The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World's Religions

by Wayne Teasdale, Dalai Lama (Foreword by)

Overview

Drawing on experience as an interreligious monk, Brother Wayne Teasdale reveals the power of spirituality and its practical elements. He combines a profound Christian faith with an intimate understanding of ancient religious traditions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781577311409
Publisher:	New World Library
Publication date:	03/09/2001
Edition description:	First Trade Paper Edition
Pages:	308
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama	xiii
Preface by Dr. Beatrice Bruteau	xvii
Acknowledgments	xxi
Part I: Finding What Unites Us
Introduction The Mystic Heart: Our Common Heritage	3
The Interspiritual Age
• The Parliament of the World's Religions
• The Turn to Spirituality
• A Dot on a Blackboard
Chapter 1 A Bridge Across the Religions and Beyond	15
What Is Spirituality?
• Spirituality in the Religions
• The Nature of Mysticism and Spirituality
• What Is Interspirituality?
• The Treasure of Community
Chapter 2 Crossing Over: Pioneers of Interspiritual
Wisdom	31
The Meeting of Christianity and Hinduism
• Dialogue Between Catholicism and the Other Religions
• Buddhism Comes to the West
• Finding Your Place in the Interspiritual Movement
Chapter 3 The Mirror of the Heart: Consciousness As the
Root of Identity	51
Hinduism: Supreme Identity in the Mahavakyas
• Buddhism: Enlightenment, Shunyata, Nirvana, and the Doctrine of No-Self
• The Greeks: Plato and Aristotle
• The Christian Understanding
• Who We Are Is Where We're Going
• A New Paradigm of Identity: We Are Consciousness
• Quantum Physics Shows Us Reality and Self-Identity
• The Nature of the Divine
Chapter 4 "The Paths Are Many But the Goal Is the
Same": Discovering the Way	79
The Inner Path: The Way of Contemplation
• The Outer Path: The Way of Action
• The Place of Spiritual Transformation
• The Asramas and Margas: Living the Sacred
• The Integration of Action and Contemplation
• The Goal of the Spiritual Journey
Part II: The Practical Nature of the Mystical Way
Chapter 5 The Mystic Character	105
The Problem of the Ego-Driven Life
• The False Self
• Actual Moral Capacity
• Solidarity with All Living Beings
• Deep Nonviolence
• The Mystic or Contemplative Character
• Who Is a Saint?
Chapter 6 Spiritual Practice: The Crux of Inner Change	125
Humility
• Spiritual Practice
• Mature Self-Knowledge
• Transformation As the Reality of Inner Change
Chapter 7 Out in the World: The Spirituality of Action	147
Simplicity of Life
• Selfless Service and Compassionate Action
• The Prophetic Voice
• The Fruits or Capacities of the Spiritual Journey
• The Fruits of Spirituality Work Together
Part III: The Mysticism of the Natural World
Chapter 8 Natural Mysticism: Reading the Book of Creation	173
• Readers of the Book of Nature
• Natural Contemplation As the Capacity to Read the Books of Creation and Life
• A Spirituality of Creation
• The Mystical Experience of Totality
• The Spirituality of Pilgrimage
• Nutrition and Spirituality
• Yoga and the Martial Arts
• Toward a Holistic Spirituality
• Natural Meditation
• Discourse of the Rose
Part IV: Global Mysticism
Chapter 9 The Promised Land of the Spiritual Journey	211
An Intermystical Bridge: The Guidelines for Interreligious Understanding
• The Summit of the Spiritual Life
• Mystic Visitations: Personal Experience of the Summit
• Stations of the Mystical Summit
• Dreams: Channels of the Sacred
• Experimental Mysticism
• Reaching the Further Shore of the Spiritual Journey
• Becoming Cosmic in the Center
Chapter 10 Opening the Heart of the World: Toward a
Universal Mysticism	235
A Universal Communal Spirituality
• Beauty in the Intermystical Journey
• Discovering the Mystic Heart Together
• A Special Message to the Young
• The Church As Matrix of Interfaith Encounter
• A Universal Order of Sannyasa
Chapter Notes	251
Glossary	263
Recommended Reading	273
Index	279

Editorial Reviews

"My good friend Brother Wayne Teasdale has long been actively involved in the effort to bring our religious traditions together. In this book Brother Wayne explores what he calls interspirituality. He shares his deep respect for and knowledge of the world’s religions, relates examples from the lives of many great spiritual practitioners, and illuminates the traditions’ wonderful commonalities. The Mystic Heart is a work of great inspiration.”
— His Holiness the Dalai Lama

