Friday is Book Day on the blog, when we take a look at books – old and new -- that I highly recommend you not miss. This week’s recommended reading: God on Your Own, Finding a Spiritual Path Outside Religion, by Joseph Dispenza.
This book is about opening to the direct experience of the Sacred, beyond the experience of mere Belief, as Dean Sluyter put it in his jacket endorsement. My lovely friend, the wonderful Barbara Marx Hubbard, says of this text: "Every now and then a book nourishes our deepest and often unstated need. For those of us stepping out from organized religion, learning to incarnate the divineand to discern the deeper meaning of all mystical revelation as sovereign persons, this is literally a God-send! We are taken on a journey to spiritual freedom and fulfillment as a personal revelation. It's a remarkably good book."
Says the book jacket liner notes: After spending eight years in a monastery, Joseph Dispenza walked away from his life as a monk and the religion of is used in search of a different kind of spiritual path. Outside the confines of organized religion, Dispenza was able to create a spiritual life that gives direction and meaning to all he does and all he is.
God on Your Own is written for anyone who has left (or is thinking of leaving) organized religion but wants to continue on the spiritual path. Throughout the book...
...Dispenza offers wise, compassionate guidance, speaking as one seeker to another. For anyone who is ready to take full responsibility for his or her spiritual life, this book will serve as a personal guide for the journey.
Typical of the kind of insight and commentary that will be found here is this passage:
"The strong message we get from the Lord's Prayer is that we are fundamentally flawed but there is a creator, somewhere far away from us, who is withholding from us all the basic things we need for our fulfillment. No wonder we are all walking around on our own little personal cloud of guilt. We declare that we are worthless, and to make things worse we have no hope of ever becoming less worthless. That is, if we keep praying the way we have been.
"Let me make it clear that I am not suggesting the Lord's Prayer be stricken from the books and erased from the mind of s of billions of people. I am pointing out the core spiriual beliefs running behind the world's most well-known prayer. You can do the same with virtually any prayer or hymn you learned by rote as a child growing up within an organized religion or simply in our Christian-dominated culture. All have core beliefs behind them; all have spiritual secrets to reveal...
"Be aware that standing in the shadows behind such familiar expressions of worship as the Lord's Prayer, the 10 Commandments, Psalm 23 ("The Lord is my Shepherd..."), "Allahu Akbar" (God is Most Great), and others are powerful messages about who you are, and who or what your Source is in relation to you."
This may sound like an irreverent book that has no place of honor for God, but it is exactly the opposite. The book explores at a very deep level the journey taken by human beings who find themselves at odds with the teachings and doctrines of traditional theologies, but not at all at odds with the idea of a Divine Being or a Greater Reality that most of us call God or Allah or Yahweh or Jehovah or Bramin and or by whatever other name feels comfortable to us.
With great respect for the world's great religions, and meaning no disparaging of them at all, I would recommend God on your own is a wonderful tool for persons who find themselves on a different path toward the Divine.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
If you would like to discuss these and other
fascinating spiritual and temporal matters with
Neale Donald Walsch, and, indeed,
if you would like to become a messenger of
the New Spirituality, join Neale in the
Messengers' Circle, a subscription-based
area of the author’s website at www.nealedonaldwalsch.com
Neale personally responds in that location
on his website to many of the Comments
posted here.
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Subscribe
One does not have to join organized religion to have faith in God.
However, the Bible states that we, Christians, should not forsake
the assembly of the brethren. There are positive reasons to be involved
in an organized religion. If you read enough Christian theologians
you will find that Christianity is more of a relationship with the
Triune Lord than a religion. It is not the church that draws one to
faith but God the Holy Spirit that brings one into a rightful
relationship with the Triune Lord.
Joseph Dispenza is ny personal friend and is in my top ten list of favorite people in the world. I love his wisdom and his company, I took the workshop based on his book GOD OW YOU OWN and it was a very profound a wonderful experience.
I recommend the book and his workshop here is San Miguel de Allende to anybody who is looking to be closer to God without being affiliated to any church.
Namaste.
Re -marc rosenfeld | September 22, 2007 7:39 AM
However, the Bible states that we, Christians, should not forsake
the assembly of the brethren. There are positive reasons to be involved in an organized religion
** There is a world of difference between Christianity and organized religion ! Organized religion is failing miserably in "Love one another as I have loved you" And even worse they can find legitimate reasons for abuse in the Bible (it's all in there, what we need to do right, and everything we do wrong !)
If you read enough Christian theologians you will find that Christianity is more of a relationship with the
Triune Lord than a religion.
** Now if we could only apply that theology to the real world, what a wonderful world it would be ! It appears to me that we need a more direct communication with the Creator, than with self-righteous pseudo-Christians
It is not the church that draws one to
faith but God the Holy Spirit that brings one into a rightful
relationship with the Triune Lord.
** I may be mistaken, but the gift of "freewill" as it applies to Love, and whatever com-mune you interrelate with God is of prime importance, not a lot of religious secularism and or ritual
LUV 2 ALL
Wisdum
This is a comment on the book by Joseph Dispenza, "God On Your Own"I have read the book and found it to be right on target with my own struggle and journey. Every once in a while a book comes along that resonates in that place beyond belief to knowing. This is such a book. I like the fact that he honors the belief system he was raised in as a path that led him to seek his truth.
My own search began with Marianne Williamson's "A Return To Love" and "The Conversation With God" series, then on to Tolle's "The Power Of Now".. This book encouraged me to become even more comfortable with my
"new" truth. It is very difficult to separate from a belief system that has become so much a part of your life and family heritage. I encourage everyone to read this book and find out how great you really are and know that you are co-creating your life.
Namaste
Mary Kay
Greetings of Peace and Love! I just finished reading the book "god on your own" by Joseph Dispenza and I find it very helpful in clarifying things about my personal spiritual path. I just got out of the Catholic Church a year ago and I am on my own now. I was baptized, confirmed and ordained a priest in that church...the early part of priesthood I spend as a missionary to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and the Philippines...then the later part as a Benedictine monk of Pecos Benedictine Monastery in New Mexico. I am a married man now and living and working here in McCloud, California. I am working however towards a transition to the Episcopal Church as a married priest, but it will take at least two years to process that. For now I try to practice a personal spirituality by doing daily zen meditation, reading spiritual books and being of service to those who have addiction problems. This is just a little bit of my story as a response to the wonderful story and discovery of Joseph Dispenza...one little bubble to another...hahahaha. I have the image of the "little blue earth" on my refrigerator. I did not know the reason why I like it and bring it with me wherever I am. After reading "god on your own" and its call for cosmis unity along a new level of the evolutionary process I am beginning to understand my own spiritual interconnection with fellow sojourners along the same path. Thank you so much for making me feel safe and at home, for liberating me from the thought of being alone and isolated in my part of the world, for making me feel a member of a worldwide community of seekers of the true path to wholeness, holiness and freedom!
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.