The Gate of Tears: Sadness and the Spiritual Path
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.49 (841 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 1934730459 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 200 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-12-27 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
"Beautiful. Contemplative" according to Shoshana Razel. Beautiful. Contemplative. Soulful. Redemptive. I savored this book slowly over the Jewish high holidays, and then recommended it to my fellow students, mentors, and colleagues at Harvard Divinity School, as well as to friends who, like me, have journeyed through loss in some way Thank you, Jay Michaelson, for a book to read slowly--and then again.. Eric Maroney said Necessary Ballast. Jay Michaelson’s The Gate of Sadness: Sadness and the Spiritual Path seeks to create a much need corrective path from New Age books, talks, and seminars devoted to finding and attaining happiness through spiritual and religious pursuits. Rather than viewing sadness as an impediment to the spiritual path, Michaelson frames it, quite correctly, as integral; without dark times, we would lack the necessary cognitive and mental tools to re
If anything, it is a self-helpless book, discovering a happiness deeper than transitory joys that emerges precisely when the resistance to sadness is released. This book will change your perspective and ease your load."- Abigail Pogrebin, author of Stars of DavidAbout the AuthorDr. The Gate of Tears: Sadness and the Spiritual Path explores the counter-intuitive insight that sadness and joy are not opposites - and that human capacities often suppressed or rejected can, instead, be gateways to deep joy, creativity, and liberation. Every chapter made me feel as if he was seeing me personally. Yet he is also a longtime teacher of insight meditation in Western Buddhist and secular mindfulness contexts, who has sat many months-long silent meditation retreats. Jay Michaelson guides us, instead of denying, avoiding, explaining away or resisting sadness, to go right into the heart of it. Here we have an antidote to mindless feel-good ideology, and gentle instructions in attending to the fullness of our experience so we see the value in the downs, not just the ups. Its eighty-two short, poetic, sometimes epigrammatic chapters draw on contemplative traditions, art, even pop songs. With his usual blend of erudition and accessibility, Michaelson weaves together Hasidic tales and Dharma teachings, Leonard Cohe
"Teaching us how to distinguish sadness from depression and sorrow from despair, Michaelson shows us how to walk through the "gate of tears" into a territory "full of the promise of healing and redemption." His book is an invitation to awaken to and accept the fullness of our human experience, in which joy and sadness, rather than being opposites, coexist in the complex harmony that is life on Earth." - Kristine Morris, Foreword Reviews (five star review)"Have you ever felt that a book's arrival in your life was a perfectly-timed gift? That's how I felt when I received my copy of Jay Michaelson's The Gate of Tears I am grateful for its presence on my bookshelves, and I know that I will read it again."- Rabbi Rachel Barenblat, VelveteenRabbis