Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind [Paperback]

Wouldn't it be helpful to have some guidance from someone who is both a scientist and a spiritual practitioner, who has managed to integrate both approaches to reality? Roger Walsh's Essential Spirituality is such help.

I was fortunate to see this book in manuscript form when the publisher asked me for a promotional quote. I was very rushed at the time and could only read through the manuscript lightly, but knowing the quality and depth of Walsh's work, I was able to enthusiastically say "I could not imagine a better person to write this book." I knew he was not only a first class scholar and writer in these areas, but indeed someone with a serious personal practice informing his writing. Rereading the book more thoroughly for this review has been a pleasure and a privilege, for the clarity, depth, and importance of it is very great indeed.

I should also take this as a lesson about the hurry in my life and what it costs me. Allowing oneself to be carried away by the rush of life is, as Walsh points out in Essential Spirituality, very costly:

"You need to have a routine of some kind with sacred time carefully set aside. Otherwise the world's distractions and demands will consume every open moment and leave you astounded to find that yet another day, month, year, or even decade has disappeared into oblivion with only a few scattered moments devoted to spiritual practice."

This is an example of the clarity and practicality of the advice Walsh gives. Essential Spirituality is a complete introduction to the spiritual pathand an essential refresher for those of us who think we already know something about it!

Walsh has isolated a common core of seven practices or directions of development. He not only explains them, but gives practical exercises for realizing them. The seven are:

-Transform your motivation: reduce craving and find your soul's desire.
-Cultivate emotional wisdom: heal your heart and learn to love.
-Live ethically: feel good by doing good.
-Concentrate and calm your mind.
-Awaken your spiritual vision: see clearly and recognize the sacred in all things.
-Cultivate spiritual intelligence: develop wisdom and understand life.
-Express spirit in action: embrace generosity and the joy of service.

It is hard to know what is best to quote to illustrate the practicality (and compassion) in the book, there is so much of excellence, so I will first quote the beginning of the first chapter on how to use the book:

"Each practice, exercise, and idea in this book is applicable to life and helpful in transforming it. Test them for yourself. This book allows you to do just that."

"These practices require no specific religious belief, nor do they require giving up any specific religious belief. This book is much more concerned with learning and living than with believing. All that is necessary is an open mind and a willingness to experiment. The crucial question is whether the practices are helpful to you."

"This is not to imply that spiritual practice is easy . It takes courage to examine yourself and your life carefully. It takes effort to do the exercises regularly and commitment to keep doing them during difficult times. Fortunately, the more you practice, the more these essential qualities grow. Above all, be patient. Transforming yourself and your life is a gradual process."

Throughout the book Walsh emphasizes experimenting with the various practices, recognizing your own natural rhythms, finding what works best for you, and being kind to yourself. The sections on work with negative emotions are particularly valuable, for we often tend to have harsh superegos and so are counterproductively hard on ourselves.

When I was younger, I used to think that spirituality was mainly about special states of mystical revelation. Now, while not devaluing those, I think that compassion and kindness toward others are what it's really all about, so I'm pleased that Walsh gives so much attention to these qualities. Near the end of Essential Spirituality he wisely reminds us that:

"The power of practice depends in part on why it is done. This is why practicing for the well-being and awakening of everyone, including ourselves, is more potent than practicing for ourselves alone. To focus solely on our own well-being is to separate ourselves from others and to starve beneficial qualities such as love and generosity."

"To practice for the benefit of all people-even all creatures- is to expand our circle of care and to cultivate emotions such as love and kindness. Over time it becomes increasingly obvious that the happiness of others is our own and that to practice for the benefit of all is not a sacrifice but rather a delight. Our spiritual work not only helps us but is, according to Ramana Maharshi, "the best help you can possibly render to others." Our task is simply to do our practice as fully as we can. In this way we gradually learn to awaken ourselves, to love and serve life in all its infinite forms, to see the sacred in all things, and to care for our troubled world."

A real contribution!

Two stars for the effort, Roger. I will insert a disclaimer, here. If I were to write a book like this, it would probably be biased toward my own tradition (wicca), without me even realizing it. And I'm sure that some jerk would write a nasty review about me on amazon.com.