The Center's
holdings feature popular spiritual classics, written in, or translated
into, English, from early Middle Ages through the mid-1900s,
and drawn from the world's major spiritual thought. While emphasizing
Judeo-Christian writings, The Center's emphasizes the contemplative
(mystical) and metaphysical tradition underlying what is called,
variously, the higher reaches of consciousness: God-consciousness,
Christ-consciousness, cosmic-consciousness.
[Archive]
The Center's
archival holdings are currently being assembled, and limited
to the Marsha Sinetar's original manuscripts, selected personal
papers and primary source research materials documenting interviews
with selected spiritually maturing individuals - i.e., those
who demonstrate in their thought and choices the higher reaches
of consciousness the Collection features.
Besides the
many books cited in the endnotes of Sometimes, Enough
is Enough, listed
below find a handful that may be of special interest to you who
want to explore different facets of contemplative life, casual
or otherwise. These represent only some of my our favorites,
and a small sample of Center library holdings.
Titles are
arranged by category. Depending on data availability, we frequently
provide publisher names and dates of publication. Public libraries
should have almost all of these books.
The following
annotated bibliography is an excerpt from Sometimes, Enough
is Enough (HarperCollins,
2000) and illustrates the type of books The Library is collecting
in its holdings.
[On Contemplative
Prayer]
Abhishiktananda.
Prayer. Delhi: ISPCK (P. O. Box 1583, Kashmere Gate, Delhi,
India 110006), 1993.
This booklet
is so pure, so rich with the voice of the Spirit -- not at all
academic or cerebral -- and so thin a volume that I've misfiled
it several times. I love this work and reread it frequently,
especially after losing it for a while. I read it from back to
front, from middle to outer ends. Whatever. The author was a
French monk who lived in India for about thirty years as an adult.
He found his Christian experience greatly enriched by the Hindu-Buddhist
religious tradition.
Abbott
Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O., M. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O., and
Thomas E. Clarke, S.J. Finding Grace at the Center, Still
River, Mass.: St. Bede Publications, 1979.
Anyone interested
in learning more about "centering prayer" might profit
from reading this book. It's short, easy to read, and pretty
traditional. Personally, I never could quite slog through the
classic fourteenth century book, A Cloud of Unknowing,
which describes the earliest centering prayer.
Thomas
Merton. Contemplative Prayer. New York: Image Books/Doubleday,
1969.
An easy, nontheoretical,
inspiringly practical overview of contemplative prayer. One of
the best overviews I've found. Includes short excerpts from different
monastic traditions: Celtic, Syrian, Cistercian. Merton had a
universal mind, hospitable to the principles of both Eastern
meditation practices and more traditional Western approaches.
His integrative love is obvious in these chapters
[Books with a Nonmonastic,
Contemplative Feel]
Oswald
Chambers. My Utmost for His Highest. Urichville, Ohio:
Discovery House Publisher/Barbour and Co., 1935.
A Christian
devotional designed for daily reading as meditation and application.
Incrementally, this study can build strength of worship and authentic
faith. If you're mealy-mouthed about expressing your values or
walking your spiritual talk, Chambers can straighten you out.
He's a no-nonsense, "get real" practitioner. For me,
meditating with Chambers for a year, every morning, was like
attending boot camp. When the year was up, I started over again
at the beginning and felt, "Thanks, I needed that."
Richard
J. Foster. Celebration of Discipline. San Francisco, Calif.:
Harper San Francisco, 1978.
I've cited
Browning's book of Muir quotes in almost every book I've written.
When I'm down, Muir cheers me up. When frazzled, Muir calms.
I've packed John Muir in my suitcase for long business
trips and feeling homesick. If you're a born contemplative, after
reading Muir, you may end up donating your farm to a conservancy
group, moving to a hut in the Rockies, or joining the Trappists
or the Saint Clares. A saintly book. Buy it today. Give it as
a Christmas gift to the members of your local city planning board
if they even consider paving over one more inch of wilderness.
e.
e. cummings. 100 Selected Poems. New York: Grove Press,
1926.
If your spirit
isn't quickened, your heart stirred up or even broken, by some
line in this choice volume, please get help.
Walker
Percy. The Moviegoer. New York: Ivy Books, 1960, 1961.
What can I
say about Percy? He's God's man. A writer who calls us to awareness
in the tradition of philosopher Soren Kierkegaard by describing
the malaise or "sickness unto death" that engulfs us
if we are not, as he puts it, "onto something" holy.
The Moviegoer proves that Percy saw the holy in the dustiest,
cobwebbiest corner. God bless you, W.P., e.e., and John Muir;
you have blessed me.
[Meditation and Contemplative
Practice in Daily Life]
John
of the Cross. Selected Writings.
Julian
of Norwich. Showings.
Meister
Eckhart. The Essential Sermons.
Native
North American Spirituality of the Eastern Woodlands. Sacred
Myths, Dreams Visions; Speeches; Healing Formulas.
Nicholas
of Cusa. Selected Spiritual Writings.
Quaker
Spirituality. Selected Writings, edited by Douglas V.
Steere.
[Inspirational]
Truman
Capote. A Christmas Memory. Modern Library.
e.e.
cummings. Seventy Three Poems. Hartcourt Brace & World.
Thomas
Merton. Contemplative Prayer. Doubleday.
Logan
Persall Smith. Trivia. London: Constable & Co., 1918.
Simone
Weil. Waiting for God.
[Hard to Classify]
Ewert
H. Cousins. Christ of the Twenty First Century. Continuum
Publishing Group.
Eric
Gill. In a Strange Land.
Bede
Griffiths. The Golden String (autobiography). Templegate.
John
Hargreaves. As I See It. Mulberry Press.
Thich
Nhat Hanh. Being Peace. Parallax Press.
Pascal.
Pensees. Penguin Books.
