Below are some books that were significant to me during my sabbatical leave. I have included one small quote from each just as a sampling:
"A Lever and a Place to Stand" Richard Rohr
The significance of Jesus’ wounded body is his deliberate and conscious holding of the pain of the world and refusing to send it elsewhere. The wounds were not necessary to convince God that we were loveable, the wounds are to convince us of the path and the price of transformation. They are what will happen to you if you face and hold sin in compassion instead of projecting it in hatred. Jesus’ wounded body is an icon for what we are all doing to one another and to the world. Jesus’ resurrected body is an icon of God’s response to our crucifixions. The two images contain the whole message of the Gospel. - Richard Rohr
This book was important as a reflection on the gift of cotemplative living as an antidote to the effects of the last 1500 years of Christendom. I think it could easily be a textbook for contemporary Christian faith communities.
"Invitation to Love" Thomas Keating
Every moment of human growth precipitates a crisis appropriate to the level of physical, emotional, or spiritual development at which we find ourselves. Each major crisis of growth requires letting go of the physical or spiritual food that has been nourishing us up to then and moving into more mature relationships. In such a crisis we tend to seek the feeling of security. It is characteristic of reptilian and typhonic consciousness to react to frustration by choosing the line of least resistance, or whatever seems to be the easiest security blanket in which to wrap themselves. The capacity to go forward into personal responsibility is constantly challenged by the temptation to revert to lower levels of consciousness and behavior. Human growth is not the denial of any level, but the integration of the lower into more evolved levels of consciousness….Human development depends on freeing ourselves from emotional fixations on these instinctual levels in order to grow to full reflective self-consciousness. The gospel calls for the full development of the human person and invites us to the further growth that God has in store for us… - Thomas Keating
This book is a primer on Centering Prayer and a helpful guide to using the discipline of centering prayer for the renewal of a spiritual life.
"Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening" Cynthia Bourgeault
…if you trust the process of Centering Prayer, you’ll begin to see that it’s not really necessary to put your focus on dismantling the false self. Instead, your emphasis need only be on nurturing the heart through the threefold practices of (1) surrender during the prayer time, (2) surrender/awareness carried into daily life though work with Welcoming Prayer, and (3) regular participation in some form of Christian liturgical community, which will keep you grounded in the Mystical Body of Christ and feed you with the direct soul food of the Eucharist and sacred scripture.
As you nurture the heart, your ego will begin to relativize of its own accord. It can then do its real job as a useful instrument of manifestation – in the same way a violin lets you manifest the music. But you have to come to know that you are not your violin.
- Cynthia Bourgeault
This book builds on the insights of Thomas Keating and is another helpful tool in developing and understanding the discipline of centering prayer.
"My Stroke of INsight" Jill Bolte-Taylor
In order for me to choose the chaos of recovery over the peaceful tranquility of the divine bliss that I had found in the absence of the judgment of my left mind, I had to reframe my perspective from “Why do I have to go back?” to “Why did I get to come to this place of silence?” I realized that the blessing I had received from this experience was the knowledge that deep internal peace is accessible to anyone at any time. I believe the experience of Nirvana exists in the consciousness of our right hemisphere, and that at any moment, we can choose to hook into that part of our brain. With this awareness, I became excited about what a difference my recovery could make to the lives of others – not just those who were recovering from a brain trauma, but everyone with a brain! I imagined a world filled with happy and peaceful people and I became motivated to endure the agony I would have to face in the time of recovery. My stroke of insight would be: Peace is only a thought away, and all we have to do to access it is silence the voice of our dominating left mind…
- Jill Bolte Taylor
This book was a surprise. It was loaned to my sister and I to help us further understand our mother's stroke. I was surprised to find in its pages a revelation of the physiology of healthy spirituality and why we all need it as human beings.
Mishkan T'filah (A Reformed Siddur)
During the sabbatical time, I took the opportunity to attend sabbath worship at Temple Israel a few times. I also attended Torah study at Temple Beth El in Berkeley once. What I sense is people in relationship with the Divine and with one another. Worship is not an obligation or some necessary ritual mystery to appease the gods who will hold us accountable. Gathering together is about practicing the Divine relationship and nurturing that relationship. They are a people in a covenant with God that is specifically about how we get along and get through day to day. Faith is not some kind of insurance policy for the future. It is the life we live, the people we are here and now. – personal reflection
This is a traveller's version of the prayer book used in the local reformed Jewish congregation. It contains some beautiful prayers and reflections on the human relationship to God and the prayerful life.