There Is No Other
The Way to Harmony and Wholeness
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- $279.00
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- $279.00
Descripción editorial
An essential balm for these tumultuous times, this thoughtful and inspiring guide features newly gathered teachings to abandon the idea there is an “other,” bridging differences and cherishing our lives in the world, from beloved spiritual leader Ram Dass.
With the world seeming to teeter between democracy and authoritarianism, between humanitarianism and individualism, Ram Dass’s teachings on wholeness and unity are more needed than ever.
There Is No Other is a groundbreaking work showcasing the late spiritual leader’s thoughts and insights on broaching the divide and bringing disparate souls together. In these profound, newly gathered writings, Ram Dass shows us how a house divided against itself—whether that “house” is our individual self or the society in which we live—can come together in wholeness. There is no “other,” he explains. It is all one.
Structured in three sections, There Is No Other teaches us to open ourselves, come together in community, and love one another—and ourselves—across all our seeming contradictions and divisions. Anne Lamott contributes a beautiful foreword and each section is followed by a short essay reflecting on the endurance of Ram Dass’s ideas penned by Sharon Salzberg, Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield, and Mirabai Bush, as well as guided meditations to deepen each lesson.
As he leads us toward wholeness within our unique selves and as a human community, Ram Dass gives us the most precious gift: hope. Only in seeing ourselves in our complexity can we come together and honor our incarnations on the sacred planet we inhabit.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
These enlightening lectures from late spiritual teacher Dass (Polishing the Mirror) explore humanity's alienation from its divine roots. The argument running through the lectures is that humans once lived in total harmony with their surroundings and one another (a kind of "Eden"). That idyll was punctured by a fall from grace that generated an illusion of separation, according to Dass, and all religion has been a subsequent attempt to return to "oneness." The return from worldly to the formless and from the mind (and the attendant fear, egotism, and distrust that are responsible, Dass says, for many of the world's problems) to the "intuitive heart" is impeded by the human instinct to judge and covet. It's also blocked by the habit of "clinging" to one's possessions, thoughts, and other attachments, though Dass nimbly notes that the notion of not clinging can itself be clung to (to some extent, he writes, one must embrace their humanity and make peace with their separateness). While the lecture format can make for a somewhat disjointed reading experience, Dass more than makes up for it with insights that are complex, erudite, and often personal ("I looked around at my human incarnation, and after all the years of trying to be divine, of clinging to the idea of divinity, suddenly I wanted to be human"). Spiritual seekers should snap this up.
