3 X 5's: Index Card Wisdom from Best of Books

ANGELICA Raymond Arroyo (2007)(ed.). Arroyo wrote a previous book about Mother Angelica and then did more research to put the present more comprehensive book together that better represents her life lessons and spiritual practices. Mother Angelica (Rita Rizzo given Italian name) was a Catholic religious sister and founded EWTN Eternal Word Television Network at age 58 in 1981...prior to that, she founded a print shop in 1972 to creat "mini books" on spirituality...before that she created a homemade studio in a monastery garage! Some of Mother's wisdom: the present moment is like a blank sheet of paper that we write on--we can draw, scribble, make poems, make a mess...the choice is ours do it and drop it...don't hang on to success or failure gift of understanding is to see the spiritual meaning of everything* be like a broom, let G push you around wherever you are needed if you feel G wants you to do something, take the first step, and then the grace will come to take ...

ALL ABOUT THE LOVE bell hooks (2001). All About the Love: New Visions bell hooks (her pen name, her given name is Gloria Jean Watkins) is a professor (PhD English) and well-known author... her definition of love is unique: "...will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or anothers spiritual growth..." (p.10).  hooks advocates schools of love, being open to love, returning to love (i whole heartedly agree).  other insights: dimensions of love include: care, commitment, trust, knowledge, responsibility, and respect. we need a love ethic...to make all of our decisions in light of love. love is work, struggle, change, growth, risk, and surrender. biophilia is a love of life what does love mean to you?  consider adding love to your priorities when making decisions...especially everyday decisions like purchasing services and goods--how do these reflect love?  for those that you interact with every day, how can you be more loving in your speech, listen...

HOLY FOOLS Edward Hays (1993). Holy Fools and Mad Hatters:                                             A Handbook for Hobby Horse Holiness Hays is a priest who enjoys writing fable-like stories about spirituality. This is the story of a discipline (nipper) and Master (Window Sill) that walk the WAY of the razor's edge. Of the many lessons along the way: keep a reminder of death nearby to remember the preciousness of each day create a hermitage of the heart where you can be along with God  avoid becoming a zombie by cutting in half your to do list daily mantra: mirror, mirror on the wall, may i look with love on all celebrate whenever and with whoever you can reframe problems as GAMES to play we only spend about 2% of our time in nature--try to break that percentage every day keep your humility by wearing silly hats, shirts, shoes, accessories... get...

EROS Marc Gafni & Kristina Kincaid (2017).  A Return to Eros:  The Radical Experience of Being Fully Alive. Gafni (PhD in Philosophy) is a Rabbi, and Kincaid has a doctorate in Energy Medicine. There are many stories told in a Talmud-like way, and some research, in the nearly 500 pages of the book...overall, i wish there were more practical suggestions/concrete applications.  Eros in Western society is often confused with sex whereas one theme throughout the book is that sex is only part of eros...sex models a much larger ideal of eros as allurement, attraction, radical aliveness, contact, creativity, and something that calls us to "outrageous love" for all of creation. This love is described within Hebrew tantric mysticism as the love between the cherubs that face each other atop the Ark of the Covenant, one male and one female with divine love-making in between...the delight of the Shechinah Goddess dancing. Some of the ways to cultivate outrageous erotic love are: ...

PROMISED LAND H. L.Goodall, Jr. (1989). Casing a Promised Land:                                                    The Autobiography of an Organizational                                                           Detective as Cultural Ethnographer. Goodall was a professor of Communication. This is the first of his trilogy of books...the other two books are Living in the Rock n' Roll Mystery , and Divine Signs . I read and took notes on Casing a Promised Land in May of 2003--20 years ago, and now (2023) i'm reading and documenting the best of the "best parts." Some of the many gems: 1)Academics need to get out of the office and into the world to hear stories, to b...

FACULTY X Gary Lachman (2016). Beyond the Robot:                                             The Life and Work of Colin Wilson. Lachman is a spiritual seeker and writer that chronicles the life of Colin Wilson, especially the ideas from the books Wilson wrote and the circumstances of publishing them.  The central question occupying most of Wilson's life was: how to transform consciousness at will. There are hints along the way, sensory deprivation, dreams, breaking the habitual robot mentality, using sex to intensify consciousness to obtain more energy and activate the imagination, occult practices...AND my main criticism is Wilson does not, in Lachman's book (he may in his own books which i have not read), get down to pragmatics, to method, to what one should DO to facilitate intentional shifts in consciousness. This is disappointing...after an entire l...

HEAVEN Todd Burpo (2010). Heaven Is For Real. Todd is the father of Colton who at 4 years of age underwent a surgery for a ruptured and over the course of time Colton reports what he experienced about heaven during the surgery.  One has to consider : the medical report did not include a "near death" experience, Colton's upbringing of 4 years with his father being a pastor, Sunday school, and media exposure are all potential sources of experience that he may be drawing on, possible distortions in memory recall, expectancies effects when parents ask children questions, and the role of childhood imagination. Colton says he was above his body looking down at the doctor performing surgery on him...he could see his father in another room praying, and his mother in a separate room on her phone and praying (both of these facts were confirmed by the parents).  Colton recounts his experience of being in heaven sitting on Jesus' lap--Jesus was dressed in white with a purple sash...