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June 2004 In this post-September 11 world, with wars and rumors of war seeming to rage at every turn, the concept of hope can sometimes be elusive, even for those with a strong spiritual practice and a deep faith in God. In her book Growing Hope, Sue Patton Thoele addresses the challenge of how to cultivate and find hope from within. She asserts that we all have within us the wisdom and compassion to comfort ourselves. Thoele’s experience as a therapist, combined with her own personal examples, make for a touchingly sensitive and thoroughly practical book. Teaching and coaching the reader through a step-by-step process on how to cultivate the seeds of positive change, both in our individual lives and in the world, Growing Hope is a light in what could be called dark times. Full of garden metaphors, the book reads like a spiritual “farmer’s almanac” for the soul. Preparing the soil is the first step to growing a healthy crop: “By taking time to access my true Self in the sanctuary of quiet and solitude, I have been able to dig up the weeds and grow more hopeful,” Thoele writes. At the end of each chapter there is a specific exercise designed to allow the reader to experience exactly what the author is speaking about. Some of the exercises include visual meditations, journaling, and affirmations. The last chapter of the book is very powerful, comprised of “quotes, poems, proverbs, and aphorisms that can help us nurture, cultivate, and grow hope until it spreads over the entire planet.” —Taffye Wallace
Most of us know that for the body-mind to function healthily, we cannot afford to ignore our spiritual nature. This is the message of this extraordinary website that addresses more than thirty spiritual practices, from attention and beauty to yearning and zeal. Each features meaningful quotes, teaching stories, magazine articles, related news, and even movie reviews that pertain to that particular practice. To cite one example: click on “peace” as a spiritual practice and you are advised to “go on a fast. Give up entertainment which contains any kind of violence.” Add to that an exercise in practicing peace, pertinent quotes, and even related events such as yoga and meditation classes and you have an extensive summary of the all-important practice of peace in our lives. The site is also kept current. Featured on its home page is an article asking if we are now safer from terrorism—or in greater fear? As an answer to this, it provides a quote from Father Thomas Keating, the Trappist monk: “God is hidden in difficulties. If we can find him there, we will never lose him.” Nor will fear have a place in our lives. —Cliff Johnson What can a Zen abbot teach us about art? John Daido Loori, founder and abbot of the Zen Mountain Monastery in Mount Tremper, New York, photographer, and teacher of the Zen arts, tells in this book how the Zen aesthetic approach can aid restless Westerners in creating their art. “Zen, and by extension the Zen aesthetic, shows us that all things are perfect and complete, just as they are. Nothing is lacking. In trying to realize our true nature, we rub against the same paradox: We don’t know that we already are what we are trying to become…When you learn to trust yourself implicitly, you no longer need to prove something through your art.” Through specific exercises the author calls “practices,” the reader comes to express his creative spirit and art in new, whole mind-body ways, with the emphasis being on simplicity, mystery, and spontaneity. As Loori notes, “simplicity does not come easily to us in the West…our challenge is to find ways to simplify our lives.” And in so doing, we come to a greater embodiment of our art. —Jan Suzukaw |
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