Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
Did not care for this. It reads like a doctoral thesis and while informative, it is not especially warm or spiritual. Author uses "big words" and "wordy phrases." I consider myself a fan of words and read widely, and this was still a tad confusing and thus offputting to me. Why state something in the most difficult way possible? Who is the audience? Who is meant to be impressed?
So nothing wrong with the information, but it's presentation is left wanting.
So nothing wrong with the information, but it's presentation is left wanting.
Wow. I loved this book. It was fascinating and well-planned out by chapter. This is such trippy spirituality and it's right down my alley. Some of my favorite parts: the concept of "kenosis" (letting go), nonduality, Welcoming prayer, meekness, and Mary Magdalene as the example to follow.
"Welcoming" prayer when something happens unexpected:
The first step, “focus (or sink in)," anchors you solidly in the realm of sensation. The instructions are very clear that, when knocked off course by an emotional or physical upset, you immediately become present to the upset as physical sensation in your body. There are no stories and commentaries and no instructions (at this point) to shift the physical energy, only to stay present to it. This all-important first step ensures that there will be no mental dissociation-one piece of the mind commenting on another, the usual bệte noire of witnessing, The attention shifts lower in the body and is carried by sensation, the true seat of inner witnessing. In the second step - welcoming- you unconditionally accept the reality of this sensation sharing the Now with you: be it physical pain, mental pain, emotional distress, or giddy self-satisfaction. It is always the sensation you are accepting the emotional signature of the fear, pain, joy, anger--and never the external situation itself. This is the reason I prefer for people to name the sensation lightly- "Welcome, fear," "Welcome, pain," and so forth--rather than merely saying "Welcome," which all too often leads to the impression that one is welcoming the outer circumstances rather than the inner ones. In this alignment - grounded in sensation, unconditionally present to the energetic disturbance in your field of consciousness - you have "backed" into witnessing consciousness in a full and authentic way. "You'" as pure consciousness have trumped you" as the victim of any story or situation. And in this pure witnessing position, connected to sensation but separated from the story, the inner shift can be extremely powerful. Sometimes you can literally feel the energy that was bound up in identification break free and reconfigure itself as pure spondic energy, exactly as described by Beatrice Bruteau a few pages ago. (One of my students likened it to opening the cap on a vacuum-sealed container.) In that moment an infusion of pure being energy floods your body, and your ability to "coincide with the subjective act of being conscious" is incrementally reinforced.[Then the final step: say] “By the power of the Divine Indwelling active within me, I unconditionally embrace this moment, no matter its physical or psychological content." And by this same indwelling strength, once inner wholeness is restored, I then choose how to deal with the outer situation, be it by acceptance or by spirited resistance. If the latter course is chosen, the actions taken - reflecting that higher coherence of witnessing presence have a greater effectiveness, bearing the right force and appropriate timing that Buddhist teaching classically designates as "skillful means."
Oneness/nonduality:
For a while, yes, our ego-self does indeed appear to be the stable operator. We draw our water from the spiritual well and then bring it home to translate into all the benefits it confers on our daily lives. From there we translate our thanks back to God in the form of wordless or spoken prayer. But there comes a time when the ego translator drops out, and we are simply there, hearing and responding directly in the native language of being. There is oneness. And that is fundamentally what is meant by nondual consciousness. Then this "inner wellspring" is no longer a place you go to; it's a place you come from. It's a whole new structure of consciousness that can perceive with out first splitting the field.
