Tami Simon asks Adyashanti what he was like as a kid. Someone once asked his father the same thing, and his father said: he came in smiling. He was a happy child, odd from one angle and completely normal from another. He roller skated, then skateboarded, then unicycled, then raced bikes, then ran ultramarathons. Where other kids would skate for a while and go home, he would skate eight hours a day to see how far it could be perfected. Every pursuit was a search for the boundary. When he found spirituality, it was the same instinct, except there was no end to the edge. The ultimate version, he says, of mountaineering up a mountain that does not have a top. How cool is that. By the time he was ten, he had what he called one of those days. He would wake up in a different state, a unitive one, and find himself staring at flowers or a pot because he could feel that something in him and something in them was intimately connected. At school he would be drawn to look at people, because their eyes felt like a doorway to the same connection, until he realised it freaks people out to be looked at that closely by a ten-year-old. So he learned to conceal it. It would last a day, sometimes three or four, and then disappear as quietly as it came, and he would wake up a little boy again. His conscious spiritual life began at about twenty, when he picked up a book by Alan Watts on Zen, full of koans and stories he could not understand. But from the neck down, something in him was saying yes. The next day, something had exploded inside him that had not been there before. He went around for years asking what it was. He knew the entire course of his life had shifted, that it was going to be about something completely different from what he had assumed, and all he had done was read a little book. He was still living at home, and he went to his mother and told her his whole life trajectory had changed and nothing was going to be the way he thought. Years later he asked why she had not freaked out. She said she just trusted him. Whatever was going on, it was what he said it was, it was important to him and real to him, and she did not need to know anything more than that. Want to go deeper with Adyashanti? Join Sounds True for more teachings like this. Get your first month FREE at https://bit.ly/4ctecMn Subscribe to Sounds True's YouTube Channel ► https://bit.ly/SubscribeSTYT Sounds True is a mission-driven learning and media company, and a recognized leader in wellbeing, personal growth, and spiritual transformation. Partnering with the world’s foremost wisdom teachers and best-selling authors, the company reaches millions worldwide with its unique programs, digital learning experiences, and worldwide events. The company also features a variety of original series, weekly shows, and live online experiences on Sounds True One, its global platform and community with members across more than 125 countries. Sounds True is a Public Benefit Corporation and also the home of the Sounds True Foundation. Connect with us: ▪️Facebook: http://bit.ly/2XFIIeE ▪️Instagram: http://bit.ly/2UlEoiH ▪️Website: http://bit.ly/2tOl02d