About book The Naked Now: Learning To See As The Mystics See (2009)
There is much wisdom in this book. Although there is an aspect of mysticism that is hard to understand, there is also much about it that strikes a chord within us, and has the ring of truth to it. The dangers of "...'us and them' seeing, and the dualistic thinking that results...", also identified as "all-or-nothing" thinking, or polarity thinking, creating false dichotomies, are held up for our observation. The suggestion is presented that "...Jesus was the first nondual religious teacher of the west". Faith is said to be made up of "wisdom, paradox, or mystery", which needs a letting go of our need to be in control, to have answers."If your religious practice is nothing more than to remain sincerely open to the ongoing challenges of life and love, you will find God--and also yourself." (p. 96) Better to risk making a mistake, even in your beliefs about God, than the "deadening alternative" of making certitude and ordered belief systems central. "The Holy One does not really need your loyal verbal protection."There is a Principle of Likeness, a way of seeing others as we see ourselves: "...when you honor and accept the divine image within yourself, you cannot help but see it in everybody else, too, and you know it is just as undeserved and unmerited as it is in you. That is why you stop judging, and that is how you start loving unconditionally and without asking whether someone is worthy or not." (p.159)I need to reed this book a few mor times at least. It took me a little while to get into this book, but when I did, I was rewarded. I found many little gems to ponder. The chapters are very short and worked well as daily inspirational reading. I was helped to discover my own mystical side and to understand it better. For memoir writers, tying to know the self and observe it as it changes over time is the big task. The mystics teach us how to both observe and grow.
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Finally, someone brings the East into the West, and does not dismantle either's teachings.
—yellow
Repetitive, hackneyed, and lacking nuance.
—Bahia1995
