Unconditional Confidence: Instructions for Meeting Any Experience with Trust and Courage

5 Responses to “Unconditional Confidence: Instructions for Meeting Any Experience with Trust and Courage”

1. C. Scanlon says:

   November 4, 2010 at 8:52 pm

   You hear why she kept silent so long, and why she should again.

   Like me.

   This may be an appealing introduction to meditation for the neophyte and it does contain some appealing observations, mainly from her past masters.

   For example, face your fears with a smile.

   Hey come with me through the open markets in Ciudad Juarez, most violent city in the world for two years in the row and off to a terrible start again this year.

   And face your fears with a smile.

   It’s the only way that you can, and hope to get out, with a fantastic guacamole burrito or two.

   Also, most unusual in our nation, we have some discussion here of death.

   But I reflect most people might find this all off-putting.

   For prayer and mediation, I highly, very highly, even urgently recommend the groundbreaking new publication: Seek God Everywhere: Reflections on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius which will really give you something to sink your contemplative teeth into, and find full nourishment.

   Here you might fall asleep.

   It is at its best as she recalls the past masters; at its worst on the second disk, which is a dialogue between Pema and an announcer, because continually throughout a bamboo wind chime is clinking and clanking until you reflect your cd player is going incorrect.

   The most telling part is when she admits that when she started long ago it was not unusual to have two hour “sits” and now people might sit a few minutes and call it what it ain’t anymore.

   An issue the Reverend Father Anthony De Mello addresses very poignantly and truthfully in the new publication Seek God Everywhere: Reflections on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Set a time to pray and keep it, especially when you are not down for it anymore. That is when the progress takes place.

   It is appealing here her backstory: the hopelessness we all shared long ago, the search for peace in things very much upsetting, and then her coming to meditation.

   Again, read the Reverend Father De Mello, please, as a replacement for, particularly his early sections on silence.

   Pema might do well to cling to silence. And me too, and you.
   
   Today.
   
   But, please, do sit comfortably.

   This is, like, okay, but FAther de Mello is sublime, and a right path.

   To what?
   
   To sit quietly
   
   Doing nothing
   
   Spring comes and the grass grows all by itself.
   
   The Way of Zen

   To God.

   This double disk set would have been so much more useful and eternal and valuable had both disks contained nothing but absolute silence, for the two hours. Then we could have gotten somewhere, as a replacement for of distracted, and lost.

   GO, sit quietly at the same time every day.
   
   What could be simpler?
   
   Turn off that TV, this computer, and sit quietly, in universal silence.
   Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
2. Amazon Fan says:

   November 4, 2010 at 11:47 pm

   This is a 2-CD set. The first CD is a live, but dull, address agreed to a group on living fearlessly. The second CD is an equally dull interview with the leader. There is nothing profound here, and any utility is completely lost in the boredom.
   Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
3. predfan says:

   November 5, 2010 at 2:16 am

   Really like this CD. Really gave me some things to reflect about and improve my personal situation.
   Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
4. J. Schneider says:

   November 5, 2010 at 3:26 am

   Pema Chödron is a disarmingly wonderful speaker and as such, these are brilliant and worthwhile sessions. Positive and uplifting and informational. But, the session isn’t for me, the purchaser of the recording. The only similar offering I have to this is by Wayne Dyer, and his is recorded in a studio specifically for the purchaser of that audio recording. It really does make a difference.

   Nonetheless, she does speak very well, and focusing just on her message, is as stated very inspiring and uplifting. You walk away with a head (and body, being) full of positive energy and focus. My only complaint really is just the tangential scenery of it. We’re listening in on something wonderful, but aren’t really being spoken to directly.
   Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
5. Daydream Believer says:

   November 5, 2010 at 3:37 am

   I am familiar with Pema Chodron’s brilliant books, particularly When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Hard Times but this is the first time I’ve listened to her CD’s. I have to admit when I first played it I was a small bored. It’s very mellow and silent, as you might expect, and I establish some fundamentals distracting– I reflect the microphone wasn’t well-placed and there’s this weird “clicking” sound- can’t tell if she needs a drink of water or if it’s something in the background. Anyway, while I loved her talk I was distracted.

   But then–I was going through a particularly stressful week with a lot of challenges and questions running through my mind. The CD was in my car stereo, so I played it on the way into work and straight away establish myself soothed, cooler, and ready to handle the situation. So…it may be one of persons cases where you have to be ready to really hear the speaker.

   I establish both the address and the interview full of appealing concepts– so keep it around for a stressful time.
   Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5