PhD Sage Bennet - Wisdom Walk: Nine Practices for Creating Peace and Balance from the Worlds Spiritual Traditions

Wisdom Walk is a treasure. This collection of practices from key spiritual traditions affirms the tolerance and respect that have gone missing in our world and that are desperately required if we are to survive and flourish. This book fosters grounded spirituality through practice, a hallmark of any tradition worth its salt.

Sage Bennet beckons us into the worlds great spiritual teachings with her book Wisdom Walk. In making these teachings accessible, she invites us to discover the depth that simple but consistent principles in each of them can offer to us in our spiritual unfoldment. Try these practices. The rich gifts they offer will bless your life.

A marvelously inspired compilation of sacred offerings that unite the readers awareness into the wonder of the One as seen through the many.

New World Library
Novato, California

New World Library
14 Pamaron Way
Novato, California 94949

Copyright 2007 by Sage Bennet

All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, or other without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

Passage by Thich Nhat Hanh on page 34 is reprinted from Touching Peace (1992) by Thich Nhat Hanh, page 1. Thich Nhat Hanhs poem on page 37 is reprinted from The Long Road Turns to Joy: A Guide to Walking Meditation (1996) by Thich Nhat Hanh, page 27. Both are reprinted with permission of Parallax Press, Berkeley, California, www.parallax.org.

Text design and typography by Tona Pearce-Myers

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bennet, Sage.
Wisdom walk : 9 practices for creating peace and balance from the worlds spiritual traditions / Sage Bennet.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-57731-582-7 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Spiritual life. 2. Religions. I. Title.
BL624.B397 2007
204.4dc22

First printing, April 2007
ISBN-10: 1-57731-582-0
ISBN-13: 978-1-57731-582-7

Printed in Canada on acid-free, partially recycled paper

New World Library is a proud member of the Green Press Initiative.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

CHAPTER 6. NATIVE AMERICAN SPIRITUALITY:
Let Nature Be Your Teacher

CHAPTER 8. NEW THOUGHT:
Catch Gods Vision of Your Life

CHAPTER 9. ALL TRADITIONS:
Offer Yourself in Service to Others

ndless thanks to Terry Wolverton, my writing mentor and founder of Writers at Work in Los Angeles, for her amazing, creative guidance during all the phases of this project. Im grateful to Barbara Moulton, my literary agent, for her clarity, integrity, and enthusiasm for this work, and Jason Gardner, senior editor at New World Library, for his gentle, respectful editorial style, keen eye, and compassionate heart.

Thanks to my spiritual mentors: Dr. Brugh Joy, for his insights into the mystery and his support of my intuitive nature; Dr. Carolyn Conger, for her generous, practical mentoring; and Dr. Linda Garnets, for her brilliant insights over many years. Thanks to Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith for the opportunities of ministry and teaching Wisdom Walk at Agape International Spiritual Center. Abundant thanks to my friends, colleagues, and prayer partners in the ministry: Rev. Janet Garvey-Stangvik, Dr. Juanita Dunn, Rev. Greta Sesheta, Rev. Mary Murray Shelton, Rev. Diane Harmony, and Lorene Belisama.

I am blessed to feel the harbor of community that has been my sanctuary during the writing of this book. Special acknowledgments to my partner, Sandy Viall, and dog, Beau, whom I love beyond measure; my birth family for our warm connection, especially my Aunt Dottie, and my ancestors Dr. Michael Mands, and my grandmothers, Esther and Molly for their wisdom and guidance; our family of friends, Helene Zuckerman, Scott Marr, Marsha and Larry Sheldon, Donald and Fang Doyle, for our frequent dinners and holiday celebrations; the community members of Joys Jubilation, affectionately called JJ2, for their unforgettable companionship on the transformational path; and my lifelong friends Charlene Shildmyer, Robin Johnson, and Helen Siegel.

Lastly, I thank the students in my classes with whom Ive had the pleasure of taking a wisdom walk. To protect their privacy Ive changed their names. In a few cases some characters are a composite of several students Ive known. Ive kept the names of family, friends, and colleagues when I could obtain their permission; otherwise Ive changed these.

elcome to Wisdom Walk. In picking up this book you begin an adventure: the exploration of the worlds great spiritual traditions. Along the way you will gather wisdom from each of these paths, and you will be invited to engage in a specific practice from each tradition that will enrich your daily life.

Ancient wisdom indicates, get out of debt. It is hard to say whether it is the seeking of external riches that causes us to lose our equilibrium or whether being out of balance provokes us to seek external solutions. Either way we find ourselves on a perpetual treadmill, endlessly running and achieving, yet not knowing exactly how to find our way home to a place of rest inside, where we can be quiet, satisfied, and serene. Even those of us who feel fairly content may still not claim the riches of the path of wisdom. Yet the diamonds of inner peace and the emeralds of a loving heart can be ours. If we follow the guidance of Wisdom Walk we can attain these riches.

Wisdom Walk contains nine chapters. Each of the first eight chapters introduces you to a different spiritual tradition Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Native American spirituality, Taoism, and New Thought and offers an easy-to-do wisdom practice from which you can benefit. The ninth chapter departs from this format by focusing on all traditions and their views about service as a spiritual practice. At the end of each chapter you will find Wisdom Steps; these suggested actions contain how-to directions that will assist you in applying the wisdom practices in your daily life. You will learn how to: