BookLife Talks with Patrick Paul Garlinger
A sponsored Q&A with the author of 'Endless Awakening'

Garlinger’s latest book, Endless Awakening, was praised by BookLife Reviews, which said that “seekers ready to embrace the paradoxes of human living will find great ideas to chew on here.” We spoke with Garlinger about the concept behind Endless Awakening and who he thinks would benefit the most from it.

What started you on your spiritual journey years ago?

My journey began with yoga and meditation, followed by an introduction to Zen Buddhism, where I became aware of my mind’s repetitive thinking. Then I began to meet psychics, healers, and divine mother figures, who introduced me to the energetic world of spirit and the unseen. In retrospect, life opened me up in small ways until it cracked me wide open through a dramatic series of experiences, some of which I talk about in the book’s chapter on the “dark night of the soul.”

What’s the story behind Endless Awakening?

Many people adopt a linear approach to the spiritual journey, from awakening to growth to mastery. They treat the path as a binary shift from duality and separation to oneness and unity. They can get stuck measuring the gap between who they are now and who they hope to be someday. Endless Awakening asks the reader to see the spiritual path in nonlinear terms and from the perspective of paradox. All of us are still healing and already whole, separate and one, perfect and imperfect, all at the same time. Another trend is that people strive to reach a blissful, ethereal state of being, and they struggle with messy emotions, conflict in relationships, and the demands of the material world. For me, the path is to see the magic in both the mundane and the transcendent, which means accepting that we move between those realms for the rest of our lives. There’s no end to awakening.

How is this book different from your other works on spirituality?

My first book was an introduction to ideas and practices like energy and meditation, and then I published a trilogy of channeled works, which can be dense and demanding, about the nature of consciousness, time, and identity. In this work, I wanted to distill some of those insights, but in a voice that was grounded and human. I sought a tone that was accessible and lyrical, that weaved wisdom with personal experience. I included references to literature, film, and pop culture to show that spirituality doesn’t have to be didactic or esoteric.

Who is your ideal reader and why?

My ideal reader is grounded, logical, and intellectual yet knows there is more to life and is driven to discover the secrets of the universe. They’re open to the new and unexpected. Like me, they’re an adventurer and investigator in spirit. I don’t write for someone who dismisses this world as an illusion to be ignored or thinks that being on a spiritual journey makes them superior to the rest of humanity. That kind of thinking is a version of the consciousness that has created the world we are trying to heal today. My ideal reader is someone who wants to balance and blend their mind and heart and, in so doing, meet the world through both their material and their spiritual selves.

What’s next for you?

I’m developing a workbook to give greater structure to the ideas and practices discussed in Endless Awakening. I also have two full-length projects in development. The first addresses the shadow side of today’s spiritual world, which is not, as some would like to believe, all “love and light.” The second is a book of spiritual inspiration that takes the form of letters to parts of my life, including parts I imagined and hoped for that were never realized. It’s inspired by an essay I wrote last year titled “A Letter to the Child I’ll Never Have.” I still have channeled writings that have yet to see the light of day, including a book on the nature of the soul and its journey. As a former lawyer, I’m looking at ways to share this work with different audiences who might benefit, like lawyers and social change agents.