Seeking Peace Chronicles Of The Worst Buddhist In The World (2000) - Plot & Excerpts
"We all share similar journeys.We live through childhoods filled with ups and downs. We share houses with people who both love us and make us miserable. We pass developmental milestones,build identities and see them change. We fail miserably and we accomplish important goals. We make the best of it.We take turns being the afflicted and the comforter. We experience a crises and realize our old ways are not working. We stumble around lost and unhappy,only to see the light,find our own path and move forward. This is our universal human story....Every one of us possess what we need to flourish. None of are doomed." p232These are the most important conclusions that MP has to share with the world after over 30 years as a therapist and keen observer of people. Instead of a how-to fix-it book,she has courageously chosen instead to write her autobiography,offering it in the chance that her story will be useful for others.Inspiring it is,interesting,and yes,for me,useful in an immediate way;for this modest woman was born in the same era and grew up making the same shift in conciousness."I really did want to be a good girl,but I realized that it wasn't easy." she notices on p86 That she herself lacked confidence and underwent what she calls a complete meltdown when she acheived popular aclaim,let me have compassion instead of envy in her lucky life. With quiet humor and newly awakened compassion for herself,she gives her suggestions,the things that helped her soothe herself when it felt like she could not contain it all."What I had viewed as my pathology,I realize now is simply human experience." she realized at last.p235" "I am better able to sort out the difference between "that's life" and "that's nuts."Her definition of Religion is equally optimistic:Religions,she claims,are "metaphorical systems that give us bigger containers in which to hold our lives." Her discovery of Buddhism in particular is an encouragement for everyone who has ever struggled with a meditation cushion.Her prescription for the fragmented soul: mindfullness,attention to the moment, so that we can step however briefly out of the limits of Kronos,or chronilogical time,to enter kairos,sacred time. "There is a sense in which many of us are fighting for our lives. We are struggling to be present for our own experiences....If we are lucky,occasionally we experience a sparkling moment when we break out of our trance of self and are fully present." p212It is the number of these moments that we experience that makes us rich or poor,she has discovered, and "we are what we pay attention to" p217 This is barely a book about Buddhism, so it wasn't what I expected, somehow, given the title. It's a book about Mary Pipher. She writes about her life and her family and her psychological makeup and her life. Only at the very end does she talk about meditation and seeking peace. But I was interested in her family, and in her psychological makeup, and she had me crying at the end, which is a good sign.
What do You think about Seeking Peace Chronicles Of The Worst Buddhist In The World (2000)?
I read and enjoyed Reviving Ophelia. Very interested in reading this too!
—jrdg
Also schlocky and cliche. Expected more from pipher
—PJRutkowski