“As a student of mysticism for more than thirty years, I have never encountered as thorough or profound a book as The Mystic Heart. Teasdale gives us a history, a multi-faith context, the actual experience of the mystical state, and a wide-ranging and practical set of how-to’s to bring the ancient secrets into the lives of modern mystics — like you and me.”
— Thom Hartmann, author of The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight

“All the classical spiritual traditions are here! The Hindu and Buddhist, the Sufi, the Jewish, the Christian and Muslim, and the indigenous people, too — even the ecologists and their mystical sense of the natural world as divine manifestation. The Mystic Heart is a superb presentation of how these great spiritual traditions are now meeting and supporting each other — how they all give witness to the transforming presence of the divine in human consciousness. A dedicated scholar and practitioner, Wayne Teasdale adds to this personal insights drawn from a lifetime given to the study of the mystical traditions.”
— Thomas Berry, author of The Dream of the Earth

“With loving clarity and understanding of all genuine mystical experience from the great traditions, Brother Wayne Teasdale illuminates the ‘ecology of souls’ so that each of us, no matter what our path, can be attuned and enriched by the others. A fine masterwork by a living embodiment of the mystic heart.”
— Barbara Marx Hubbard, author of Conscious Evolution

“Those who share Teasdale’s optimistic vision of the coming age as fostering spiritual unity among diverse peoples will consider the book an inspirational guide.”
— Publishers Weekly

“This well-written and informative book will appeal both to scholars and informed lay readers. For academic libraries and public libraries with a strong religion collection.”
— Library Journal

“This is a landmark book in the field of interreligious dialogue, written with sensitivity and deep respect for all the great traditions.”
— The Hartford Courant

“The Mystic Heart is a beautiful and profound meditation on the commonalities at the core of the world's great religions. In this age of extreme pluralism, which encourages us to all be different (and fragmented), Brother Teasdale reminds us that Spirit is common in and to us all, and thus in addition to cherishing differences we can embrace unity. A wise and wonderful wake-up call to a world in shattered pieces.”
— Ken Wilber, author of The Marriage of Sense and Soul

“This rare and wonderful book awakens its readers to their own mystic nature. We discover here how previously divided and distinguished spiritual traditions are converging into a new river of holiness, an interspirituality. What is unique in this work is the luminous guidance the author gives us for deepening one’s personal faith while exploring the mystical genius of other traditions. It may well be, as Brother Teasdale so eloquently shows, that the mystical experience is perhaps the greatest accelerator of evolutionary enhancement. Through it, we tap into wider physical, mental, emotional and social systems and thus gain entrance into the next stage of our unfolding, both individually and collectively. Once the province of the few, the mystic path may now be the requirement of the many — a unique developmental path for self and world. The Mystic Heart goes to the heart of this matter.”
— Jean Houston, author of A Mythic Life

“The Mystic Heart is a visionary work that presents a bold and imaginative glimpse of the fruits of multifaith sharing and collaboration. Teasdale’s yearning for a universal communal spirituality that cuts across all traditions is one that we can celebrate. On these pages, he has presented stirring blueprints of global mysticism.”
— Spirituality & Health

“Teasdale's interspiritulity is more than just developing tolerance: it opens the door to even greater truths.”
— Personal Transformation

“Teasdale combines a Christian faith with an understanding of the world's religions, resulting in an excellent explanation of the principles and elements of universal spirituality.”
— The Bookwatch

“With a vast range of knowledge, Teasdale draws on the teachings, practices, and experiences of shamans, saints, and theologians of all ages and traditions, on his own experience, and on contemporary science, art, and poetry to provide an understanding of the goal of realizing ultimate reality as it appears under many names. . . . Hans Kung has said there will be no peace until there is understanding among world religions. This book is an informed and practical contribution to that understanding.”
—  CHOICE, Current Reviews for Academic Libraries

“The Mystic Heart reminds us that the fruits of our personal spiritual journey also have their own reward in giving to ourselves a greater capacity for openness and awareness, for spontaneity and joy, to be really present for others, in compassion and without expectation.”
— Conscious Choice

“The Mystic Heart is an excellent survey and overview of the present state of interfaith or multifaith spirituality at the end of the 20^th century. Wayne Teasdale . . . has put together a truly thought-provoking book—one that should prosper as a useful primer in the field of interreligious dialogue.”
— America magazine

“This book will appeal to a wide variety of readers, and especially those interested in mysticism, spirituality, and religion. . . . those who read The Mystic Heart will be inspired toward deep spiritual discovery.”
— New Age Retailer

“For [those] just beginning to wonder what we all have in common, where to look for the one God underneath all the rich religious diversity of the human family, this may be just the right guide.”
— National Catholic Reporter

“Teasdale has done us a service in synthesizing an enormous amount of material, and of presenting it to us in an eminently readable and digestible format. This book will create a great deal of soul-searching.”
—Sisters Today

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