Spiritual Masters

“A wonderfully significant and important book.” —Ken Wilber, The Integral Vision “A timely and penetrating analysis of spirituality’s shadow.” —Stephen Batchelor, Buddhism without Beliefs A spiritual teacher and integral psychotherapist offers a first-of-its-kind study on how we use—and abuse—spiritual beliefs and practices, revealing how to identify and move beyond what holds us back from living life fully. Spiritual bypassing—the use of spiritual beliefs to avoid dealing with painful feelings, unresolved wounds, and developmental needs—is so pervasive that it goes largely unnoticed. The spiritual ideals of any tradition, whether Christian commandments or Buddhist precepts, can provide easy justification for practitioners to duck uncomfortable feelings in favor of more seemingly enlightened activity. When split off from fundamental psychological needs, such actions often do much more harm than good. While other authors have touched on the subject, this is the first book fully devoted to spiritual bypassing. In the lineage of Chögyam Trungpa’s landmark Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, Spiritual Bypassing provides an in-depth look at the unresolved or ignored psychological issues often masked as spirituality, including self-judgment, excessive niceness, and emotional dissociation. A longtime psychotherapist with an engaging writing style, Masters furthers the body of psychological insight into how we use (and abuse) religion in often unconscious ways. This book will hold particular appeal for those who grew up with an unstructured new-age spirituality now looking for a more mature spiritual practice, and for anyone seeking increased self-awareness and a more robust relationship with themselves and others.

"Through biographical reflections and selected writings, this anthology highlights the essential teachings of a dozen modern spiritual masters, each of whom embodied a form of engaged spirituality - attuned both to God and the needs of a wounded world. Each opposed a style of spirituality focused entirely on the inner life, while at the same lime stressing the importance of prayer and silence as the foundation for service and activism. Balancing contemplation and compassion, these figures - including some of the world's best-known spiritual writers - represent a model of spirituality sensitive to tradition as well as the challenges of our time."--BOOK JACKET.

Every age needs figures of spiritual inspiration, but in times of recession and uncertainty they are essential in helping us to rise above despair and to search for God deep within ourselves. In this new book, Michael Ford invites four spiritual masters onto the same stage for the first time and shows how they speak, not only to our own times, but for all seasons. Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen, Anthony de Mello and John O'Donohue all died suddenly at the height of their fame as spiritual masters, but they continue to have immense followings. What was their secret and why do their legacies endure? Through unpublished interviews with some of the authors themselves, encounters with their friends, and reflections from readers who have been inspired by their writings, Michael Ford journeys across the United States and Europe to assess their place in the world of contemporary spirituality. He goes behind the scenes of the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky to hear first hand from monks who were novices under Merton; visits Lambeth Palace in London to discover Merton's influence on the Archbishop of Canterbury; talks to people about how Nouwen, the proverbial wounded healer, helped them through depression because he had suffered himself; speaks to Jesuits who worked with de Mello in India and tries to find out how close the international storyteller came to Buddhism; and takes a walk with O'Donohue through landscapes in rural Ireland that feature in such books as Anam Cara and discusses the appeal of Celtic spirituality. Blending the spiritual with the journalistic, Michael Ford presents four unique writers as "Spiritual Masters for All Seasons." +

This book introduces the reader to thirteen Christian spiritual classics that illustrate the ordinary steps we can take toward living the Gospel life more fully. Drawing on the rich teaching of a particular saint or mystic, each chapter helps us grow in a different aspect of holiness, of intimacy with God. Archbishop Hughes offers an itinerary for becoming a good disciple of the Lord, giving the reader access to an impressive spiritual library that can support and strengthen progress in discipleship throughout one's life. Among the great saints and spiritual writers whose writings are included in this book are Augustine, Anthony of the Desert, Aelred, Teresa of Avila, Benedict, Guigo, Catherine of Siena, Walter Hilton, Francis de Sales, Ignatius of Loyola, Jean-Pierre de Caussade, Thomas à Kempis, and John of the Cross.

What is a spiritual master? Spiritual Masters of the World's Religions offers an important contribution to religious studies by addressing that question in the context of such themes as charismatic authority, role models, symbolism, and categories of religious perception. The book contains essays by scholar-practitioners on the topic of spiritual masters in Judaic, Christian, Islamic, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Confucian, and Daoist traditions. It provides a full spectrum of exemplars, including founders, spiritual masters who highlight cultural themes, and problematic figures of modern times. To define spiritual master, the work of Max Weber, Mircea Eliade, Daniel Gold, and Bruce Lincoln is referenced to provide a balanced notion that includes both religionist and reductionist perspectives. This book takes readers from the past spiritual masters to the future of masters of any sort, posing food for thought about the future of master-disciple relationships in an emerging age of egalitarian sentiments.

Six spiritual masters--Augustine, Ignatius, Julian of Norwich, Gregory of Nyssa, Bonaventure and Dante--provide answers to questions we face in modern life.

This book is a sequel to “Wisdom for Living as Spiritual Beings” in which young Tom and Guru Harry continues their exploration on how to live spiritually in a practical, non-spiritual society. Guru Harry epitomizes someone from a spiritual society and offers a way of living that can lead to peace, love, joy and harmony. In this book, Tom and Guru Harry discuss how to master spiritual living in a practical society, which includes the following deep questions: (1) How to tell who is a master? (2) How do masters choose their spiritual beliefs? (3) How do masters live in a practical society? May this wisdom enable you to become a spiritual master!

KRISHNA DAS, JOHN DAVID, RAM DASS, MOOJI, RAM CHARAN, USHA, GANGAJI, MICHAEL BARNETT, ISAAC SHAPIRO, GANGA, MUKTI, ANDREW COHEN. Touching life stories by twelve spiritual teachers from USA, Europe, Australia and India. In a deeply honest and authentic way, each of them shares their inspiring paths. The book is a deep dive into the mystery of life, encouraging us to follow our inner navigation, our intuition. The spontaneous flow of the interviews takes us on unexpected journeys guided by existence. We witness miraculous adventures and blissful times as well as confusion and pain. The deep longing and perseverance for truth leads each of them to a spiritual master, to Papaji, Neem Karoli Baba, Osho, Nannagaru. The profound relationship between teacher and student radically changed their lifes and transformed the seeker to a teacher in their own right. A wonderful collection of vivid and colorful pointings to Truth, that inspire us to deeply trust, that every moment on our path is absolutly the right moment.