After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path

this book is a great reminder on how to have a great balance between spirituality and the practical material world. loved it!

Or as Tom Petty sings, "The waiting is the hardest part."

Excellent! I was having a little trouble getting into it at first, perhaps because I have read so much spiritual stuff over the last year and sometimes feel it is repetitive. But I realized in the last third or so of the book that I am now LIVING the spiritual journey I had been reading about before. I have learned to be more accepting of and compassionate toward myself and others, to devote...more

Excellent! I was having a little trouble getting into it at first, perhaps because I have read so much spiritual stuff over the last year and sometimes feel it is repetitive. But I realized in the last third or so of the book that I am now LIVING the spiritual journey I had been reading about before. I have learned to be more accepting of and compassionate toward myself and others, to devote myself to love, and I realized that that's what the path is all about.   hide

I guess my heart will only be sort of wise because I didn't finish this book either before it was due. But it is a thought provoking read, incredibly insightful, has a lot of imagery from multiple religions, and certainly will help people who reach plateaus in their spiritual growth by showing them that they aren't alone in this.

Jack Kornfield is an American psychologist who also is an inspiring Buddhist teacher. In this book he illustrates the importance of grounding mystical experiences into everyday life. Truly worth the read for any "practical" mystic no matter what your faith.

This is a wonderful little book about the realities of the spiritual path. In particular it communicates clearly that spiritual awakening, illumination, enlightenment, sanctification, mystical union, or whatever, doesn't forever separate you from the common challenges of humanity. The idea that it might is just another of the great illusions by which we create more pain and suffering for...more

This is a wonderful little book about the realities of the spiritual path. In particular it communicates clearly that spiritual awakening, illumination, enlightenment, sanctification, mystical union, or whatever, doesn't forever separate you from the common challenges of humanity. The idea that it might is just another of the great illusions by which we create more pain and suffering for ourselves. Such joy there is when we can live with, laugh with and love our own humanity!   hide

An excellent book for anyone trying to incorporate an Eastern based spiritual practice into living a life in the Western world.

By far my favorite contemporary Buddhist orator. His insights and ability to pull the proper quote, story or aphorism for any particular teaching never fails to open me up and shed a tear. All his work I have read or heard I have loved.

i'm only a chapter or so in but am loving this book. so clear and real in it's humanity.