In Awakening in the Paradox of Darkness, Gary Tzu illuminates a path
from within the dark realms to awakening into non-dual being. By
allowing dreaded experiences such as fear, trauma, exhaustion,
abandonment, nothingness, death and non-existence—to serve as a portal
into non-dual transformation, we discover the light within the darkness,
revealing the bedazzling paradoxical mystery of existence. In this
book, Gary invites readers on a healing journey into the heart of their
darkest experiences, for it is there, in the midst of their most
profound dread, that non-dual awakening lies.
Gary Tzu is a non-dual psychologist and the director of the Addictions Counselling Program at University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. Initially trained as a lawyer, Gary’s world collapsed into existential crisis at the age of twenty-three, and he felt a call to make the transformational journey into non-dual awakening. He made this calling his career path, completing a master’s degree and doctorate in psychology with a focus on the integration of Western transpersonal psychology and Eastern contemplative traditions. For Gary, working through dark realm experiences such as fear, trauma, death, non-existence, nothingness and aloneness was pivotal to his awakening into nondual being. Now that he has found the light within the profound darkness, Gary has come to rest in a natural state of being—in non-judgemental accord with existence. Gary enjoys the celebratory ordinariness of his life with his wife, Marcia, and going for long daily runs in the coulees. He maintains a private non-dual psychotherapy practice, working with both individuals and groups—this complements the passionate legacy of his published academic work and his editorship of Paradoxica: Journal of Non-Dual Psychology. He also hosts the annual Paradoxica Non-Dual Psychology Conference.