Inprint - New Books of interest by Jeanne Spiro

Compassion and Meditation: The Spiritual Dynamic Between Buddhism and Christianity by Jean-Yves Leloup (Inner Traditions, $14.95, Paperback.)

In Asian spiritual traditions, the mountain traditionally symbolizes meditation while the ocean signifies compassion. Jean-Yves Leloup uses this metaphor to compare Buddhist and Christian approaches to meditation and compassion to reveal the similarities and divergences of these practices. Emphasizing their complementary nature, Leloup describes how Jesus and Buddha are necessary to one another and how together they form a complete system: Jesus as awakening through love, and Buddha awakening through meditation. Where Buddha represents the forests, Jesus represents the trees. Buddha is the brother to the universe, whereas Jesus is brother to humanity.

Nevertheless, these two religious traditions have a profound common ground. Compassion is, in fact, central to Buddhism, and meditation practices have been central to many Christian traditions. Both view murder, theft, and the destructive use of sexuality as great barriers to realizing our essential being, and both agree on the need to rise above them. Here, however, Leloup suggests that both faiths could benefit from the precepts of the other. The complementary aspects of Christianity and Buddhism offer the possibility for a truly profound ecumenical religion whose interfaith relations are based on deep understanding of the true meaning and practice of meditation and compassion and not merely shared goodwill.

The Power of Pause: Becoming More by Doing Less by Terry Hershey. (Loyola Press, $16.95, Hardcover.)

Doing nothing can change everything, says Terry Hershey, professional garden designer, speaker, and retreat leader. It’s a countercultural message in a fast-forward world that equates busyness with importance. His new book The Power of Pause is filled with 52 weeks of reflections and practical ideas about how to stop long enough to, as he puts it, let the soul catch up to the body.

His book offers an experience of pause as it offers lessons in how to catch one’s breath, and why it’s essential to do so. Slowing down gives us the power to pay attention, to be centered, to listen, to say yes to the moment and no to urgency. Human lives need space for productivity, but not at the expense of the space where our inner life is nourished. When we don’t take time to pause—to cease activity, to treasure quiet time, even for napping—we pay the price in health, wholeness, and relationships.

The first step to slowing down is to take the online Power of Pause Assessment (www.loyolapress.com/powerofpause) to determine if there’s enough pause in our life. Then this book can serve as a guide to adding more restful, rejuvenating moments to our days.

14 Steps to Awaken the Sacred Feminine: Women in the Circle of Mary Magdalene by Joan Norton and Margaret Starbird. (Bear & Company, $14.00, Paperback.)

Women’s circles have been called a “revolutionary-evolutionary movement hidden in plain sight” by Jean Shinoda Bolen and have been hailed as capable of affecting global change. Magdalene Circles are groups of women who focus their shared energies on the wisdom of Mary Magdalene to gain insight into the role of the sacred feminine in their own lives and to help them advance in their spiritual paths.

14 Steps to Awaken the Sacred Feminine offers lessons to help understand the wisdom offered by Mary Magdalene’s story and mythos. Among the lessons are prophecies of the bride, why we need the bride, Magdalene’s archetypal pattern of descent, and how modern women carry the Grail. Well-suited for the individual reader as well as a group, each lesson includes an introduction, guided meditation, questions for journaling, and an essay by Margaret Starbird, as well as suggestions for group sharing. Placing Mary Magdalene within the pattern of cyclic renewal of earth-based religions, this book offers the chance to incorporate the sacred feminine wisdom into everyday life for Christians and feminists alike.

A Particle of God, by Teddy Bart. (O Books, $24.95, Paperback.)

In this novel, Joey Robin, a local talk show host, is frustrated that fame, fortune, and his prime have passed him by. Always the one to do the right thing, he watches helplessly as others even less talented than he are rewarded with accolades and prosperity. At the point where he finally loses heart, a series of supernatural encounters with departed broadcast legends teaches him to examine the definitions of success and discover that we do in fact write our own life story, and that fate lies not in the stars, but in ourselves.

Based in part on events from Teddy Bart’s own life, A Particle of God is the merging and the culmination of the worlds that he has lived in and explored: broadcasting and spirituality. More than a story of a broadcaster’s bout with self esteem, the book’s honesty and insight provide inspiration and challenge to spiritual seekers of all stripes. It revolves around the universal human fascination with both the mysteries of life, and the nature of success, fame, and fortune. It explores some of our most important questions: Does God or do we determine the course of our lives? If we write the story of our lives, does Karma play a role? Are some people really luckier than others? What happens if we veer off the path we wrote for ourselves?

