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Dialogues With Emerging Spiritual Teachers : Eckhart Tolle PDF

356 Pages·2009·22.291 MB·English
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tME RG ING SPIRITUAL TEACHERS JOHN W. PARKER SAGEWOOD PRESS FORT COLLINS, COLORADO DIALOGUES WITH EMERGING SPIRITUAL TEACHERS Copyright © 2000 by John W. Parker Published by Sagewood Press, a subsidiary of Brookhaven Publishing, LLC All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. 987654321 FIRST EDITION Printed in the United States of America This edition is printed on acid-free paper that meets the American National Standards Institute Z39.48 Standard. For additional information write to: Sagewood Press 2601 S. Lemay, Suite 7-438 Fort Collins, Colorado 80525-2247 www.sagewoodpress.com ISBN 0-9703659-0-X Library of Congress Catalog number applied for Cover and book design by Paulette Livers Lambert Manufactured in the United States of America Quote on back cover is from The Great Swan: Meetings with Ramakrishna by Lex Hixon, Larsen Publications, 1996. This book is dedicated to my beloved wife Sylvia, who has been an unfailing source of love and light for the past thirty-two years. Also to my beautiful children Tony and Devon who are the greatest gurus of mindfulness and innocent joy. And to my devoted and loving parents Harold and Frieda Parker who have always been enormous pillars of strength and stability in my life. Special thanks to my friend Roland Wolff, Language Professor at Colorado State University for his perceptive editing work. Finally to all of the remarkable spiritual teachers, dear friends and guides who have illuminated the pathless path along the way—my sincere and deepest gratitude. Blessings to all who are moved to live from the Heart. Contents Introduction, vii THE DIALOGUES John Sherman, 1 Pamela Wilson, 23 John de Ruiter, 43 David Ciussi, 59 Elizabeth Klarich, 79 Eckhart Toile, 97 Mira, 127 Howard Badhand, 139 Byron Katie, 159 Timothee Roi Diers, 179 James Steinberg, 201 Hanuman Das, 235 Jane Vennard, 255 Saniel Bonder, 275 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 https://archive.org/details/dialogueswithemeOOOOpark Introduction I remember a hot, humid summer night when I was nine years old. I sat on my bed staring intently into the endless sky, looking for anything that would give me a sign that “God” or “Spirit” existed, not knowing exactly what I was looking for. Enveloped in total stillness I whispered, “O.K. I’m ready. If you’re out there just give me a sign, any sign: a shooting star, an angel flying by, a bearded old guy from The Ten Commandments movie, ANYTHING! Are you out there?” Noth¬ ing happened for what seemed like hours. I wasn’t giving up. I just kept gazing out the window, focusing on deeper and deeper layers of indigo emptiness dotted with flickering celestial bodies. My mind was churning a million miles an hour. “Am I just a blob of meat spinning on a speck of dust and that’s all there is to life? What are we doing here on this planet anyway? Maybe I should be looking for God in church like everybody else, but it’s so boring and hot in there. Maybe I’m looking in the wrong place! Is it in books? I’ll bet Jerry (the kid who lived down the street) knows. I’ll ask him tomor¬ row. Why am I thinking about all this stuff anyway? I must be going nuts! Nobody else I know cares about it! All anybody else thinks about is baseball, fishing and swimming at the river. Bob (another neigh¬ borhood buddy) is the one to ask! He’s Catholic and his parents are always dragging him off to church. What about the guy next door? He’s in the tile business and knows everything! I’ll ask him.” My brain continued to boil over in a cul de sac of nonsense. Finally total exhaustion set in and I slumped under the sheets burying myself in utter disappointment. I muttered to myself, “There is no God. There are no angels, otherwise they’d be here by now! Ask and you shall receive. Baloney! There is nothing. NOTHING!” vm Dialogues with Emerging Spiritual Teachers Within a split second of self-pitying defeat, while drifting into the twilight of deep sleep, I felt a warm, ethereal light enveloping me, bathing every cell of my body with a feeling of love and tenderness. I took a long, deep breath and muttered, “Wow, what is this? Is this IT?” For no apparent reason I found myself grinning from ear to ear as I nodded off, thanking whomever or whatever was responsible for giv¬ ing me this wonderful experience. Something spoke to my heart with¬ out words and said, “Yes, I am here.” From then on, I knew at some fundamental level that life was infinitely more than I ever imagined. As karmic whirlpools of adolescent and early adult narcissism ensued, the graceful epiphany bestowed upon me faded into the porous nature of unconsciousness. However, despite my many expe¬ ditions deep into maya (the great master of illusion and delusion), I never fully lost the “Presence.” An infinitesimal heart-flame of pure Light burned like a tiny ember buried under the ashes. Over the years, the “fire” for truth was strengthened and intensified through my asso¬ ciation with various spiritual teachers and teachings who have been most graciously given to me precisely at the right time. For thirty years I have been inexplicably drawn into the flame of love and eternal beauty that was my childhood experience. It still remains my primary passion to this day. The purpose of this book is two fold: to serve your natural inquisitiveness into reality or truth and to introduce you to fourteen “emerging” spiritual teachers. What is an “emerging spiritual teacher”? The word “emerging” in this context means “to come into view.” Originally I considered naming the book “Dialogues With Emerging Spiritual Teachers and Extraordinary Students,” or “Dia¬ logues with Emerging Spiritual Teachers, Guides and Friends.” How¬ ever, in the end both titles were too wordy and I made it less complicated. In actuality the content more accurately reflects the orig¬ inal title ideas. These dialogues reveal that there is an increasing number of less well-known, unadorned “spiritual teachers, guides and friends” sharing with us powerful insights into eternal Truth and Light. This was once thought to be the exclusive domain of celebrated, highly visible gurus. These Emerging Spiritual Teachers” are in many respects ordi¬ nary people. They are also spiritual emissaries of notable veracity, bringing forth in their own unique manner the underlying indivisi-

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