Writing a review for this book is a little hard: I have followed Rodney's teachings for almost a decade. I've read all his books, listened to his talks and followed his meditations instructions, so I'm pretty familiar with how he lays the Dharma out. In one sense that makes me the perfect reviewer for this book - in another, not so much: I already know what's coming. His last book: Awakening, I consider as close to a perfect book and I felt, coming into this one, a bit of trepidation; after all, if that one was perfect this one would either be not as good or pretty close but be the same material remixed or reshuffled. What we get is not remixed material though and the book goes much farther and much deeper than Awakening does. It also feels like a much more personal book. That said, this is most likely an advanced book, or for someone who has some significant meditation under their belt.

The book starts out as interpretation of Satipatthana Sutta. But that's really just a vehicle for the topics that are covered: which is the path to awakening through the body, feelings, the mind and the Formless itself. The verses to the Sattipatthana Sutta are covered, but not in excruciating detail. What is covered in detail is the meaning behind the words from someone who has been involved in the Dharma for 40-some odd years. While everyone else is teaching the Sattipatthana Sutta as effortful mindfulness of daily activities with lots of striving, Rodney is teaching us to go in the other direction - to let go of who we are and what we think is going on. His explanations of the way we believe our chattering mind, get sidetracked and sabotage ourselves cannot be found anywhere else in such detail.

The exercises contained inside are outstanding and will cause a shift in your perception of self and the world. There are few books that have exercises this good - granted, you actually have to do them, reading them won't help all that much. These are not exercises that you would find in your basic mindfulness class, these are designed to move you out of your comfort zone and into the Formless. And they will do just that.

One part that I was surprised about was the coverage of Nibbana and the experience of cessation. The only other book that I've found that covered cessation in such detail is Rob Burbea's Seeing That Frees. I've felt for years that Rodney has beat around the bush in talking about cessation, but in the Buddhist community this topic has come up over and over again and it's good that it's covered here as in what it is, why it's important and what does it have to do with self and awakening at all. If you came looking for straight talk about Nibbana you won't be disappointed.

Another area that I was surprised was covered so well was emotions. This section is outstanding. Rodney makes no bones about emotions - you're going to have them, no matter how "free" you think you are. If you're not having them you're either dead or you're suppressing them. Obviously they are a big deal and he explains, in detail, how to work with them. The only other place I've seen that deals with emotions in the same way is the Focusing community (Eugene Gendlin, Ann Weiser Cornell). This section is a must have for advanced practitioners since that's where most of us get derailed or even blindsided at times.

I've had lots of favorite spiritual books over the years, lord knows I have tons, but there is a very short list of ones that have value. There is an even shorter list of ones that are practice manuals and will actually help you. There is an even shorter list of ones that have value and are manuals and will actually cause that shift into the Formless/Unconditioned/WhateverYouWishToNameIt. This is one of those. It's an absolute masterpiece.