Meekness:
For a while, yes, our ego-self does indeed appear to be the stable operator. We draw our water from the spiritual well and then bring it home to translate into all the benefits it confers on our daily lives. From there we translate our thanks back to God in the form of wordless or spoken prayer. But there comes a time when the ego translator drops out, and we are simply there, hearing and responding directly in the native language of being. There is oneness. And that is fundamentally what is meant by nondual consciousness. Then this "inner wellspring" is no longer a place you go to; it's a place you come from. It's a whole new structure of consciousness that can perceive with out first
Meekness-or humility, if you prefer--is, accordıng to our author, primarily about self-knowledge. “Meekness in itself is nothing else but a true knowing and feeling of a man's self as he is," he explains (I3-2). It is not about external behaviors definitely not about obsequious or self-deprecating mannerisms, It is quintessentially an inner orientation, the inevitable fruit of having come into relationship with the true north of one's selfhood. Beyond ego neediness and ego inflation is simply the naked ground of being" the root of the root of yourself," in the words of the poet Rumi-and when one breaks into this primordial ground, all pretension simply drops away. There are two ways of cultivating this meekness, according to our author. Both are good and necessary, but they belong to completely different orders of reality.
The second kind of meekness, which he calls "perfect," emerges from a different source altogether. It comes from suddenly grasping the true scale of things, from a felt sense of the immensity of the cosmos and the vastness of divine love, against which all our human dramas and strivings become merely dust specks in the beholding of which all nature quakes, all scholars are fools, and all saints and angels are blind," as he picturesquely puts it (Cloud 13-2). It is the heart aching with the power of the infinite, recognizing that it is I myself-that slender veil of my created selfhood--that hides the paradise I seek. A good example of perfect meekness (which our author, however, does not mention) can be seen in the final chapters of the book of Job. Throughout the entire preceding ordeal, Job has staunchly maintained his innocence and God has staunchly maintained his silence. Finally God speaks, and his response is a stunning vindication of Job's integrity. But it is not a judicial kind of vindication, a "well done, thou good and faithful servant." Rather, God figuratively sweeps Job up on eagles' wings and gives him a personal tour of the vastness of the cosmos and the bottomless depths of divine creativity. Job is introduced to the true scale of things; his response-1 had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes"is a paradigmatic expression of perfect meekness.
Oneness:
ccording to this way of looking at things, the lower levels of consciousness (first and second tiers on Wilber's maps, up to and including the integral level) all work with increasingly sophisticated refinement of the classic binary hardwiring-"perception through differentiation." The brain sets up the perceptual field with an implicit inside" and outside (with one's innermost sense of identity squarely at the center of the inside, holding down the post of "I") The world swirling around outside is then navigated by breaking it up into finite bits (known as “descriptors," or individual characteristics), which are then manipulated through a set of standard binary operations"more/less," "better/worse," "good/ bad," and so on. In this operating system identity is conferred by what differentiates you from everything else, and to be "self-aware means to be able to stand outside yourself and reflect back on yourself, or to be able to navigate your way forward or backward along the arrow of time through your memory and imagination. This is the fabled self-reflexive consciousness," the mind that has brought the Western world into existence-the "I think, therefore I am" mind upon which the foundations of modern civilization rest. And it is, to be sure, a wonder, an extraordinary evolutionary breakthrough. But it is not all there is, nor is it even remotely the endpoint. Imagine that there might be a different way of structuring the field of perception, an alternative way of wiring the brain that did not depend on that initial bifurcation of the perceptual feld into inside and outside, subject and object. Instead, one would grasp the entire pattern asa whole--holographically- through a perceptual modality quantitatively more immediate and sensate, working on vibrational resonance rather than mental abstraction. Then one would indeed experience that signature sense of oneness-not, however, because one had broken into a whole new realm of spiritual experience, but because that tedious, “translator" mechanism of the self reflective brain has finally been superseded. You see oneness because you see from oneness.
