Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Journaling my Journey of Awakening

“Only by exploring and sharing my autobiography can I witness my discoveries of the sacred. My story is not normative. I am under no illusions that I am a saint, a hero, or a model for anyone. I do not write in order to say: Here is the map for you to follow. I only share some of the twists and turns of my journey in order to encourage you to take your own story seriously. Examine the sacred text of your own experience, reconstruct the events and relationships that went into the creation of your being, re-collect memories, and form them into a narrative that makes your life a once-told tale.” (Sam Keen)

Living with Open Hands…

an expression of

an open mind,
an open heart,
and an open will

Table of Contents

Preface: (overview of Living with Open Hands)

Acknowledgements

INTRODUCTION

The Open Hand

Adrift in an Endless Sea

Journaling the Journey

The Space Between

Why I Write

SECTION ONE: A HEART BROKEN

Chapter 1: THROUGH THE FACADE

Who Am I?

Consume… Consume… Consume…

Real Love

Outrage

More… There Must Be More

Living with clenched fists

The Essence of Life — Who? Why? What?

Chapter 2: INTO THE DARKNESS

The Healthiness of Depression

The Pain of Depression

Tears in the Night

Total Devastation

Devastation — Meaning in Suffering… in Pain?

A Dark Mystery

DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL

Chapter 3: A HEART BROKEN OPEN

No Longer Immune

The Unraveling

Tears of a Man

Ground of Being

What If?

The Way of the Brokenhearted

Open

Chapter 4: UNCLENCHING THE FISTS

Permanency

The Plunge

On Complacency

Death as an Ally

Buckets

Fighting the Rain

Gripping… Groping… Griping

If I Loose my Grip… Will I Take Flight?

SECTION TWO: A HEART AWAKENING

Chapter 5: SEEING WITH THE HEART

Seeing

On Seeing

Incidental Graces

Through Alien Eyes

Light and Dark

Can You Hear Me? Can You See Me?

Connect to Wonder

Seeing Beauty

Chapter 6: OUT OF THE SILENCE

The Shadows

With Open Hands

Silence — a Spiritual Discipline

Openness

The Waiting Room

Silence . . . a Powerful Force: If I Already Know . . .

Chapter 7: EMBRACING MYSTERY AND PARADOX

Through a Glass Darkly

Ocean Wind

Inconsolable Longing

Paradox — Living the Contradictions

Living the Questions

The Sacred and the Profane

The Sacred and the Boundless

Chapter 8: FACING OUR GODS

In God We Trust

The god of comfort

The god of certainty

Opinionation

Words

Cultural Christianity

The Structural Inequality

Chapter 9: MEANING AND PURPOSE

The Search for Meaning

The Invitation

Consumer or Contributor — Leadership in an Age of Consumption

Community and Communion

Christmas — Unwrapping Meaning

What is Meaning?

Chapter 10: THE JOURNEY

Presence

Honoring the Soul

Through It

Exactly Where I Am Meant To Be

The Touch of Eternity

SECTION THREE: A HEART AFIRE

Chapter 11: LIVING WITH OPEN HANDS OF COMPASSION

View from the Porch

On the Turning Away

The Pain of Others

Hope

Fragile

Soft

The Way of Compassion

Chapter 12: LIVING WITH OPEN HANDS OF PEACE

Violence

Gentleness

The Way of Peace

Violence at the Heart of Things

Living in Peace

A Fearless Gentleness

The Power of Non-violence

Chapter 13: LIVING WITH OPEN HANDS OF EQUALITY

The Necessity of Diversity

Being Right, Making Wrong

Finding My Place

Crumbs From Your Table

Where You Stand . . . Depends On Where You Sit

Bullet Holes and Poverty

Absolute Equality

The Unseen Forces of Inequality

Boundary Spanning

Marginalized

Oppression, Power, & Privilege

Familiarity & Exclusion; Freedom & Oppression

Chapter 14: LIVING WITH OPEN HANDS OF INTEGRITY

The Cost

The Search for Wisdom

Discerning Truth

Integrity

The Moth and the Flame

Chapter 15: LIVING WITH OPEN HANDS OF SIMPLICITY

A True Friend

The Wonder of Babies

In Praise of Trees

Simplicity

Letting Go of Non-Essentials

Chapter 16: LIVING WITH OPEN HANDS OF COMMUNITY

Community — a Matter of Life and Death

Malignancy

Place

Finding My Place

Finding My Home

Redefining and Recreating Home

Crashing Through the Woods

Raising Kids Alone

Change

Soul Friends

Alone in the Crowd

Communities of Isolation — the biology of loneliness and community

SECTION FOUR: FOUNDATIONAL UNDERSTANDINGS

Chapter 17: GIFTS

A Gifts-Based Approach to Life

Chapter 18: THE POWER OF THE MARGINS

The Outliers and their Gifts

Think Different

The Misfits

The Power of Poetry

Listening for Unheard Voices

Chapter 19: DIALOGUE

Living in a Spirit of Dialogue

Chapter 20: COMFORT & CONDITIONING

The Bubble of Indifference

The Cocoon

Thoughts on Thought

Downloaded Thinking / Cultural Conditioning

Community and Comfort, Conformity and Certainty

The River

Penetrating Illusions

Integral Spirituality

Chapter 21: MY SOURCE

Presence — Living From the Source

Core Values

Guiding Principles

LIVING WITH OPEN HANDS: A CONCLUSION FOR NOW…

Sources and Resources

Works Cited (alphabetically)