[Scholar's Corner]
[Winter 2005]
M.A. Clark (ed.), et al.The Healing Wisdom of Dr. P.P. Quimby, Los Angeles: Frontal Lobe, 1982 (ISBN 0-9314-0002-3).
This old book holds selected commentaries of Quimby, whose original manuscripts are often incomprehensible, yet this well-edited collection of remarks shows why he was called "The Founder of New Thought."
Quimby, a self-taught Yankee-clock maker, was not a contemplative in that strictly prayerful, reflective sense. Yet, he was a deep, metaphysical thinker, and one who, largely on his own, discovered that false beliefs create disease. Quimby's self-healing (read Sometimes, Enough is Enough) and healing of thousands of patients who traveled to Maine to visit him (including Mary Baker Eddy-- an intriguing saga and relationship all by itself).
For example,
"What we believe, that we create, but this is a truth: a belief may be changed.... Error is of man, and Truth is of God [and that Truth cannot be changed]. I have been 20 years in the practice of curing disease and learning the cures, and I have learned that nine-tenths of the sick at this time would be well and hearty if the medical faculty were annihilated. Mind is a spiritual [substance], which being agitated, disturbs the spirit.... The word fire, for instance, doesn't mean the substance to be consumed, but the process of consuming it. So mind is the name of a spiritual substance that can be changed." (p. 41)
If reading such examples doesn't put us in a contemplative mode of mind, what would?
(New Thought/Metaphysics)
Author and editor, Ellsberg offers us a stimulating classic, compendium on saints of all faiths. This, for regular study, reference or occasional research. From Therese of Lisieux to Moses, Gandhi, Dante, Mother Teresa, Harriet Tubman, Isaac Hecker (founder of the Paulist Fathers) and Baal Shem Tov (founder of Hasidism), author Walker Percy (one of The Center's favorites), each short essay on a saintly life easily serves as daily meditation, enrichment, and provides leaders who guide others with uplifting, thought-expanding examples of human goodness, courage, and what Maslow called the Being values.
What could be more during times like ours than to read encouragement from our spiritual mentors, close or afar off? Ellsberg 's rich volume speaks that word by telling us the stories of those who left a lasting legacy of good.
(Catholic/ Interfaith)
This book could nurture the growth of any contemplative who prays and meditates and thinks deeply about his or her faith, who by the grace of God begins to know all others, including those in other lands, as the neighbor to be loved as self, even as one loves God with all ones heart and soul. For the contemplative, that fundamental requirement taught by Christ Jesus is not simply an intellectual rule; but an encountered Reality.
The contemplative tends to experience every other across denominational boards. The neighbor, the so-called foreigner, is oneself. So, how might Zen philosophy, with its often mystical tone and Buddhist principles, be compatible with Christianity? In its review, America, credited this book for opening up "two rich meditative traditions " to savor the wisdom of each.
Fr. Kennedy suggests that it is possible for all of us -- Christians and Buddhists, in particular in these pages -- to reflect deeply on each other's core ideas while maturing faithfully in their own traditions.
E.G.,"Mind is the place where God reveals himself; mind is Buddha...."(p.68)
"For Christians, too, a person is not a passive subject imposed upon by moments, events, or encounters, [s/he] is instead one who either limits or transcends [these things].... To help someone grow in consciousness appears to me to be a most appropriate Christian endeavor." (p. 68)
Every contemplative should read (and own study copies) of Krishnamurti's books. For example, You Are The World consists of his selected talks from Stanford and the University of California at Santa Cruz, that feel as timely today as when this book was published, some thirty years ago. Krishnamurti was a contemplative, and his life teaches us that one can reject a world of celebrity and media glizt, yet still be a tremendous force for increasing understanding of eternal things. In the prime of his world teaching activities, Krishnamurti surprised his followers by disavowing his guru's role and retiring to a quieter life of teaching (mostly through selected talks, and by writing books). His ideas attracted such leaders as Nehru, Leopold Stokowsku, Shaw, Aldous Huxley and the Dali Lama -- which again sows us that the heart of spirituality knows no boundaries, no denominational limits.
E.G., When he asks his audience a question, he does so to explain the difference between our dualistic, conceptual (or humanly mental) notions and the spiritually intelligent idea (i.e., the transcendent insight, intuition, realization, etc.):
"Who is the maker of effort? Conflict exists as long as there is effort, as long as there is contradiction... All [duality] division, outwardly as well as inwardly, breeds antagonism. So the problem arises.... [For instance, if] I ask you where you live... you will tell me. The "telling me" is born of a concept, of a remembrance -- and once must have such remembrances... But it is the concepts that have bred ideologies that are the source of mischief: You, an American, I, a Hindu, Indian... These ideologies are [humanly conceived], and we are willing to kill each other for them...(p.9)
Note: Our Scholar's Corner includes ISBN if books are older, and/or possibly out of print.
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