In this pamphlet, John Yungblut answers how to cultivate a contemplative awareness: read poetry, acquaint oneself in depth with the writings of mystics, and engage in contemplative prayer. He then shares his passionate conviction about how these practices will inform our lives religiously and culturally.

Yungblut claims the privilege of old age to offer counsel to the reader, based on his convictions discerned from experience. He primarily recommends becoming a contemplative, reading poetry and the mystics, plus contemplative prayer for living in awareness of the numinous in everything. He has other recommendations, the most practical of which may be discerning and cultivating one's gifts. This is also a mixture of wisdom and heady thinking about evolution and higher consciousness. There is plenty of wise and thoughtful material in here to make it definitely worth reading.
This pamphlet is the last of six PHPs by Yungblut. His thought is summarized usefully in PHP 417 (2012), which clarifies Yungblut's important contribution to Quaker thinking. I note that in this 1994 pamphlet, his thoughts on Christianity seem to have changed from his 1983 PHP 249. ( )

PHP #316