How much of your waking time are you fully "awake?" On the other hand, how often do you stumble through the day on autopilot, half-asleep and out of contact with yourself, instead of feeling connected and alive?In this astounding book, Steve Taylor suggests that our normal consciousness is really a kind of "sleep" from which we sometimes "wake up" into a more intense and complete reality. He provides what is perhaps the first-ever clear explanation of higher states of consciousness, or "awakening experiences."This work delves into: the methods we human beings have used throughout history to induce awakening experiences, including meditation, sex, sports, psychedelic drugs, and sleep deprivation; how higher states of consciousness were normal and natural to some of the world's peoples (and still are, in some cases); and how we can make "wakefulness" our normal state again.By fully explaining awakening experiences, the author makes them much more accessible, which may lead to a revolution in our psychological development as human beings