Rating: 
Summary: Illumination!
Review: "Catherine Ingram's poetic yet clear style draws the reader in, and illuminates the qualities of awakened awareness that can help in one's everyday life."
Rating:
Summary: Passionately Present
Review: "Many spiritual traditions encourage disembodied transcendence or lofty detachment from the very things that make up a passionately engaged life"These words from Passisonate Presence point the traveler toward a path that unrolls effortlessly beneath the feet, that brings us to the the heart center of loving engagement with "the only life we know". This book is written by a master artist in clear language easily accessible to the Western mind. Unlike so many books that bring Non-dual thinking to the West, Passionate Presence is no string of seemingly unrelated student questions and responses from the master. Printed dialogues, sometimes dry and arcane, too often lose the dynamism and breathtaking truth of the personal transmission that has inspired hearers for generations. Not so in this case. Catherine Ingram offers us a book that tells in clear language the essence of her non-dual approach. She speaks directly to us in our own idiom, and with the obvious intention to communicate with clarity and love. In language that is filled with delight, zest for life, and aching gratitude, Catherine offers her personal observations of the remarkable transformations of her students and friends. Catherine has been holding satsang and silent retreats for many years and she has observed thousands come to embody the qualities she describes so eloquently. I know Catherine Ingram, and I know many readers who have been inspired by her writing to meet her personally and experience her teachings. Catherine has given us a great gift in this book and in her own passionate presence in our lives.
Rating:
Summary: like a simple tune
Review: After I read this book it was a pleasant surprise to notice that the memory of it was like a pleasant tune lingering trough my braincells.
Although I didn't expect it, the book was recomended to me, and being not particularly interested in these matters, I must admit, it really tasted well!
I'm not religious and I will never be and thank god this book isn't either!
Rating: 
Summary: Unclear and of minor usefulness
Review: An occasionally mildly interesting series of anecdotes and little musings on life. The musings are not particularly original and are somewhat repressive in tone. There is not much literary merit, either. The writing is adequate journalistic writing as you would find in any newspaper, but no more than that. Also, it's never made clear what awakened awareness is and how it differs from unawakened awareness, or how we go about getting awakened awareness. Clarity on this point should have been a minimum requirement, I would've thought! Also, why are there 7 qualities of awakened awareness? Why not 8, 9 or 10? The designation 7 seems to be purely arbitrary. What about the quality of humour, for example?... If you are truly interested in genuine awakening in a more democratic "no teacher, no student" context there are other much better, much clearer and much worthier books out there. Try Jan Kersschot's books, for example.
Rating:
Summary: wisdom and compassion
Review: Catherine Ingram combines sharp clarity with the softness of an open heart. Hers is an intelligence of the heart, meticulously elegant in deconstructing much of the so-called spiritual myths that perpetuate a never-ending and exhausting search.
She invites us back home, a home we have never left but just made inaccessible by denying it's immediacy.
Do not expect to be told how to cultivate the qualities she speaks about. This is not a self-help book but rather an invitation to recognize what you already are. All that's needed is your very own passionate awareness.
Thank you for such a jewel.
Rating:
Summary: Timeless Wisdom
Review: Catherine Ingram is a wonderful guide for anyone who would approach spiritual life without adopting the medievalism and unjustified beliefs that adorn so many traditional paths of practice. She writes simply and beautifully about the intrinsic freedom of awareness in the present moment. Passionate Presence would be an excellent first book of Eastern wisdom for any Westerner who wants to pass safely between the Scylla of scientific materialism and the Charybdis of New Age mumbo-jumbo.
Rating:
Summary: Passionate Presence
Review: Catherine Ingram reminds me of the best of the Tibetan Lamas & Rinpoches that I have met wherever I met them, could have been Kopan Monastery near Kathmandu, or at the Body/Mind/Spirit Conference last year when a group of them created that beautifully colorful sand mandala. These are people who walk their spiritual path wherever they are at all times. Their presence is like a potent zone of reality. Doesn't matter what else is going on around such people--invasion in Iraq or a walk down mainstreet--they live and perceive life in accordance with their spiritual principles. It's refreshing to be in such presence . . . such passionate presence. Which leads me to Catherine Ingram's book. "Passionate Presence" works at the subtle level. Each of the many short vignettes treats a different nuance of life and, at the end of the read, a gem of insight or new awareness shines in the mind. This book feels almost collaborative, in that it is an affirmation of all the work that so many of us have already done in our lives to be free. Such acknowledgement from one so practiced is an indispensible boon on the spiritual path.
Rating:
Summary: Passionate Presence
Review: Catherine Ingram reminds me of the best of the Tibetan Lamas & Rinpoches that I have met wherever I met them, could have been Kopan Monastery near Kathmandu, or at the Body/Mind/Spirit Conference last year when a group of them created that beautifully colorful sand mandala. These are people who walk their spiritual path wherever they are at all times. Their presence is like a potent zone of reality. Doesn't matter what else is going on around such people--invasion in Iraq or a walk down mainstreet--they live and perceive life in accordance with their spiritual principles. It's refreshing to be in such presence . . . such passionate presence. Which leads me to Catherine Ingram's book. "Passionate Presence" works at the subtle level. Each of the many short vignettes treats a different nuance of life and, at the end of the read, a gem of insight or new awareness shines in the mind. This book feels almost collaborative, in that it is an affirmation of all the work that so many of us have already done in our lives to be free. Such acknowledgement from one so practiced is an indispensible boon on the spiritual path.
Rating:
Summary: Passionate Presence infused with Passion
Review: Catherine Ingram's book Passionate Presence is one of the best, clearest, inquiries into the non-dual teachings I have ever read. In a world of garbled "new-age" impersonations, her work stands out as a lucid and beautifully written enunciation of what it means to be awake. Passionate Presence is peppered with stories from her life-long teaching of the dharma, while occasionally bolstering her direct experience with facts from science, psychology and sociology. For those of you searching for the real deal, in a book that's not pedantic, esoteric or asking you to believe in fairies, you need to look no further!
Rating:
Summary: A sublime gift
Review: Catherine Ingrim has written an eloquent book about the qualities of awakened awareness. It is direct, loving, and impecabbly authentic in its teachings. I loved reading this book before I went to sleep, having the wisdom of Catherine's words slip into my dream life. These qualities are especially important to practice during this historical time of violence, turmoil and uncertainty. They will help us have the courage and resiliance to get through. Passionate Presence is indeed a comforting companion.
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