Silence, Simplicity & Solitude

David A. Cooper

Description

From the best-selling author of God Is a Verb, the classic spiritual retreat guide that enables anyone to create their own self-guided spiritual retreat at home.
The ancient mystics looked to spiritual retreat as a way of cleansing the body and healing the soul. In Silence, Simplicity & Solitude, David A. Cooper traces the path of the mystics and the practice of spiritual retreat in all the major faith traditions, sharing the common techniques and practices of the retreat experience for beginner and advanced meditators alike.
Cooper shows the way to the self-discovery and discipline of the spiritual retreat experience and clearly instructs how to create an effective, self-guided spiritual retreat in your own home.
Silence, Simplicity & Solitude teaches that not only is silence a great healer, but that inner spiritual retreat can provide life-changing insight into deeper spiritual truths

Sujets

• personal Growth
• Kabbalah
• Silence
• Inspiration

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 18 avril 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781594735295
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

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CONTENTS
P REFACE
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
T HE T RADITION OF S PIRITUAL R ETREAT
Path of the Mystics
Buddhism
Christianity
Hinduism
Islam
Judaism
The Universal Nature of Mysticism
S ETTING U P A R ETREAT
Introduction
Silence
Solitude
Simplicity
Security
Willpower
Teachers
Group Practice
Scheduling
S PIRITUAL P RACTICE
Introduction
Breath
Sitting
Devotion and Prayer
Visualization
Contemplation
Mindfulness
Vision Quests
Ablutions
Forgiveness and Loving Kindness
Hatha Yoga
Movement
Mantra
Continuity
E PILOGUE: The Vision of Ezekiel
N OTES
S AMPLE S CHEDULES
R ECOMMENDED R EADING FOR R ETREATANTS
I NDEX
About the Author
Copyright
Also Available
About SkyLight Paths
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PREFACE
Silence, Simplicity Solitude: A Complete Guide to Spiritual Retreat and A Heart of Stillness: A Complete Guide to Learning the Art of Meditation were originally published in 1992. They were intended to be self-help guides for people who wanted to learn about and practice meditation in the comfort of their own homes without instructions from a particular teacher. It is true that teachers are important resources for one s spiritual path. The guidance and care offered by a good teacher is invaluable. Yet it is also true that we can quickly acquire on our own, with minimal guidance, the skills of various styles of meditation, and in addition we can design a self-guided spiritual retreat to explore what mystics have experienced for thousands of years. Thus, people interested in meditation and retreat are often advised to keep on the lookout for a compatible spiritual friend, guide, or teacher, but not to delay the process of learning on their own.
The purpose of these books is to go beyond communicating the potential of the meditative experience, but also to encourage readers to delve into the depths of their souls, to explore the boundaries of their hearts, and to discover the nature of their minds. For thousands of readers who are familiar with Silence, Simplicity Solitude and A Heart of Stillness , the approach of emphasizing personal experience has been powerful. Many people have written heartfelt letters describing how their lives were changed by the meditative and retreat experiences outlined in these books.
Human inquiry into the nature of the mind has been a consistent theme since the beginning of history. From the moment of the first Aha! -when someone realized there was some kind of thinker behind a personal thought-we have probed and scrutinized our internal process in an effort to understand how it works. The basis of this search, I believe, is our intuition that a momentous secret of creation will be revealed when we finally comprehend the origin of thought.
Although science has significantly multiplied our base of knowledge during the twentieth century, little has been added to the wisdom of thousands of years regarding the function of the mind and the inception of thought. Clearly, science has opened new avenues of inquiry; it has developed tools of measurement and methods of evaluation. Yet, the central effort of self-inquiry is always personal, and is better accomplished by individuals working in silence and solitude than in laboratory or academic situations.
A great deal of today s scientific and philosophical knowledge is difficult to acquire. We must engage many years in specific fields of inquiry to gain a working framework, and even then our endeavor may be limited to a single limb on a tree of knowledge that includes hundreds of other branches of study. Thus, most human intellectual achievement is inaccessible to the average person except on the most cursory level.
The opposite is true of self-inquiry. Each of us has the potential to dwell in realms of understanding of the highest order; each of us may achieve the qualities of personal development that were realized by the greatest masters known to humankind. This does not necessitate learning great volumes of information, nor does it require special intellectual aptitude. Admission to the school of self-inquiry is dependent rather on our motivation, willingness, and effort to explore the inner dimensions of our being.
