Here’s a brief list of resources, these being mostly links to people who have either directly or through their work aided me in some way. Being listed here is my best-guess to their awakened state, I cannot know, but if I had doubts they would not be listed. Also, these are not recommendations: the view from here may be different in many details.
Of course, this does not imply any reciprocal status, nor any endorsement by anyone listed of what is said on this site. Indeed, they may disagree/have disagreed with any or all of it!
The Living
The first list is people I have met and who I am confident have, to some real degree, awoken. Go and sit with them and see for yourself.
Roger Linden — website
Tony Parsons — website
Richard Sylvester — website
Tony and Richard are directly in the Advaita non-duality line. I am not in the Advaita line, nor in agreement with some of its conclusions, but despite that Richard has been very helpful to me.
The second list is people I have not met, some of whom I may have corresponded with, but whom I am more than reasonably sure have awoken — ‘by their fruits ye shall know them’:
Nick Roach — website
I have not met Nick, but found him as he had the same main teacher as me, Barry Long. He has travelled further into Barry’s teachings than I have. I am confident of his authenticity.
Jed McKenna — books website
Amara Strand — website
Amara’s work has been very helpful to me.
The Dead
Now to some dead people. It’s essential to be careful here: as pointed out elsewhere, they cannot correct any misapprehension of their work, and we have seen what that leads to, over historical epochs.
But their work is sufficiently important to override that — with appropriate caution taken if anyone seeks to interpret their work to you (including this author, of course).
J Krishnamurti — homepage
JK was one of the most famous teachers in the last century. He will never tell you what to do, which people find frustrating. But that’s the point.
Barry Long — website
His books or recordings ‘Meditation – a Foundation Course’/’Start Meditating Now” and ‘How to Stop Thinking’ are highly recommended as the best approach to these tasks known to me, and the source material out of which the recommendations here grew. There is much more material. I do not agree with all he says, but he helped me enormously. He held nothing back.
Douglas Harding — website
Although DH died some time ago, I can confidently say that the courses offered by Richard Lang accurately represent DH’s work, and that they are worthwhile to attend.
Recommended introductory reading: ‘On Having No Head’.
Bernadette Roberts — link
Bernadette Roberts (no relation) was a Christian mystic. She is one of the few or only Christian mystics in modern times (to my knowledge) that has gone the whole way through enlightenment and beyond. Much of what she writes is worth reading even if — as with the author — you do not share her religion, as she is very clear. Recommended reading: ‘What Is Self?: A Study of the Spiritual Journey in Terms of Consciousness’
Meister Eckhart — link
Perhaps the greatest Christian mystic, again worth reading even if you are not in the Christian way, for he transcends all such categories.
CS Lewis — the Screwtape Letters
The conceit of the story and the emphasis on Christianity in no way obscure a most brilliant and insightful treatment of what the false self is, and how it fools you, although the author does not idetify it in that way.
General Resources
You may find some interesting interviews at Conscious TV although they also include quite a lot of people who I would not identify as awakened.
Not comprehensive!
This list is of course in no way complete: nor is it a list of recommendations. It’s short and to the point, and offers some different viewpoints. There are many other people and enormous amounts of material that perhaps could, or should, be included, but then it would lose focus.
If I have missed out your favourite ‘guru’ or local ‘awakened’ one, then do please accept my apologies. However I am restricting myself to recommendations where I can speak from my own experience as to the usefulness of the resource. You surely can make your own list.