The Interior Silence
My Encounters with Calm, Joy, and Compassion at 10 Monasteries Around the World
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A journey around the world to find tranquility, quiet the mind, and understand the power of silence.
Suffering from information overload and unable to sleep, acclaimed journalist Sarah Sands tried countless strategies to de-stress, only to find temporary relief. Searching for something different, something lasting, Sands went on a quest to uncover ancient and proven wisdom for a happier, quieter, and more compassionate life. In this insightful and beautifully written book, Sands takes us along on her pilgrimage to ten monasteries around the world.
In the remoteness of these sacred spaces, Sands observes a hidden knowledge held by monks and nuns—what she calls "the interior silence." Renouncing the material world, their inner concentration buoys them in an extraordinary weightlessness and freedom, an oasis of reflection. Behind the cloistered walls, Sands too finds a clarity of mind and an unexpected capacity for solitude.
From a Coptic desert community in Egypt to a retreat in the Japanese mountains, discover another way of being—moving from appetite, envy, and anxiety to compassion and appreciation. The ultimate remedy for a digital age in which everyone is talking, and no one is listening, this book reminds us of the importance of silence and the power of stillness.
BEYOND MINDFULNESS: The trendiness and explosion of books on meditation and mindfulness does not always solve our modern-day stressors or our fight-or-flight existence. The Interior Silence goes beyond new-age mindfulness to offer traditional wisdom from monks for quieting the mind and embracing simplicity.
DISCOVER ANCIENT WISDOM: For spiritual readers and wisdom seekers, The Interior Silence takes you directly to the root of these ancient practices, learning from monastic life around the world.
FOR ARMCHAIR TRAVELERS: For readers who enjoyed The Geography of Bliss, anyone who enjoys learning about new places and cultures, or for those craving a trip, this book will take you to the countryside's, deserts, and mountains of Japan, France, Egypt, Greece, and more.
Digital audio edition introduction read by the author.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this insightful debut, journalist and self-described "spiritual tourist" Sands visits 10 monastic communities in search of wisdom and tools she can incorporate into her chaotic "5G life." Traveling to Japan, France, Egypt, Catalonia, Bhutan, and Austria, Sands stays at Benedictine, Buddhist, Carmelite, Celtic, Cistercian, Coptic, Franciscan, and Tibetan monasteries. (She provides an overview of each community's history and literature, and interviews contemporary practitioners.) Sands is frank about her struggles with her "constant ticker tape of anxieties," and her amusing accounts of trying to feel monastic peace while quarreling with her daughter in a Buddhist temple, being ravaged by mosquitos in Egypt, and discovering that she has her husband's phone in a Cistercian monastery will win over readers. After the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown disrupts her travel plans, Sands's visits to Marham Abbey in Norfolk, U.K., lead to nuanced reflections on the parallels between monasticism and enforced isolation. This physical and spiritual travelogue both piques and inspires.
