Del i serien Lutterworth Press

Only Mind Worth Having

Thomas Merton and the Child Mind

Häftad, Engelska, 2016

AvFiona Gardner

369 kr

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An imaginative engagement with Thomas Merton's view of childhood, suggesting that a rediscovery of the 'child mind' helps to a mature relationship with God.In The Only Mind Worth Having, Fiona Gardner takes Thomas Merton's belief that the child mind is "the only mind worth having" and explores it in the context of Jesus' challenging, paradoxical, and enigmatic command to become like small children. She demonstrates how Merton's belief and Jesus' command can be understood as part of contemporary spirituality and spiritual practice. To follow Christ's command requires a great leap of the imagination. Gardner examines what it might mean to make this leap when one is an adult without it becoming sentimental and mawkish, or regressive and pathological. Using both psychological and spiritual insights, and drawing on the experiences of Thomas Merton and others, Gardner suggests that in some mysterious and paradoxical way recovering a sense of childhood spirituality is the path towards spiritual maturity. The move from childhood spirituality to adulthood and on to a spiritual maturity through the child mind is a move from innocence to experience to organised innocence, or from dependence to independence to a state of being in-dependence with God.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2016-11-29
Mått153 x 229 x 18 mm
Vikt350 g
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
SerieLutterworth Press
Antal sidor242
FörlagBoydell & Brewer Ltd
ISBN9780718894412

Tillhör följande kategorier

Kristendom inom Filosofi och religion
Religion: allmänt inom Filosofi och religion

Fiona Gardner is a psychotherapist, spiritual director and writer. She is the author of The Four Steps of Love and Precious Thoughts among other books and articles. Formerly chair of the Thomas Merton Society of Great Britain and Ireland and co-editor of The Merton Journal, she is on the board of the International Thomas Merton Society and was awarded a "Louie" in 2015 at the ITMS Centenary Conference.

Foreword by Rowan WilliamsAcknowledgments1 Introduction to Jesus' Command, to Thomas Merton, and to Ideas about the Spirit of the ChildPART ONE: UNDERSTANDING2 Infancy and Rebirth3 Thinking about God as Parent and God as Child4 The Influence of Monastics, Saints, and Theologians on Thomas Merton's Thinking on the Child Mind5 Child's Mind is Buddha's Mind6 The Shadow and the Disguise: The Adult Life of CarePART TWO: RE-FINDING7 The Enchanted World, the Tendency towards Dis-enchantment, and the Possibility of Re-enchantment8 The Secret Life of the Wounded Child9 Finding Spiritual and Psychological Healing10 An Invitation to Look and Find ParadisePART THREE: BECOMING11 Dancing in the Water of Life12 Poetry: The Language of the Child Mind13 The Divine Play of God: Play and Creativity14 The Internal Landscape of the Child Mind and Models of Spiritual Maturity15 Epiphanies of the Child MindAfterwordBibiliographyIndex

In this insightful, profoundly helpful, compelling book, Fiona Gardner draws upon her skills as a psychotherapist and theologian to explore Jesus's invitation to become as little children. This innovative book, so helpfully exemplified at every turn by reference to the story and writings of Thomas Merton, puts before us the vital necessity of finding again the spirit of the child - the child mind - as the path of spiritual maturity is pursued.