"Welcoming" prayer when something happens unexpected:
The first step, “focus (or sink in)," anchors you solidly in the realm of sensation. The instructions are very clear that, when knocked off course by an emotional or physical upset, you immediately become present to the upset as physical sensation in your body. There are no stories and commentaries and no instructions (at this point) to shift the physical energy, only to stay present to it. This all-important first step ensures that there will be no mental dissociation-one piece of the mind commenting on another, the usual bệte noire of witnessing, The attention shifts lower in the body and is carried by sensation, the true seat of inner witnessing. In the second step - welcoming- you unconditionally accept the reality of this sensation sharing the Now with you: be it physical pain, mental pain, emotional distress, or giddy self-satisfaction. It is always the sensation you are accepting the emotional signature of the fear, pain, joy, anger--and never the external situation itself. This is the reason I prefer for people to name the sensation lightly- "Welcome, fear," "Welcome, pain," and so forth--rather than merely saying "Welcome," which all too often leads to the impression that one is welcoming the outer circumstances rather than the inner ones. In this alignment - grounded in sensation, unconditionally present to the energetic disturbance in your field of consciousness - you have "backed" into witnessing consciousness in a full and authentic way. "You'" as pure consciousness have trumped you" as the victim of any story or situation. And in this pure witnessing position, connected to sensation but separated from the story, the inner shift can be extremely powerful. Sometimes you can literally feel the energy that was bound up in identification break free and reconfigure itself as pure spondic energy, exactly as described by Beatrice Bruteau a few pages ago. (One of my students likened it to opening the cap on a vacuum-sealed container.) In that moment an infusion of pure being energy floods your body, and your ability to "coincide with the subjective act of being conscious" is incrementally reinforced.[Then the final step: say] “By the power of the Divine Indwelling active within me, I unconditionally embrace this moment, no matter its physical or psychological content." And by this same indwelling strength, once inner wholeness is restored, I then choose how to deal with the outer situation, be it by acceptance or by spirited resistance. If the latter course is chosen, the actions taken - reflecting that higher coherence of witnessing presence have a greater effectiveness, bearing the right force and appropriate timing that Buddhist teaching classically designates as "skillful means."
Oneness/nonduality:
For a while, yes, our ego-self does indeed appear to be the stable operator. We draw our water from the spiritual well and then bring it home to translate into all the benefits it confers on our daily lives. From there we translate our thanks back to God in the form of wordless or spoken prayer. But there comes a time when the ego translator drops out, and we are simply there, hearing and responding directly in the native language of being. There is oneness. And that is fundamentally what is meant by nondual consciousness. Then this "inner wellspring" is no longer a place you go to; it's a place you come from. It's a whole new structure of consciousness that can perceive with out first splitting the field.
Meekness:
For a while, yes, our ego-self does indeed appear to be the stable operator. We draw our water from the spiritual well and then bring it home to translate into all the benefits it confers on our daily lives. From there we translate our thanks back to God in the form of wordless or spoken prayer. But there comes a time when the ego translator drops out, and we are simply there, hearing and responding directly in the native language of being. There is oneness. And that is fundamentally what is meant by nondual consciousness. Then this "inner wellspring" is no longer a place you go to; it's a place you come from. It's a whole new structure of consciousness that can perceive with out first
Meekness-or humility, if you prefer--is, accordıng to our author, primarily about self-knowledge. “Meekness in itself is nothing else but a true knowing and feeling of a man's self as he is," he explains (I3-2). It is not about external behaviors definitely not about obsequious or self-deprecating mannerisms, It is quintessentially an inner orientation, the inevitable fruit of having come into relationship with the true north of one's selfhood. Beyond ego neediness and ego inflation is simply the naked ground of being" the root of the root of yourself," in the words of the poet Rumi-and when one breaks into this primordial ground, all pretension simply drops away. There are two ways of cultivating this meekness, according to our author. Both are good and necessary, but they belong to completely different orders of reality.