In the last ten years, meditation and retreats have become far more popular in various parts of the nation and around the world. Yet, for many people, the practice of meditation remains mysterious and somewhat unapproachable. Too often, one who is exploring the possibility of learning meditation encounters claims that particular ideologies, dogmas, or spiritual personalities are the only true path to enlightenment. This can be discouraging to the beginner, particularly when accompanied by the implication that serious meditators need to abandon their spiritual roots to engage in meditative practice.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The meditative experience is universal. Every spiritual tradition has explored it. When we become skilled in the art of learning how to quiet ourselves, we discover new levels of inner truth, and we begin to connect with our world in amazing ways. This does not require any special beliefs; it is the natural result of one s personal, direct experience with higher levels of awareness.
Thus, many readers have appreciated the eclectic nature of the presentation in these books. You do not have to be of a particular faith to benefit from meditation practice. Indeed, the most common experience described by meditators is that it deepens their relationship with their own root traditions, it opens their eyes to new possibilities, and it sharpens their experience of daily life in the richness of each and every moment.
I discovered soon after the initial publication of both books that they had become my teachers. Interestingly, they continue to teach me. Often when I am on retreat, I glance through one of the books and discover something I wrote ten years ago that is pertinent today. In fact, at times I am so inspired, I wonder, Who wrote that?
Part of the spiritual path is to be reminded of things we already know. We forget our lessons so easily. Life is too busy. It tends to overwhelm us. If we get caught in the swirl, we lose our balance. So, we must give ourselves an opportunity to quiet down on regular occasions, to reflect, and to remember who we are, what we are doing here, what we have promised ourselves, and where we are going. This is what meditation and self-guided retreats are all about.
The reader is invited to explore the range of opportunities for inner work. You will find that some practices are far more appealing than others. When you do, try to master greater proficiency in a few practices rather than superficial skills in many. As your practice deepens, you may want to devote an entire day or long weekend to a particular experience. This is where your spiritual practice will truly improve. A self-guided retreat can be done readily, without financial expense, by following the instructions offered in these two books.
Many blessings for success on your inner quest. The discovery of one s personal truth remains the most exciting adventure in the history of human consciousness. Moreover, each step in this direction brings the world closer to its ultimate potential. May you add your own insights to this path, a path clearly marked by the efforts of untold numbers of spiritual adventurers over thousands of years. Welcome.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book is dedicated to the millions of anonymous retreatants who over the ages have been silent warriors in the eternal struggle to attain higher consciousness,
There have been many teachers along my path to whom I owe an enormous debt of gratitude: My primary teacher and rebbe, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, Ram Dass, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, Bilal Hyde, Father Theophane, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, and Jack Kornfield. All have freely shared wisdom teachings in a variety of traditions, and have given me personal attention and support.
Also important on the path are the people who taught me in other ways-I call them teachers of the heart: Rabbi David Zeller, Asha Durkee Greer, Tzvi Avraham, Gil Eisenbach, Miriam Goldberg, Marilyn Hershenson-Feldman, Abby Rosen, Ulrich Seizen Haas, and my lifelong friend, Reuben Weinzveg.
Many of my spiritual guides are no longer in their physical bodies but remain alive with me through the publication of their offerings. These teachers are too numerous to mention, but I do feel it is important to acknowledge the many authors, editors, and publishers who have provided the general public with the essential teachings of a wide variety of sages. This is often done at considerable personal sacrifice and with little monetary gain because of the belief that it is important to assure the dissemination of these wisdom teachings. As a result, the average person today has at her or his fingertips more resources for spiritual development than ancient kings, emperors, or even erudite scholars of the last century.
A special thank you to Toinette Lippe, who originally edited these books, and who had the faith and persistence to bring them to fruition. She was the perfect literary partner in