A Healing Space, by Matt Licata

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cjdevries
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Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2015 8:06 pm

A Healing Space, by Matt Licata

Post by cjdevries »

I really enjoyed Matt Licata's new book "A Healing Space". If you are in the process of doing shadow work, this book may become a faithful companion. This is a passage from Matt Licata's book [this passage is under the section titled "The Unique Nature of Spiritual Discovery"]:

"It is important to remember that inner work is unique to the individual and might not always conform to collective norms. Before we know it, we can fall into the trap of a one-sized-fits-all mentality, in which we come to believe there is one remedy to the complexities of human suffering; and the entire majesty of [our being] is reduced to one explanation and a singular form of medicine. In my experience, there is a tendency to oversimplify the journey of healing and awakening, which fits comfortably into our fast-food consumeristic culture as a defense against the anxiety that arises in the face of just how complex, mysterious, deep, and nuanced the psyche and heart truly are. Although it is fashionable to see the spiritual journey as "simple" - "just be in the now, just love everything as it is, just return to the present moment; it's so simple!" - this is not my experience or the experience of many of the great wisdom traditions. The human heart has endless dimensions and chambers. Although we can appreciate the desire not to overcomplicate things- or to turn the journey into yet another vehicle through which to accumulate endless information- we must also remain vigilant to the movement- especially in our contemporary world, to oversimplify and reduce the majesty [of our being] to a few generalized catchphrases."

Although it's not a strictly Buddhist book, the author uses many Buddhist books as his sources, and talks about Buddhism quite a bit; he touches on the concepts of self/no self, the two wings of wisdom and compassion, and most of the book focuses on the work of awakening; exploring topics like: learning to become one's own best friend on the journey, learning to understand and work effectively with the shadow, learning to integrate trauma, and discovering methods to help us find our own unique spiritual path and to break new ground in our spiritual journey.

Here are a few more brief passages:

"We find an analogous view in Tibetan Buddhism, for example, that says both wisdom and compassion are required to reach the deepest levels of realization. Where only one "wing" is present, the bird is unable to fly, or flies in a way that is disembodied and disconnected from its inherent wholeness."

"In Vajrayana Buddhism, it is said that there is a particular quality of wisdom found in the core of specific difficult emotions, and the only way to mine that intelligence is through the direct apprehension and metabolization of the underlying energy. If we prematurely "go around" the emotion- repress it or act it out- or if we become flooded by or fused with it, we lose contact with that underlying wisdom at its core. Training ourselves to go into intense emotions; stay embodied with them; and infuse them with warmth, presence, and clear awareness is essential on the path of healing and is a theme I address throughout this book."

"Although I hope to invite you into deeper participation in the mystery as it appears in and as your life, I do not have any answers for you. Rather, I see my role as helping to illuminate the immensity and even magic of the questions themselves. The nature of these questions is unique and communicated in a language and in images created specifically for you. My words are only fingers pointing to a moon already rising within you, and my sole intention is to guide you back into the creativity and intelligence saturating your cells at this very moment..."
"Please call me by my true names so I can wake up; so the door of my heart can be left open: the door of compassion." -Thich Nhat Hanh

"Ask: what's needed of you" -Akong Rinpoche

"Love never claims, it ever gives. Love ever suffers, never resents, never revenges itself." -Gandhi
cjdevries
Posts: 598
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2015 8:06 pm

Re: A Healing Space, by Matt Licata

Post by cjdevries »

Here's another passage: "The narrative of the unworthy one is deeply embedded and spans multiple levels: cognitive, emotional, neurobiological, somatic, and behavioral. In addition to these conventional levels of experience, there are also vast implications at the spiritual, or transpersonal, level because these early organizations of experience seem to provide a temporary filter over the discovery of what many contemplative traditions refer to as our true nature, the part of us that is always already whole and was never unhealed. We must send breath, awareness, and love into each of these areas to transform the compensatory identity structure and to untangle the wounds of the body and the heart. Although it might seem impossible because it is so deeply imbedded, this narrative can be re-authored. It can be re-written. It can be updated. A more cohesive, real-time, accurate, integrated story can be told. A new dream can be dreamed...Even in the core of the most profound hopelessness, a small light of hope is buried there, and the flame is still alive."
"Please call me by my true names so I can wake up; so the door of my heart can be left open: the door of compassion." -Thich Nhat Hanh

"Ask: what's needed of you" -Akong Rinpoche

"Love never claims, it ever gives. Love ever suffers, never resents, never revenges itself." -Gandhi
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