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Your mind is perpetually extracting meaning from it is surroundings; conceptualising with the environment. You are continuously absorbing data and decoding it. But there is a deeper truth that lies behind the selective information of this world.
Spiritual transformation or soul awakening is where you may arouse from your thinking habits and connect with a truer sense of what it in truth means to be to a complete degree present in time and space at any given moment. This is being to a complete degree conscious of the here and now. Take, for example, your very firstborn kiss. You may have felt more alive at that moment, more outstanding than the sum of yourself — like there was another dimension all of a sudden existent outside of yourself. This is the power of presence. It is you being totally conscious of the here and now.
Artists work with the power of the moment capturing the presence of the here and now through their work. You then read a book, watch a film, or listen to music and are transported temporarily to an intensification of the here and now formulated by the artist. So presence is a form of enlightenment, where you are in a state of being still and entirely conscious to any given moment; like absorbed inside a book. There ought to be a ‘something’ existent outside of yourself that lifts you up and out and takes you beyond the narcissistic world of self-thinking. So what does this mean? Life is art. You are the artist.
Nowhere else may enlightenment be found but being completely present. Presence is enlightenment. When you have searched your life and come to understand this, then the end of all your exploring will be to arrive where you started; then you perceive you are already here. The accomplishment of being to a complete degree present is when you give up the search. Using the same aim you would commonly use to look back in your past or project out into your future, now focus your intent and fetch yourself to this moment: right here, right now, and hug the moment. If you are present…you are enlightened. You can not become something that you already are.
It doesn’t take a great deal of words to describe what enlightenment is because understanding what enlightenment is, is beyond words.
ReviewPsychiatrist and philosopher Roger Walsh looks at seven mutual exercises of the world’s major religions to tease out a guidebook for contemporary spirituality. With gleanings from Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism, Walsh offers seven chapters committed to enlightenment. For example, “Practice 1″ discusses how readers may reduce cravings and find the soul’s desire (very applicable in an growingly materialistic world). Once Walsh has laid out the goals and reasoning behind each practice, he offers an array of exercises, such as how to “Examine the Experience of Craving” or “Reflect on the Cost of Craving.” Although this format is overtly self-help, Walsh has brought forth a wise and highly respectable book that integrates a good deal of of the best exercises that the world’s religions may offer. The introduction by the Dalai Lama gives Walsh outstanding praise for helping readers become purer in motivation so that they may lead a more fulfilling life in service to love and compassion. –Gail Hudson
From the Inside FlapEssential Spirituality “The field of spiritual books has been looking for it is own Lewis Thomas or Carl Sagan, and I believe Roger Walsh may be that one.” —Ken Wilber, author of One Taste Based on over twenty years of exploration and spiritual practice, written by a man who is both a spiritual practitioner and award-winning scientist, this is a groundbreaking and life-changing book For the basi time, Essential Spirituality shows how you may implement the seven exercises central to all the world’s major religions in your daily life. In his decades of study, Dr. Roger Walsh has ran into that each of the outstanding spiritual traditions has both a mutual goal and seven mutual exercises to reach that goal: recognizing the sacred and divine that subsist both within and around us. Going beyond Care of the Soul, Essential Spirituality integrates the spiritual principles of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Taoism into one veritably rewarding way of life in which kindness, love, joy, peace, vision, wisdom, and generosity become an ever-growing percentage of everything you do. Filled with stories, exercises, meditations, myths, case histories, prayers, and practical advice, this extraordinary book has the power to change your life now. “An engaging, inspiring synthesis of the core perceptivities of humanity’s spiritual traditions. This is a rare gem of a book—a distinguishable treasure distilled from a quarter century of deep spiritual exercise and intellectual inquiry. Essential Spirituality is a book to live with and work with, filled with simple though powerful exercises that invite persons to discover for themselves the truths in regards to which Roger Walsh writes so beautifully and lovingly.” —Duane Elgin, author of Voluntary Simplicity
From the Back Cover”Essential Spirituality beautifully articulates the gains of spiritual living in the material world.”–Dan Millman, author, Everyday Enlightenment and The Way of the Peaceful Warrior”Deceptively simple. Its power is rooted not only in Dr. Walsh’s formidable intellectual capacity to deal efficaciously with a vast body of religious creative writing of recognized artisti value but in his own deep spiritual exercises in a multitude of disciplines over some years. An important contribution.”–Ram Dass, author, Be Here Now “An sheer masterwork . . . Essential Spirituality is helpful to both the unseasoned and seasoned seeker. The writing is deep, simple, and clear yet at the same time poetic and musical. A must read.”–GERALD G. JAMPOLSKY, M.D. author, Love Is Letting Go of Fear “Energetic, engaged, and on occasion electrifying. . . . The field of spiritual books has been looking for it is own Lewis Thomas or Carl Sagan, and I believe Roger Walsh may be that one.”–KEN WILBeR, author, One Taste and A Brief History of Everything Based on over twenty years of exploration and spiritual practice, this is a groundbreaking and life-changing book. In his decades of study, Dr. Roger Walsh has came across that each of the great spiritual traditions has both a mutual goal and seven mutual exercises to reach that goal: recognizing the sacred and divine that subsist both within and around us. Filled with stories, exercises, meditations, myths, prayers, and practical advice, Essential Spirituality shows how you may comprise these seven principles into one genuinely rewarding way of life in which kindness, love, joy, peace, vision, wisdom, and generosity become an ever-growing percentage of everything you do.
