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The Veil

A Cultural History of Awakening

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About this listen

What do ancient India, Tibetan monks, desert mystics, and modern psych wards all have in common? A pattern. One that most people were never taught to see. The Veil: A Cultural History of Awakening is not a spiritual guidebook. It’s not a self-help manual. It’s not even about you — until halfway through, when you realize it is. From Vedanta to Buddhism, Taoism to Gnosticism, shamanism to modern psychiatry, this book traces the global thread of a single idea: That the self is an illusion — and seeing through it is not madness… it’s awakening. No dogma. No doctrine. No pitch. Just what every major tradition once knew — and why forgetting it came at such a cost. If you’ve ever had a moment that cracked reality open — even for a second — this book wasn’t written for you. It was written by someone like you.

©2025 James Johnson (P)2025 James Johnson Religious Studies Spirituality
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