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Joan Halifax

The Fruitful Darkness

“The wisdom of cultures that live harmoniously with nature spoken through the heart and mind of a true gnostic intermediary.” —Ram Dass
In this “masterwork of an authentic spirit person,” Buddhist teacher and anthropologist Joan Halifax Roshi delves into “the fruitful darkness”—the shadow side of being, found in the root truths of Native religions, the fecundity of nature, and the stillness of meditation (Thomas Berry).
In this highly personal and insightful odyssey of the heart and mind, she encounters Tibetan Buddhist meditators, Mexican shamans, and Native American elders, among others. In rapt prose, she recounts her explorations—from Japanese Zen meditation to hallucinogenic plants, from the Dogon people of Mali to the Mayan rain forest, all the while creating “an adventure of the spirit and a feast of wisdom old and new” Halifax believes that deep ecology (which attempts to fuse environmental awareness with spiritual values) works in tandem with Buddhism and shamanism to discover “the interconnectedness of all life,” and to regain life’s sacredness (Peter Matthiessen).
233 printed pages
Original publication
2007
Publication year
2007
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Quotes

  • Mila Naumovahas quoted2 years ago
    Aloneness teaches us how we are really connected to and interdepending with everything. Paradoxical though it may seem, solitude reveals our interrelatedness. Buddhist and shaman alike share this path of paradox.
  • Mila Naumovahas quoted2 years ago
    As such, we are connected to each thing, and all things abide in us. Our psychological and physical afflictions are part of the stream of that beingness. On my second day in the desert, as I was walking in the late afternoon, I recalled the years of mental and physical sickness I have suffered. I asked myself then, Whose sickness is this anyway?
    From one point of view, the suffering was my suffering. From another point of view, it was rooted in social, cultural, environmental, and psychological factors that were far beyond the local definition of who I am. My suffering is not unique but arises out of the ground of my culture. It arises out of the global culture and environment as well. I am part of the World's Body. If part of this body is suffering, then the world suffers.
    Recognizing the World Wound also turns us away from a sense of exclusiveness. If we work to heal the wound in ourselves and other beings, then this part of the body of the world is also healed. Each of us carries or has carried suffering. This suffering is personal. But where is it that we end and the rest of creation begins? As part of the continuum of creation, our personal suffering is also the world's suffering. Its causes are more complex and ramified than the local self.
  • Mila Naumovahas quoted2 years ago
    where storms come and go
    as lightning clangs upon the high crags,
    where something strange and more beautiful
    and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams
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