Eye of the Heart: A Spiritual Journey into the Imaginal Realm

by Cynthia Bourgeault

Overview

This groundbreaking book shares the evolution of Cynthia Bourgeault's spiritual journey and offers a new map to understanding energy and our collective reality.

In Eye of the Heart, Cynthia Bourgeault investigates the imaginal realm—an energetic realm well known to the mystical traditions but often forgotten in our own times. It is invisible to the physical eye, but clearly perceptible through the eye of the heart. The imaginal realm has long been associated with the personal world of dreams, prophecy, and oracles, and it also points toward a higher vision of our human purpose that is both evolutionary and collective. Bourgeault explores both aspects of imaginal reality and shows readers how we can cooperate more fully with its guidance in our lives.

Expertly blending her own lived experiences with research on the imaginal realm, Bourgeault explores how her personal relationships have helped to bring these teachings into sharper focus and the role this realm plays in Christian and other mystical traditions. She delves into the connections between our inner consciousness and what happens in the world, exploring the transformative energy and governing conventions that make the manifestation of this realm possible. Eye of the Heart presents Bourgeault's spiritual journey with the imaginal realm and encourages readers to attune their hearts for the well-being of the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611806526
Publisher:	Shambhala
Publication date:	09/08/2020
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	369,191
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

CYNTHIA BOURGEAULT is a modern-day mystic, Episcopal priest, and theologian. She divides her time between solitude at her seaside hermitage in Maine and traveling globally to promote the rediscovery of the Christian contemplative path. She is a core faculty member at the Center for Action and Contemplation and founding director of an international network of Wisdom Schools. Cynthia's articles and essays have appeared in many journals and publications, and she is the author of numerous books, including The Wisdom Jesus, The Meaning of Mary Magdalene, The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three, and The Heart of Centering Prayer.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments xi

Prelude: Prospero, Jonah, and "The Greek"; A Winter's Odyssey 1

1 Introducing the Imaginal 13

2 Worlds within Worlds 23

3 The Great Exchange 43

Trope: The Hell Realms 63

4 Imaginal Causality 65

5 The Art of Shapeshifting 85

Trope: A School for the Lord's Service 99

6 Imaginal Purification 105

Trope: Putting It All Together 119

7 What Are We Here For? 123

8 The Conscious Circle of Humanity 139

9 Second Body, Abler Soul 157

Trope: Thomas and Joseph 173

10 The Second Rascooarno 179

Afterword A. H. Almaas 195

Notes 201

Index 213

About the Author 219

Editorial Reviews

If ever there was a teacher who could gather the reins of the mind to gallop into the land of the heart (and take us with her), it is Cynthia Bourgeault. This exquisitely written love story distills the intricacies of the esoteric Western traditions into a transformational elixir—both rigorous and luminous—simultaneously intoxicating and sobering. This book is nothing less than a map to the meeting of the worlds at the crossroads of our own souls, one the mapmaker urges us to abandon the minute our heart sees the way.”
—Mirabai Starr, author of Wild Mercy
 
“In Eye of the Heart Cynthia Bourgeault invites us on a journey that is profoundly personal and opens us to a truly fresh and panoramic vision of the purpose of human existence. In bringing to our attention the importance of the imaginal realms—the levels of consciousness between our physical reality and our ultimate divine source—she fills an enormous gap in the current conversations on spirituality. Cynthia has an amazing ability to take potentially complex ideas and to explain them with clarity and kindness. Only someone who has actually traversed these realms and knows them well could accomplish such a feat, and she does so with beauty and grace. Any serious student of the Western traditions ought to partake of these teachings. You will be grateful you did!
—Russ Hudson, co-author of The Wisdom of the Enneagram
 
“A brilliant synthesis that both situates the imaginal world and gives it more meaning than it has previously had. . . . [Bourgeault] is a true representative of the Western spiritual tradition.”
—from the afterword by A. H. Almaas
 
“Eye of the Heart is an immensely original piece of thinking, feeling, writing. There is nothing like it. It opens new terrain, plants new seeds, starts them on their way toward the light.”
—Roger Lipsey, author of Gurdjieff Reconsidered

“By weaving together mystical wisdom, the Fourth Way, and the authority of her own experience, Cynthia Bourgeault masterfully charts a new path of interior transformation through the heart's ability to know and choose the way of love and service. I learned a lot from this book, and I bet you will too.”
—Carl McColman, author of The Big Book of Christian Mysticism

“Reading Eye of the Heart is a powerful and clarifying experience. The weaving of personal, metaphysical, and contemporary political insights is amazing, seamless, and intercessory in and of itself. We need this kind of weaving and interpenetrating in our culture just as we need it between the realms.”
—Tim Shriver, author of Fully Alive

From the Publisher