The second kind of meekness, which he calls "perfect," emerges from a different source altogether. It comes from suddenly grasping the true scale of things, from a felt sense of the immensity of the cosmos and the vastness of divine love, against which all our human dramas and strivings become merely dust specks in the beholding of which all nature quakes, all scholars are fools, and all saints and angels are blind," as he picturesquely puts it (Cloud 13-2). It is the heart aching with the power of the infinite, recognizing that it is I myself-that slender veil of my created selfhood--that hides the paradise I seek. A good example of perfect meekness (which our author, however, does not mention) can be seen in the final chapters of the book of Job. Throughout the entire preceding ordeal, Job has staunchly maintained his innocence and God has staunchly maintained his silence. Finally God speaks, and his response is a stunning vindication of Job's integrity. But it is not a judicial kind of vindication, a "well done, thou good and faithful servant." Rather, God figuratively sweeps Job up on eagles' wings and gives him a personal tour of the vastness of the cosmos and the bottomless depths of divine creativity. Job is introduced to the true scale of things; his response-1 had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes"is a paradigmatic expression of perfect meekness.
Oneness:
ccording to this way of looking at things, the lower levels of consciousness (first and second tiers on Wilber's maps, up to and including the integral level) all work with increasingly sophisticated refinement of the classic binary hardwiring-"perception through differentiation." The brain sets up the perceptual field with an implicit inside" and outside (with one's innermost sense of identity squarely at the center of the inside, holding down the post of "I") The world swirling around outside is then navigated by breaking it up into finite bits (known as “descriptors," or individual characteristics), which are then manipulated through a set of standard binary operations"more/less," "better/worse," "good/ bad," and so on. In this operating system identity is conferred by what differentiates you from everything else, and to be "self-aware means to be able to stand outside yourself and reflect back on yourself, or to be able to navigate your way forward or backward along the arrow of time through your memory and imagination. This is the fabled self-reflexive consciousness," the mind that has brought the Western world into existence-the "I think, therefore I am" mind upon which the foundations of modern civilization rest. And it is, to be sure, a wonder, an extraordinary evolutionary breakthrough. But it is not all there is, nor is it even remotely the endpoint. Imagine that there might be a different way of structuring the field of perception, an alternative way of wiring the brain that did not depend on that initial bifurcation of the perceptual feld into inside and outside, subject and object. Instead, one would grasp the entire pattern asa whole--holographically- through a perceptual modality quantitatively more immediate and sensate, working on vibrational resonance rather than mental abstraction. Then one would indeed experience that signature sense of oneness-not, however, because one had broken into a whole new realm of spiritual experience, but because that tedious, “translator" mechanism of the self reflective brain has finally been superseded. You see oneness because you see from oneness.
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
After Bourgeault's Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, this was another very thoughtful and thorough exploration of the simple, yet profound practice of Centering Prayer. The book brings together three different types of presentation, from an introductory workshop to an in-depth analysis of the foundational medieval text The Cloud of Unknowing, but all are clearly related to the central theme.
After several decades of this practice developing as a recovery of the contemplative tradition for the Western Christian world, it is time to take stock and consider how to bring it further into the future. The author has some strong opinions and some reservations about some points of view that muddle or weaken the practice, and she does a good job of conveying these in an objective way.
After Bourgeault's Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, this was another very thoughtful and thorough exploration of the simple, yet profound practice of Centering Prayer. The book brings together three different types of presentation, from an introductory workshop to an in-depth analysis of the foundational medieval text The Cloud of Unknowing, but all are clearly related to the central theme.
After several decades of this practice developing as a recovery of the contemplative tradition for the Western Christian world, it is time to take stock and consider how to bring it further into the future. The author has some strong opinions and some reservations about some points of view that muddle or weaken the practice, and she does a good job of conveying these in an objective way.
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
There is a good section on the practice of Centering Prayer with tips on some common misunderstandings which I know, because I have misunderstood. Most of the book is about the real purpose for doing Centering Prayer which is not what we normally consider reasons for meditation. The author has practiced this form for many years and has a lot to say about nondual perception. She has a large section on The Cloud of Unknowing with some commentary on different translations which she can do since she has a background in the language of the period when the book was written. Combining this with her own experience of Centering Prayer, she gives deep insights. Some of the material I grasped and some I will assume I am too much a newbie to Centering Prayer to have a real good idea of what she is saying. No matter. I got enough from the book to keep on the path of Centering Prayer and see what I see.