The Force Is with Us: The Higher Consciousness That Science Refuses to Accept by Thomas Walker. (Quest Books, $15.95, Paperback.)

Inspired by encounters with his son beyond the grave, Tom Walker discovered not only that the paranormal has been exhaustively studied, but that convincing evidence supports it authenticity—despite modern science’s rigid bias against it. He defines the force, which world esoteric traditions call prana or chi and Wilhelm Reich called orgone, as an energy field that gives movement and life to everything.

The Force Is with Us sheds much light on the vast proof of psychic phenomena, and in particular, its enthusiastic use by governments. From ESP to Soviet psychic spies, from auras to life on Mars, Walker explores the gamut of vetted documentation. The CIA’s commissioning of physicist Hal Pulhoff for secret remote-viewing experiments and parapsychologist J.B. Rhine’s infamous ESP testing are among the curious array of examples he presents in this detailed compilation of lab-controlled research. From out-of-body experiences and energy healing to precognition and psychokinesis, this persuasive book reveals that the source of all these studied and proven phenomena is a divine energy awaiting rediscovery in us all, the ever present force.

This is a compendium of case studies, scientific research, and personal testimony that connects modern science with ancient spiritual traditions. Walker illuminates the parallels between religious philosophies like Chinese Taoism and the Egyptian after-life with revolutionary theories in zero-point energy, Quantum fields, and dark matter. He concludes, in line with theoretical physics, that consciousness is the primary reality, offering persuasive evidence that what we experience as physical life is, in his words, only a prelude to eternity.

Invaluable Lessons from a Frog: Seven Life-Enhancing Metaphors by Olivier Clerc. (Dreav River Press, $14.95, Paperback.)

Swiss-French author Olivier Clerc takes us on an allegorical journey through seven universal tales, touching on the topics of evolution, consciousness, and adaptability during these fast-changing times. Translated into six other languages, Invaluable Lessons from a Frog demonstrates how powerful allegories truly are. Clerc tells us that people easily remember metaphors, allegories, and jokes. He says that we can’t carry a forest with us, but we can carry a bag of seeds. That’s what symbols, metaphors, or analogies are—compact résumés full of wisdom that can be planted in our own inner gardens.

One of the seven metaphors, the allegory of the frog, demonstrates the disastrous consequences of being unaware of change, whether that change is happening to our health, in our relationships, in social evolution, or in the environment. That of the Chinese bamboo shoot teaches us to see beyond mere appearance, to notice the invisible changes that are always taking place and that one day suddenly appear as obvious and outward transformations. The allegory of the wax and hot water underscores how important is every first, every beginning, whether when learning a new instrument, starting a new business, or in anything else we undertake. It shows the danger of inertia, suggests ways to avoid the trap of habits, and established connections between spirit and matter. Each of these seven tales provides us with a unique opportunity to reflect on our modern lifestyles.

Microchakras: InnerTuning for Psychological Well-Being by Sri Shyamji Bhatnagar. (Inner Traditions, $24.95, Paperback, includes CD.)

Each of the traditional seven chakras contains 21 microchakras, which enable the chakras to process information related to our thoughts, feelings, and behavior. When the energy flowing in the chakras is blocked, our physical, emotional, and psychological well-being is compromised. Through the unique practice of InnerTuning—a system of precise, potent sounds and mantras—blockages in the microchakras can be released so the subtle body can become realigned and physical and mental health can be restored.

Sri Shyamji Bhatnagar developed the InnerTuning technique from his early work with breath and sacred sounds, which began at age twelve with his guru in India. In 1967, his discovery of the 147 microchakras inspired his creation of Microchakra Psychology, a blend of ancient wisdom and contemporary psychology that explains the workings of the subtle body and how openings or blockages in the chakras can either encourage or sabotage psychological health and spiritual development. In this book, Shyamji describes methods for optimizing energy flow in the microchakras using the practices of InnerTuning in order to enhance our well-being and promote spiritual growth through the power of sound, breath, and the divine energy that resides within us all. A 28-minute CD of InnerTuning sacred sounds is included.