Its a Meaningful Life: It Just Takes Practice

This is a straightforward and down to earth book on the basics of, hmmm, I would call it spiritual practice, but it gets tricky. Can effective spiritual practice be down to earth? Of course the answer is not only yes, but that is the only kind of real spiritual practice.

Lozoff divides the book into Communion and Community oriented practices, inner and outer. He proposes a kind of balanced alternation between these aspects. That is certainly a reasonable foundation.

Here is a kind of step deeper that Lozoff doesn't take. It's like seeing the inner in the outer. The challenge is ... well, Lozoff brings up the puzzle of distinguishing being judgmental from being discerning. We all do have the responsibility to help our family, friends, and show more neighbors however we can. So we do get stuck trying to figure out what will be best for them. We may need to express disapproval. We may need to steer them away from the course they are embarked on. Of course, this sort of thing is exceedingly problematic. What do I know? Am I just trying to make myself comfortable? Someone else's strange behavior might well make me uncomfortable because it doesn't conform to my own ideas. But maybe I can approach my own engagement with the world from a perspective where it is actually a part of my own inner practice. In deciding what to give someone, I can just think about what is going to make them happiest, what will best relieve their suffering. I don't need to put myself in the position of molding or instructing or shaping people. I can offer whatever I have, and the person can take it or leave it.

Well you can see by that convoluted logic that beyond an inch of profundity is beyond my depth and I just flounder. Lozoff doesn't go deep in this book, but then again, he doesn't flounder!

This book doesn't adhere too strictly to any particular spiritual tradition. For beginners or for advanced students of any tradition, I think this is a refreshing survey of the universal foundations. Anyway, isn't the point of all the advanced stuff just to return us to the foundations with ever more clarity, precision, courage, honesty? show less

Yeah, because you're not a selfish self important bastard who doesn't need to work on himself. Not even.
(Being flawless myself, I actually read this for a friend...)