Abouts Books

By Henry Reed

There are seekers and there are finders. That notorious, demographic, photogenic group known as "New Agers" often come across as seekers. Spirituality can induce a sort of restlessness, for as a person attempts to integrate more of life's encounters as "a part of self," the horizon for exploration is always just a few questions out of reach. Sometimes I think that trying to make sense out of things only makes it worse. Who are the finders? Perhaps the best way to become a finder is simply to stop seeking. To do so, however, requires a healthy intuition.

The contrast between seeking and finding came to me recently as I was browsing two new books that are just hitting the market. The first one is In Search of Grace: A Religious Outsider's Journey Across America's Landscape of Faith (William Morrow). The author, Kristin Hahn, is a self-described "Generation X" woman who had spent 10 years in television production when it hit her that she was lost. She writes, "During that time I perfected the art of distraction, doing all the multitasking things we do that keep us from seeing clearly what is right in front of us, or confronting what lurks just below the surface of ourselves."

She described her upbringing as being without religion, and so she felt she was an outsider to such things. She decided to go on a pilgrimage to visit various people who were seriously devoted to their religion or spiritual craft. During a period of several years she smoked a pipe with a Native American medicine man, prepared food in an Amish community, tried being quiet in a Christian monastery, testified with a Mormon missionary, got connected with the Spiritualists, fasted with Muslims, debated with a Rabbi, meditated on oatmeal with a Buddhist, cast spells with witches, stretched with a yogi, practiced recovery with a friend, had a conversation with a man who had conversations with God, and got herself hooked up to a Scientology e-meter. She wasn't looking to convert to one of these religions or spiritual paths, but she was hoping that by empathizing with these devotees, that she would be able to imagine what it might be like to be grounded in one's faith. She visited in earnest. Her journey was a good read because she was sincere and found something to appreciate on each path, giving an interesting, sympathetic portrait of each spiritual practitioner. Yet she left each visit unsatisfied, wandering on to the next encounter, finally to reach a surprising conclusion.

As she was working on her book describing her journey, she became a mother. She writes that she developed a "child-centered" spiritual practice, responding to the demands of motherhood. Teachings from her various hosts would echo in her mind as she diapered, pampered, and fussed over her baby. As baby became toddler, new challenges brought her further reminders of what she had learned on her travels. She had sought, and now she had found - in her own home.

Kristin's story of her journey and her discovery stands in quite a contrast to another book, Not Always So: Practicing the True Spirit of Zen (HarperCollins). The author is the late Shunryu Suzuki, the founder of the well-known San Francisco Zen Center. The book is a collection of Suzuki's talks, edited by Edward Espe Brown, author of the Tassajara Bread Book. For those of us, like myself, who came into the New Age while in California in the 1960s, Suzuki and his Zen center has always been "mainstream."

I have sat restlessly in "sesshin," and have listened quizzically to the Zen master: Simply sit, chop wood, carry water. I have read books on Zen and prefer ones like Suzuki's - very little Buddhist theological terms, but mostly simple advice about the "no mind" that Zen loves so much. The advice of a Zen master is something that sounds so simple, yet like the lingering echo of a chime, brings up a trail of thoughts. For a system that disavows thinking so much, Zen seems to stimulate a lot of thinking. The whole approach is somewhat like one of their koans ("the sound of one hand clapping") that challenges thinking to the breaking point.

Suzuki gives advice about developing intuition. Don't Stalk! Don't read! "Verbal communication tends to be superficial, but when you don't speak, deeper communication between you will be encouraged, and your mind will become very subtle. Staying silent will open your intuition. ... The same is true with reading. When you become interested in something you are reading, your intuition does not tend to open."

Suzuki's comments make sense of Kristin's journey. Talks with the practitioners were a necessary part of her seeking, but didn't fulfill her. It was when she had to respond directly to the reality of her child that her intuition was opened and she found that which she was seeking.

Henry Reed, Ph.D., is on staff at Atlantic University. He has been the prime designer of A.R.E.'s psychic development program, in its various aspects, for the past twenty some years. He is one of the trainers of A.R.E.'s most successful, and long running, psychic training conference, "The Edgar Cayce Legacy: Be Your Own Psychic." He developed A.R.E.'s program of evaluating psychics. He has published scientific articles on his research into intuition and psychic functioning. He is the author of Edgar Cayce on Awakening Your Psychic Powers, Edgar Cayce on Channeling Your Higher Self, and Your Intuitive Heart.