Meet Tim Freke
I heart Tim Freke and I’ll happy shout it from the rooftops.
If you’ve not heard of him, er…where have you been? He’s a ‘stand-up philosopher’ and in his awesome stand-up performances and life-changing seminars he shares profound ideas and practical techniques to help participants taste the ecstasy of waking up to oneness and big love.
I am ALL about the BIG LOVE.
As well as that, he writes controversial, big-idea books that I love like Lucid Living and How Long is Now? and he also lives in my favourite place in the whole wide world, Glastonbury. Come meet him, you’ll love him too.
Tim, what’s a ‘stand-up philosopher’ exactly?
Being a ‘philosopher’ can sound a bit dry and I wanted to make philosophy fun and sexy. I see myself as reinvigorating the ancient tradition in which philosophers were travelling performers who wandered from place to place, challenging people’s ‘commonsense’ assumptions and opening their minds to new ways of seeing the world. I want to make philosophy fashionable again, so people care about what they think as much as they do about how they look, because changing the way we think transforms how we feel about life.
In your new book – which I LOVE btw, you talk about being ‘deep awake’ what do you mean by that?
Well, throughout my life I’ve found that it’s possible to experience an ultra-conscious state, which I call being ‘deep awake,’ in which we see that, although we seem to be separate individuals, when in reality we are one. And this realisation is accompanied by an awesome experience I call ‘big love,’ because when we know that we’re one with all, we find ourselves in love with all. When we’re deep awake our everyday experience of life is transformed in surprising ways. The numbness we call ‘normality’ disappears, and we become overwhelmed with wonder at the breathtaking magnificence of the universe. Our ordinary lives are transformed into an exhilarating love affair with life.
How did you discover this deep awake-ness?
When I was young, I always felt that life was strange, like the grown-ups were always pretending. I had so many big questions and it was like there was this big elephant in the room that no one was talking about. Then I had my first spontaneous ‘deep awake’ experience. I was twelve years old, sitting on a hill overlooking my small hometown, whilst musing on the big questions of life. It was intensely beautiful, and from that day I was on a quest to understand what had happened to me, so that I could find a way back to the experience. It’s a state I’ve come to know well and return to regularly. And, since my teens, I’ve found that when I become ‘deep awake’ so do others around me, because state of consciousness are contagious.
‘Big love’ – now, that’s what we’re talking about – why is love so important to you?
Love has always been the most important thing in my life. It was the all-embracing ‘big love’ I felt as a boy during my first ‘deep awake’ experience that made me begin my journey of awakening. It was the personal affection I felt as a father that led me to embrace my personal life, rather than reject the world by becoming a monk. It’s the unconditional compassion I feel everyday that makes me want to help create a ‘deep awake’, world, full of conscious, kind individuals. For me, it’s love that makes life worth living. Only love fills the hole in my soul.
When we live lucidly we start to experience the ‘real world’ of meaning, miracles and magic – AMAZING! – I want to know more…
Well, when we dream lucidly, we can influence what happens in our dream. People often ask me if, in the same way, when we live lucidly we can affect what happens in the dream of life. And my answer is ‘yes’. I’ve found that the more lucid I am, the more the line between my inner world and the outer world becomes blurred. I no longer experience them as separate, and my fantasies become reality. My intentions shape the way the dream of life unfolds. This is what the ancients called ‘magic.’ In the past I’ve been reticent to talk about this much because I don’t want to become associated with the superficial wishful-thinking that gets passed off as spirituality these days. As a philosopher, I pride myself on being sceptical, but I can’t deny that on many occasions my intentions have miraculously manifested as realities, and this has driven me to explore how and why this happens.
What’s your life motto?
Love. It’s the one thing I’m sure of.
Tim, you’re kick-ass and inspiring – do you have bad days and how do you deal?
No one is perfect and if anyone says that they’re happy ALL of the time, they’re lying. The idea of perfection is incredibly superficial, and actually, it’s bullshit. You need to be authentic, admit when you’ve messed up and that you have bad days and we can only do that when we honour our deepest self in all it’s vulnerable , slightly flawed, lovable form.
What’s your biggest life lesson?
I’ve worked with people who are dying, and what really matters when you’re in the last part of your life, is the love that they gave and the love that they received. It’s all about the love.
One last thing … how long is now?
I love this question because it messes with my melon. If I look at it one way, ‘now’ is an instant so short I can’t measure it. It’s gone before I’ve had time to register it. But if I look at it another way, it’s always now. Now is forever. The present is timeless. So now is both too brief to grasp and so constant that it has no beginning or end. That’s an example of what I call the ‘polarity paradox’ that underlies all of life. Understanding this is the secret to being deep awake.
If you’d like to taste the ‘deep awake’ state, then come to this life-changing workshop and join other open-minded, big-hearted explorers of life, interested in discovery, connection and laughter. Tim will share his groundbreaking philosophy of ‘lucid living’ and teach you powerful techniques that will allow you to commune with others in ‘big love’.
When: 27 May 2010, 11.30am – 3.30pm
Where: Royal Horticultural Hall, Greycoat Street, Victoria SW1P 2QD
Cost: £30
Booking: Online at: www.mindbodyspirit.co.uk
