A Spiritual Diary

In her Introduction the author traces her spiritual adventure from the early days of her teen-age practise of contemplation. The relaxation sessions with which each day began at Speech Therapy College began her formal training. A member of the C of E, she had a spiritual director from the Community of the Resurrection in Mirfield, and stayed at the enclosed Convent of the Incarnation in Oxford. After a theology course at College of Ascension Birmingham she sailed for India in 1964. There she was introduced to to the Abhishiktananda Society which promoted Hindu-Christian dialogue. After attending the Inauguration of the Church of North India she visited Gandh-ji's ashram at Sevagram and Vinoba Bhave's ashram not far away. In both of these ashrams the day began before dawn with silent meditation in a dark room lit by a single candle. She was privileged to attend a question/answer session with Vinoba Bhave himself. During those years she read the Upanishads and came to accept the belief in non-duality, advaita, without this in any way compromising her faith in Christ. In 1977 she married Salman Hashmi of the Muslim community and they had a son and a daughter. By the 1990's she was studying New Age methods of meditation, and this Diary is a record of the extraordinary results.