Passionate Presence: Experiencing the Seven Qualities of Awakened Awareness [Hardcover]

Catherine Ingram (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 24, 2003

Based on Catherine Ingram's work with thousands of students, Passionate Presence takes the reader on a heart journey that is an immediate experience of seven awakened qualities, speaking directly to the inherent wisdom within each of us.

In Passionate Presence, Catherine Ingram celebrates the seven awakened qualities through stories and dharma points accumulated over three decades of spiritual training. Through her popular interactive Dharma Dialogues (dharma meaning "truth" or "the way"), she has helped thousands of students in their quest for awakening by encouraging them to give up the quest and to let their own heart intelligence guide them in life. Now she brings these many years of experience and teaching to a book that fosters awakened awareness in daily life and encourages us to recognize life's greatest gift: our own passionate presence. Based on "non-dual" teachings that rely on direct experience and filled with numerous stories illustrating her points, Ingram shares with the reader:

* The seven inherent traits of passionate presence: silence, tenderness, embodiment, genuineness, discernment, delight, and wonder.
* The ease of recognizing these traits and letting them inform our lives
* The danger of accepting beliefs without directly experiencing them
* The sense of wonder that is inevitable when we live in passionate presence

Filled with illuminating anecdotes and personal reflections, Passionate Presence reminds us of our divine innocence. Inspiring and profound, it is a sojourn into the timeless wisdom secretly known by all.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Trained in Buddhist teachings, Ingram (In the Footsteps of Gandhi) is also the founder of Living Dharma and conducts Dharma Dialogues for devotees and interested students. Transcending traditional religious practices, Ingram here offers a program of how to develop a heightened awareness of the self. This awareness may be achieved with or without a personal instructor (the author's teacher was the late H.W.L. Poonjajai of India) and involves developing the qualities of silence, tenderness, embodiment, genuineness, discernment, delight and wonder. According to Ingram, engaging in meditation (silence) may lead to heightened creativity that eludes those who pursue ego-driven ambition. She also believes that for noble causes (e.g., environmental movements) to have an effect on society, there must be a strong commitment on the part of individuals to treasure the interconnectedness of all life. Cultivating wonder means, in part, an acceptance that most of life is a mystery and what we understand best can only exist in the present moment. In this thoughtful and clearly written exploration, Ingram details ways to achieve all her stated qualities of heightened awareness at length from a humanistic/Buddhist perspective.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Her writing clearly flows out of her own realization....the act of reading her words can become an awakening. -- Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now

The golden thread that runs through Catherine Ingram's excellent book is the possibility of immediate awakening. -- Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Gotham (February 24, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592400027
• ISBN-13: 978-1592400027
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #320,390 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Food for the soul January 1, 2005

By Daniel J. Benor

Format:Hardcover

This lovely book shares the wisdom of a teacher of silent meditation and Dharma Dialogues on awakened awareness. It is truly food for the soul.

Catherine Ingram describes her personal experiences in seeking and finding peace in the Now. While mindfulness meditation was a major path, a spiritual teacher catalyzed major shifts in her consciousness. Ingram now teaches mindfulness, through silence, through shared lessons, and (even through the pages of this book) through her personal centeredness.

Seven topics are highlighted: Silence, Tenderness, Embodiment, Genuineness, Discernment, Delight and Wonder. Each is illustrated with lovely stories of Ingram and other seekers on the Path.

Particularly helpful for healing are suggestions for acknowledging the presence of an inner observer who is detached even in the midst of crisis and suffering; for treasuring each present moment rather than living in the past or future; and for accepting that we need not torture ourselves with guilt and remorse because each of us has a lifetime of lessons to learn - and each experience offers us opportunities to develop deeper compassion for others who have their own lessons and make mistakes that may impact negatively on us. We can fester in negative reactions to life that is past or in our anxieties about our future life - or we might just let go of the negativity and move on to the ever-present Now.

I was surprised to discover this book was immediately helpful in finding a stronger connection with my own center of quiet awareness.

There is also a pleasant current of practical advice.

I warmly recommend this book for a good read and re-read.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Priceless April 13, 2003

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

Many spiritual books have given me great food for thought; this one has actually brought major shifts in my perception. It has taken me a large step forward in my presence and in the way I deal with people, which was immediately noticed by my coworkers. I don't want to get too specific and spoil the effect of a fresh reading, but do get this book. It's one of my top three spiritual books, along with *The Power of Now* by Eckhart Tolle, and *Loving What Is* by Byron Katie.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Ending the Tyranny of the Mind June 19, 2003

By Donald O'Donovan

Format:Hardcover

PASSIONATE PRESENCE is about ending the tyranny of the mind. Living in the mind instead of in the moment causes one to miss the freshness and wonder of life. We may spend hours each day chewing over our past failures, or, conversely, projecting a rosy future for ourselves. The problem with this scenario is that past and future are concepts. They exist only in the mind. PASSIONATE PRESENCE is about getting out of the mind and into the moment, into the preciousness and completeness of the moment, which, after all, is all we have. The qualities that exude from these pages--gentleness, genuineness and delight--are contagious. Catherine Ingram speaks to us from direct experience, and her experience, we realize, if we are truly attentive, is our experience.