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New Harbinger Publications - Marilyn Schlitz

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158 pages

English

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Popular psychology

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Publié par	New Harbinger Publications
Date de parution	01 janvier 0001
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781608826841
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0918€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Living Deeply is the accumulated wisdom of many of our greatest living teachers, all adepts in the goal of personal transformation. This is one of the finest collections of gentle, penetrating insights available. Highly recommended.
—Larry Dossey, MD, author of The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things
Living Deeply provides us with some of the most significant insights into spiritual transformation that I have ever read. Based on interviews with spiritual teachers, leading scientific researchers, religion scholars, important public intellectuals, and major writers, this volume is a remarkable example of an integrative approach to a topic of immense importance. It is marvelous to look through the different windows of transformation that are so richly described and interpreted both spiritually and scientifically. Living Deeply is a major accomplishment that will hopefully become a classic in an emerging field. It is truly a brilliant synthesis. I think Living Deeply will change lives and change the world for the better.
—Stephen G. Post, Ph.D., professor of bioethics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
The art and science of transformation in everyday life
Marilyn Mandala Schlitz, Cassandra Vieten, and Tina Amorok
New Harbinger Publications, Inc. -->
Publisher’s Note
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering psychological, financial, legal, or other professional services. If expert assistance or counseling is needed, the services of a competent professional should be sought.
A copublication of New Harbinger Publications and Noetic Books
Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books
Copyright © 2007 by Marilyn Mandala Schlitz, Cassandra Vieten, and Tina Amorok
New Harbinger Publications, Inc.
5674 Shattuck Avenue
Oakland, CA 94609
www.newharbinger.com
Cover and text design by Amy Shoup
Acquired by Catharine Sutker
Edited by Amy Johnson
_____________________________________________________________
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Schlitz, Marilyn.
Living deeply : the art and science of transformation in everyday life
Marilyn Mandala Schlitz, Cassandra Vieten, and Tina A. Amorok.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978-1-57224-684-1 (epub : ebook)
ISBN-13: 978-1-57224-912-7 (epub : PDF)
ISBN-13: 978-1-57224-533-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-57224-533-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Consciousness. 2. Attention. 3. Change (Psychology) 4.
Spirituality. I. Vieten, Cassandra. II. Amorok, Tina. III. Title.
BF311.S3825 2007
158.1--dc22
Contents
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Seeing with New Eyes
2. Doorways to Transformation
3. Preparing the Soil
4. Paths and Practices
5. Why Practice?
6. Life as Practice, Practice as Life
7. From “I” to “We”
8. Everything Is Sacred
9. No More Floating Clouds
Resource Guide
References
Living Deeply: The Fate of the Earth
—Robert Thurman, Ph.D.
As you savor the thoughtful messages in Living Deeply , consider this simple meditation. You are in a space capsule with Edgar Mitchell, the Apollo 14 astronaut. You’re there in the vastness of outer space. You see all the stars shining majestically, unobscured by lights from any cities. You look down and see something that looks like a round, opalescent, glistening, shining jewel. You can see the blue of the oceans, the white of the clouds, the brown streaks of the deserts, the gray mountaintops, and the green of the jungles and forests. And of course, you’re with Edgar, so you’re hoping you’re going to get back safely to this jewel called Earth.
You’re having a vision of the unity of life on this planet. You may also be aware simultaneously that there are infinite numbers of such jewels in the universe. But this is yours—your home. It is also the home of six billion other human beings and many trillions of other life forms. As you look, you feel a wonderful sense of oneness and togetherness with all of those beings living on this thin, delicate film on the surface of molten rock under a thin layer of air—like the fuzz on a peach.
As you look down at this jewel, you have a little tinge of sorrow about the foolish people who are destroying the basis of life on this planet. It doesn’t frighten you too much, though, for you realize that there must be some degree of wisdom, generosity, love, and compassion to match the beauty of Mother Earth, Mother Gaia.