Most helpful client reviews
82 of 84 humans found the following review helpful.
 The Wisdom of Walsh
By Nicq MacDonald
Go into any bookstore and you’ll find piles of books on spirituality, featuring spiritual paths ranging from Evangelical Christianity and pseudo-Vedantist guru worship to Americanized Zen and reconstructionist Neo-Pagan goddess worship. With people turning away from the churches they were raised in and world-weary atheists searching for spirituality, the spiritual marketplace is going through a boom amount of time with no end in sight. But in the midst of such selection, how may one tell who’s faking it, and who’s the real deal? Is the teacher or author a committed seeker or a devious charlatan? Modern, sceptical Americans ofttimes keep away from spirituality all together due to horror stories of ludicrous cults and gurus perpetrating spiritual scams on the unsuspecting public. Who may we trust?
How with regards to an Australian philosopher-psychiatrist with years of experience dealing with spirituality, transpersonal psychology, and mental illness? Roger Walsh makes no claims to have attained a spurious level of “enlightenment” beyond a measure of basic sanity in this world gone more or less mad. In “Essential Spirituality”, Walsh provides the perfective associate to Huxley’s classic “The Perennial Philosophy”- a book of practical spiritual exercises, advice, and wisdom from sages the world over. Divided into seven subdivisions on what Walsh believes to be the seven necessary exercises of the world’s “Wisdom Traditions”, Walsh provides counsel on reducing craving, cultivating aroused wisdom, living ethically, meditating, awakening the senses, growing intuition, and carrying out or participate in spiritual action. This isn’t New Age mysticism- “Essential Spirituality” is grounded in the teachings of saints allround the world and history, extensive documented by Dr. Walsh. Even the most sceptical mind may see the tame wisdom in his approach to spirituality.
I give this book my most eminent recommendation to seekers of all faiths and none- may it support you on your way.
54 of 55 people found the following review helpful.
Gentle and effective guidance
By A
This little book holds gems from Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Confucianism. Not plainly a compilation of sound bites, the author explores core exercises revered by these major world religions. Most importantly, he provides concrete examples of how to integrate these practices, little by little, into each and everyday life, until a new, throughly distinctive fabric is formulated by the reader’s personal choices.
The person chapters address craving, difficult emotions, ethics, calming the mind, vision, wisdom, and serving others. Each section holds a number of exercises that you may try, modify, or adopt altogether as best suits your own life and outlook. As time goes on, the exercises may serve as springboards to discovering new roots of inner guidance.
The discussion of respective intersections of the religions is priceless for various reasons. The background provides specific reasons for engaging in spiritual practice. Rote repetition of formulas does not have the value of mindful attention to our actions, and these explanations aid to put the exercises in perspective. In addition, the discussion often times reflects the gut-level experience of the seeker, and will likely resonate strongly with those on a spiritual journey. Also, the exercises do not conflict with observance of any of these religions, and would rather enrich one’s spiritual experience, irrespective of it is formal context. Finally, the discussion of mutual ground is a finelooking example of how we may rejoice in our similarities, respect our differences, and share mutual goals for peace, rather than concede religion to divide us and breed hatred.
As the introduction by His Holiness the Dalai Lama states, a few minutes a day consecrated to engaging in the exercises and contemplating their signification will go a long way towards bringing compassion, and in the end a sense of inner peace, into your daily life.
68 of 71 humans found the following review helpful.
A terrific book!
By A
This is a terrific book-perfect for beginners as well as psychologists and psychotherapists who wish to introduce meditation to their clients. Walsh has been at this for closely 30 years, and it shows in his elegantly simple rendering of cross-cultural spiritual practices. A wondrous associate to Huxley’s “Perennial Philosophy” and Harvey’s “Essential Mystics.” Those books leave out the “how” of practice. Walsh fills in the details.
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