Publications

In this distinctive series of dialogues, Douglas Harding, author, philosopher, and mystic, discusses the fundamental issue of life: how to awaken to the natural freedom that is our true self. Through a unique series of ‘exercises,’ Harding guides us to where we can clearly perceive our original nature. From this vantage point, we see that who we really are is not limited to our face and the self behind the face but is instead opened out into the limitless ‘No-Face,’ the infinite and eternal essence that is both absolutely free and at the same time identified with all existence. In spirited, intimate conversations as well as public talks, Face to No-Face offers us a special opportunity to come to know this beloved philosopher in an informal and often humorous setting. Throughout, the rediscovery of ‘oneself’ by oneself is invariably the principal theme, and Harding articulates the ‘way home’ in a manner that is always refreshingly authentic and original.

At seventeen, following the directions of the philosopher and mystic Douglas Harding, David Lang pointed his finger at his own face and discovered he didn’t have one. Instead, he found himself staring at nothing. But it was a very special nothing-a nothing filled with everything. Taking this revelation as his starting point, Lang shows how the vision of nothingness—the Desert—turned his life upside down. In image-rich language, he draws the reader into the Alice-in-Wonderland world of “the given.” You will see buildings and trees that move, a man who expands and shrinks like a balloon, and a room built around a black hole. You will witness scenes of joy, wonder, confusion, and despair. And you will find the Flower, that mysterious and profound destination which adds everything—and nothing—to the vision of the Desert. In the appendix, Lang gives explicit directions so that you can experience the book’s key insights yourself.

Is a Text a Human Being? applies a non-dual approach to composition and reading theory. Challenging the conventional model in which reader and writer are separate, the author presents an alternate model of the self in which mind is shared. He then applies this model to the experiences of reading and writing. The book originated as a master’s thesis.