Keith Martin-Smith

Awakening is not what you thought.These pages explore the idea that it is possible to be liberated from the suffering of this world, but that the path is a paradoxical one of embracing your ego even as you let it go. If you seek true liberation and freedom from the seemingly endless strife of life, you're in the right place.Spiritual traditions promise liberation but too often ignore the reality of psychological shadows and the effects of childhood trauma. Psychotherapy promises peace, but our egos are incapable of generating it for any length of time. Division seems wound into the human condition. And our world is more divided than at any time in living memory. We are at war, both with each other and with ourselves. So how do we integrate the deepest and wisest of spiritual traditions with what we know to be true about our culture, our minds, and our physiology? How do we find liberation from suffering, without ignoring trauma, through the insights gained in a world that has come face-to-face with #metoo and George Floyd?This book is an exploration of how, and where, we need to look.

They were told they could be anything they wanted. To do what they loved, and the money would follow. To follow their bliss.So what happened? Logan Downing trusted that with hard work, some talent, and a little luck he could have it all: fame, fortune, even the girl. Emboldened by the dirty, daring world of mid-90s New York City and spurred on by his older brother Franklin and the photographer Alejandro -- outsized characters embracing their own creativity and passion -- he launched himself onto the artist's path.And he succeeded. Wildly. Logan's first novel got a big-deal publisher as he and the girl fell deeply in love.Yet when we catch up with present-day Logan, now in his early 40s, something, somewhere has gone terribly wrong. He's battling alcoholism, insomnia, and a decade-long creative rut. As his claustrophobic job and dying relationship threaten to extinguish what's left of his artistic passion, he can't resist writing about that magical time in New York City.Ultimately he's forced to face an unspeakable tragedy that occurred at the pinnacle of his success. The harder Logan tries to avoid it, the more it leaches into his present, until the undertow of unmetabolized grief begins to pull him apart.'Only Everything' explores art and ambition, love and loss, privilege and entitlement. It reveals how even the most beautiful of dreams can create unexpected pain, along with the possibility of redemption.