More to Read

Robert Sardello has just published a brand new teaching book outlining his heart resonance teachings and practices. It is, to me, perhaps his most profound, with certainly the deepest potential for changing the way we see and participate in the world of anything - not only of his - that I have read in my long reading life. Teacgings and practices are simple and the pages are spacious - without page numbers. Neither does the cover have words: simply an image of nature perecived through the heart. I recommend this book to anyone who longs for an adventurous inner life, and/or - who wishes to change the world through contemplative action.

This small book, the latest by Pema Chodron, shocks many by its title. And yet this is the title of a graduation address she gave to Naropa University earlier this year for her grand-daughter's graduation class. It is a profound teaching, perhaps the deepest we will ever encounter in this success (whatever it means) -driven mindless culture! From the cover:

Failure opens and unguarded, vulnerable, and wide open space.

And from that space the best part of ourselves comes out.

Bernice Morgan is mostly remembered for her book and tv series of the same name: Random Passage. But this book, Cloud of Bone, is equally astounding in its depth and breadth, even if you are not from Newfoundland itself.

Three separate stories..seemingly... but linked in hidden depths by the life of the Beothuks, a race exterminated by the French and English, quite deliberately. Shawnadithit, the last known Beothuk indian, died in 1829 of tuberculosis, having been captured and taken to England as a showpiece...she was 27 years old.

The spirit of Shawnadithit links the other two; World War II St. John's, and current time London. All the stories are fascinating, but I had never known as much about the Beothuks before, a peaceful people treated like animals - if you have even a twig of interest...buy this book and bury your soul in it...we are all there.

Stephen Jenkinson is turning the tide against a death avoiding, death denying society. In Die Wise, he puts forth a fierce challenge to see human death for what it is: part of the undeniable evolutionary unfolding that is life in all its rhythms. If you have begun to question how death is avoided in our culture, buy and read this book slowly. It will shift your life.

This little book by Pico Iyer, subtitled "Adventures in Going Nowhere" is a brief and simple reflection challenging the reader to stop in these words:

"At some point, all the horizontal trips in the world stop compensating for the need to go deep, into somewhere challenging and unexpected; movement makes most sense when grounded in stillness.

In an age of speed, I began to think, "nothing could be more invigorating than going slow. In an age of distraction, nothing could feel more luxurious than paying attention. And in an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than sitting still."

In what has become a theme of my sabbatical year, more and more resources have arisen in complete surprise, andI am offered resonance and grace in unexpected places.