listening to Fred Davis’s watershed book “Beyond Recovery” since reading the landmark “Be Here Now” by Ram Dass over 30 years ago.
First of all, I am an alcoholic, and I am not looking for an excuse to stop attending AA meetings. While AA saved my life, I do not say this out of a sense of loyalty to my friends in AA, and do not intend to stop attending AA meetings. As Fred points out, groups like this are a rarity that provide us with an opportunity be with like-minded seekers, and they engender ineffably “magical” experiences I have only found elsewhere at Grateful Dead concerts, “Burning Man,” and good meditation retreats (but with less expense and far less inconvenience). Opportunities in AA are abundant, and this book is NOT about discarding those opportunities; rather, it uses the long-effective and now medically and psychiatrically acknowledged 12-step guidelines as concrete touchstones for the simple but rather challenging-to-articulate spiritual teachings that Fred offers.
Remarkably, Fred guides us to clarity WITH clarity. I have always been a seeker and mystic, and have sampled and, indeed, invested huge chunks of my life into every esoteric path the universe has presented as an option to me, from ingesting entheogens, to practicing Vipassana and Zen meditation, to indulging in yogic austerities – particularly pranayama and Kundalini awakening exercises. Nothing has “hit the nail on the head” like “Beyond Recovery.” It’s as if everything in my 51 years led to and was encapsulated by Fred’s teaching. For the past 30 years, Ram Dass came the closest to articulating for me that which can’t be articulated, only experienced. More recently, Adyashanti has resonated deeply with me in a similar way, and searching YouTube for his talks is what “led” me to Fred. All I can say is “wow.”
The time has arrived; please join us in the ever-present Now awareness of the One thing happening. Fred will show you how to achieve freedom from the bondage of self, and keep it.
After “Beyond Recovery,” check out “The Book of Undoing,” which applies the principles of the teaching by illustrating the discovery process through the presentation of a one-to-one session between Fred and one of his clients. By putting yourself in the place of the interviewee, Fred will point you through direct inquiry to the undeniable recognition of the One thing happening. It will cut through your incessant inner dialogue like a knife through butter. You need not sit cross-legged in an ashram or monastery for 10 years. “The Book of Undoing” is an essential, pragmatic follow-on to “Beyond Recovery.” I am so deeply grateful for Fredness.
Joby Bishop, Bethesda, MD, April 6, 2017
Not just for people in recovery!
5.0 out of 5 stars
By JRW on July 26, 2017
Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase
Not by any means just for people in recovery from (conventional) addictions! This is a book for those addicted to duality. Very well written, full of practical tips/ideas and very no-nonsense discussion of what it means to be addicted to duality and how to get out of it. Fred’s teaching style is very unconventional, even when compared with “neo-Advaitins,” but for the life of me I can’t understand why others are not taking a similar approach. I guess they will when it’s needed (reality is what it is).
If you’re new to Fred’s teaching, I recommend this book + Awaken Now to start with. They complement each other well.
The only problem with this book is a manufacturing one. The covers on this book (and some of Fred’s other books) tend to curl up. Maybe the paper stock used for the covers is not thick enough? (I’m not a book manufacturer.) Hopefully more recent printing runs don’t have this problem. But buy this book regardless — the contents are gems!
Great read…
5.0 out of 5 stars
By Wayne Mueller on February 4, 2017
Format: Kindle Edition
I’m deeply grateful.
