Instinct for Freedom: Finding Liberation Through Living

Alan Clements is an author activist performing artist and one of the first Americans to become a Buddhist monk in the country of Burma (Myanmar) where he lived for years training in intensive mindfulness meditation and existential Buddhist psychology. Since leaving Burma he has become a spiritual maverick working for global human rights and sharing his contemporary understanding of liberation to audiences around the world.After decades of leading retreats Instinct for Freedom is radical book of personal and planetary exploration a visionary blend of adventurous autobiography self-inquiry and independent thinking. Here Alan presents what he calls World Dharma an approach to personal development that mirrors the narrative of his visionary life. He gives voice to an essential calling that is common to all people -- a world dharma based in one precious human value: freedom the liberation from fear ignorance and dogma and the elevation of dignity conscience and beauty.For Clements freedom is rooted in real life experience in holding lifes complexities in balance with its wondrous gifts and in the transformational power of relationships with other people and with the world. Exploring the nature of consciousness and our place in the mysterious cosmos may be the key to our freedom he says. In detailing the early years of his Dharma life living in silence in a Burmese monastery Clements presents a rare beautiful and nuanced account of the actual experience of intensive mindfulness meditation and what it can offer.Yet Clementss approach is not a doctrine. It is an intuitive process realized through deep inner trust gentle self-inquiry and naturalness of spirit and expresses itself in daily acts of courage and love. No amount of spiritual practice or meditative training can adequately prepare us for life he says. We must find our liberation through living in love in this very moment now in whatever circumstances we face.Clements has been interviewed on ABC National Talk to America CBC VOA BBC the New York Times Time and Newsweek magazines the Sydney Morning Herald Utne Reader Yoga Journal and scores of other media worldwide. He also delivered a keynote at Amnesty Internationals 30th Year Anniversary at the John Ford Theater in LA. You can learn more about Alans work on his website: www.AlanClements.com.Alans life is material for a legend. An intellectual artist freedom fighter former Buddhist monk he shares his insights and experience with a passion rarely seen and even more rarely lived. Hell make you think and feel in ways that challenge your entire way of being. -- Catherine Ingram In the Footsteps of Gandhi and Passionate Presence