From this perspective of deep space, you may then do what the Tibetans call offering the mandala . By mandala they mean the whole of the protected zone wherein life, mind, and spirit can thrive. You notice that there is an element in you that is possessive about this planet. In a way, even your own mind has a little element of what those foolish people who try to conquer and exploit life have in them. You may become aware that sometimes you, too, feel like you own the place. And yet you realize, from that capsule in deep space, that no one owns it. You can then imagine that you pick up the entire planet very gently in your hands—and you give it away. If you believe in angels, you give it to them. If you believe in deities, you give it to them. If you don’t believe in all of that, you just give it to the enlightened beings. You give it away to wisdom. You detach yourself from a sense of ownership, and as you do this, you realize that you are a guest. And you realize that this ultimate generosity is the basis of true happiness.
This subtle shift in awareness is what Living Deeply is all about. By transforming our consciousness, we participate in the transformation of the world. Each of us has the capacity to shift from a dominator worldview to one in which we realize life is a precious gift; we understand what a privilege it is to be alive. Through hours of research and deep inquiry with masters from many world traditions, and surveys with everyday folks like you and me, Marilyn Schlitz, Cassandra Vieten, and Tina Amorok offer us a map to an expanded model of reality. As these noetic scientists explore the interface of Western science and Eastern “inner science,” they offer insights essential to meeting the challenges of a twenty-first-century planet that out-of-control humans are pushing toward destruction. Through their findings based on a decade of serious research, heard through the voices of many wisdom teachers, the authors help us recognize more fully that our life is totally interwoven with every other person and with all other species on our beloved planet.
This book reveals that a sense of unity and connection is part of most world traditions. It certainly is very much a part of Buddhist philosophy, which I describe as “engaged realism.” Buddha’s discovery, so long ago, was that suffering comes out of ignorance of the true nature of reality, and from this ignorance arises an attachment to the control and domination of the Earth and the life that inhabits it. While we may be drawn to worldly delights, the Buddha observed that people’s core needs are more basic, dealing with the meaning of life, sickness, old age, death, and suffering.
Buddha was not a religious prophet, but he was not an atheist either. He actually was said to have met the Hindu god Brahma during his transformative experience. In a state of meditation, he traveled with his subtle body-mind into the heavens. He came into the throne room, and Brahma was there with all the other little godlings. And Buddha said, “Oh great Brahma, I hear you are the world creator. Since you created it, you must know how it works. I am determined to discover how the world works, so please tell me.” At first dismissive of Buddha, Brahma later called to him on his way out of heaven. “I can’t let you leave without giving you a proper answer,” he said. “You see, the thing is, I didn’t really create it, and therefore I don’t know how it works. I’m just the biggest shot around here. But these godlings think I did create it and they think I know how it works and they feel secure in my protection. If I had said to you in front of them, ‘I don’t know what’s going on,’ they would have had an identity crisis, and we’re a little short of shrinks here in heaven. But you’re going to be a Buddha in a future life, and you will know how it works and in that time you have to do two things. One, come and tell me. I’m a quick study; I am “God,” after all. And two, tell the human beings that when things go terribly wrong for them—when their children die, they have a terrible accident, there’s a disaster or a catastrophe—tell them it’s not my fault. I’m not in total control. I do my best for them. But it’s all our mutual karma. It’s our entire mutual collective situation that draws these difficulties down upon us.”
So Buddha did meet God, but he didn’t get a “message from God” like the ones that lead many religious founders to rush out and say “Believe in this or that or the other and then we’ll save you from suffering.” Buddha did not say that to people. In fact, he did not say that believing in anything would save you. He said, “Eureka! There’s a way you can be saved from suffering, but that way is that you have to understand yourself and you have to understand your reality.”
Now just the fact that he had a vision of life doesn’t prove he was right. Even though hundreds of millions of people over the millennia have thought he was right, he may have been wrong. So the Buddha founded an educational movement rather than a religion. His vision was to bring out our own wisdom rather than to assert the truth. He taught in dialogic form, like Socrates and Confucius. He talked with people, questioning them, getting them to think critically, helping them to see through their own delusions, and encouraging them to come up with a deeper insight into the nature of things.
In that