John J. Prendergast - The Deep Heart

To the light of awareness, Heart-Wisdom, our inner teacher

CONTENTS

The Wave and the Ocean
The Multidimensional Heart

The Heart in Relationship I
Love, Lack, and Fullness

The Heart in Relationship II
Connection, Aloneness, Self-Judgment and Acceptance, and Listening

Conclusion
Coming Home to the Deep Heart

FOREWORD

AMONGST ALL OF the existential angst of modern life there is a blossoming of spirit arising within the collective psyche of humanity. As the modern mind feels increasingly adrift and unmoored from its rootedness in being, a quiet flame of spiritual presence is making its way through the forest of confusion. New voices and spiritual orientations are coming into being as spirit breaks out of the confines of its old structures, seeking expression and embodiment not only in religious institutions but in the embodied hearts of ordinary human beings. Such collective transitions are always somewhat chaotic, even dangerous, but they are also times of renewal and rebirth for those who will listen to the quiet and heartfelt voice of the spiritual presence within themselves.

To navigate the spirit of the modern psyche is no small matter. We need guides who at once have their feet firmly rooted in the ground and wisdom of our spiritual ancestors, while also embodying a deep understanding of the modern human condition. For the call of spirit today is to both awaken to our true spiritual identity and to embody that awakened consciousness in our humanity and daily lives. It takes an integrated and unified psyche to embody the wisdom and beauty of awakened consciousness. We are all called to be spiritually awake and whole human beings, not only for ourselves but for the sake and welfare of all sentient beings.

The Deep Heart is what I call a living book, that rare gem of a book that is alive with the presence of its author. Such presence and aliveness are as important of a teaching as the words on the page, for they convey the living reality of spirit through directly evoking it in the reader. So as you read through this wonderful and wise book, dedicate a little part of your attention to noticing the felt presence of the words themselves, and to listening to the silence between them. In that silence, you will feel within yourself the living reality the words point to. A book like The Deep Heart should be felt and experienced as much as it should be read.

As for the words on the page, they are expressions of Johns many years of exploration of the human spirit and psyche, as well as a means to communicate the depth and breadth of his spiritual realization. Our true nature seeks to awaken from limiting identifications, but it seeks also to literally embody our deepest realizations throughout the entire mind and body. It is here where Johns spiritual and psychological wisdom shines most brightly, for The Deep Heart is a book that unites the dimensions of heaven and earth within each of us.

The innate spiritual instinct within us all is circular. It seeks to awaken to the gods, but it is a surprise to find that the gods (within us) seek to become embodied human beings. Only when we realize our timeless divinity, and our divinity realizes its humanity, does the spirit come to rest in its wholeness.

The word redemption comes to mind. It means to return, or be returned, to ones natural condition of wholeness. The Deep Heart is a book that for all of its depth of wisdom and spiritual guidance is also a redemptive presence. It is a constant reminder to awaken to your true nature of presence and wholeness, to live it in your humanity, and in your heart, and in the way that you relate to all of life. And it is a reminder that each and every one of us has the capacity to be a redemptive presence in the world.

We can each be a part of what the world is trying to become. And that is no small matter, nor is it metaphor. It is the living reality of the deeper domain of the human psyche. The stakes are high, the responsibility profound, and the heart of humanity is at stake. So dive into The Deep Heart and renew your spirit with the living words of an important spiritual voice. And as you read through this book of wisdom, you might just sense Johns quiet presence inviting and evoking an awakening to what you have never lost.

Adyashanti

INTRODUCTION

WITH THIS BOOK I invite you to look beneath the cover of your conditioned identity and take a deep dive into the heart of who you really are your true nature. There is nothing more important to do, to feel, or to understand as a human being. Knowingly or unknowingly you have been searching for this your entire life. Like a beggar who has been sitting on a box of gold, the treasure lies radiant and intact in the very core of your being. You are fully equipped to discover it, regardless of your background and conditioning. You just need to look in the right direction with open eyes.

We all have a sacred calling that has very little to do with what we accomplish in this world. It is the calling of the sacred the quiet pull of an implicit wholeness within each of us that awaits our conscious recognition. As this recognition unfolds, our relationship to life changes. Increasingly we find ourselves open to life as it is and creative in our response.

Discovering the heart of who we really are is the essential human quest. This discovery changes our life and the lives of those around us. Our life increasingly becomes an offering an upwelling and outpouring. No matter how our outer life changes and it most certainly will an inner light will spontaneously radiate out for the benefit of all beings.

As we attune with the heart, our approach to life reverses. Instead of feeling empty, agitated, and disconnected, we discover an inner fullness, peace, and sense of seamlessness. Instead of imagining that we are either a deflated or inflated, unworthy separate-self, we discover that we are a unique expression of a greater loving whole. Rather than anxiously willing our way through or avoiding life, we feel ourselves trusting and following an underlying flow of intelligence and love. Instead of being whipped around by fears and desires, we feel a growing inner stability and sense of spaciousness, no matter what is happening. Rather than feeling like a lonely wanderer in a desolate landscape, a stranger in a strange land, we find our self at home wherever we are. The heart area is the portal, par excellence, for this discovery. This is my work and great love. I would like to share it with you.

A Window into the Deep Heart

For almost four decades, I have worked as a depth psychotherapist and more recently as a spiritual teacher. These roles have allowed me an unusual window into the hearts of my clients and students into their most painful emotional wounds as well as their essential radiance of being.

I had little conscious knowledge of this territory when I first began this exploration. I was drawn to this work in my twenties with mixed motives. I had already been meditating for years and instructing others how to do so, but I found that I often felt anxious in social situations, despite the tranquility I experienced during meditation. I had relatively little insight about what was beneath the surface of my conscious mind other than a profound silence I could tap into while meditating. I knew that I wanted to face myself more directly, to be of service to others, and also to make a viable living. Beneath all of these motives there was a powerful underground current that I now recognize as a love for the truth and a relentless call to know myself.