Dorothy Hunt takes us through her own journey of "seeking" and shares what she has learned along the way. Raised in the Christian (Protestant) faith, she always felt there was something "more". Her search led her to investigate other ideologies and religions; she speaks a lot of Zen Buddhism.

This book takes time to read and contemplate. I tried to read it at the same speed I usually read, and quickly became frustrated and thought she was talking in circles. It was only when I slowed down and "listened" that the book became meaningful.

Some of my favorite take aways and quotes:

Everything you seek is already inside you. (my take away)

We are all one, and love is all that matters. (m take away)

"...we often fail to touch the Timeless dimension of ourselves, where we are never separated from anyone or anything, and never apart from the infinite and unconditional Love that is available now, if our heart opens wide enough. What is timeless and eternal is Now, not something extended in duration. The mind defines eternity as unending time, failing to realize that in the Timeless there is no time."

"No one else can deliver truth to you."

"Peace is important, but not as important as our capacity to enjoy it." Thich Nhat Hanh

"We can increase our capacity to enjoy peace when we realize that this moment is the only one available for us to touch reality. Perhaps life is neither a problem to be solved nor a destination, but an endlessly unfolding creation moment-to-moment."

"The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God's eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love." Christian mystic, Meister Eckhart

My sincere thanks to NetGalley and Sounds True Publishing for sharing an e-copy of this book with me.

This book was a pleasure to read and will be given a treasured place on my bookshelf. Awakening can only be alluded to or pointed at and Dorothy Hunt does this beautifully by threading her words with threads of mystery, poetical prose and spaciousness. She gently braids together excerpts of her poems, teaching stories and glimpses of her own spiritual life to give us a taste of what she is pointing to. I will be dipping back into this book over and over again. Highly recommended.

Ending the Search: From Spiritual Ambition to the Heart of Awareness is a "treatise" on the nature of spiritual search and how it becomes a dangerous preoccupation when it becomes the goal rather than a means to an end.

WHO WOULD ENJOY READING IT?
Anyone with a love of spiritual literature that is not bound by religious tradition of a specific kind. This means Ending the Search is a book that delves into different aspects of specific religious practices and does not confine itself to a particular one. Though the author has a Christian background and use some of its analogies, a large part of this book, as I understand it, leans heavily towards Zen Buddhism. If this bothers you, please stay clear.

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT IT
The author's grasp on the nature of spiritual thirst is masterful. I learnt how even the best of intentions can get hijacked by human nature where being "spiritual" becomes another tool of self-importance with no real benefits to the soul.

WHAT I DO NOT LIKE
While some of the passages are well-written with sublime turns of phrases, a lot of the paragraphs stream of thoughts are clunky and sometimes require a second reading to grasp its meaning. Ending the Search is deceptively hard to breeze-through (deliberately so, I think). It will take a calm and patient spirit to crack its shell.

MEMORABLE PASSAGE

"If you consider yourself a spiritual seeker, what are you searchingfor? What is the deepest longing of your heart? You may have many desires, but what is the deepest one, the one your heart knows is true, even if your mind does not?

"You may believe that you are seeking awakening, enlightenment, Self-realization, or God-realization. Perhaps you are seeking freedom, peace, love, happiness, truth, or an end to suffering. You may imagine that you know who is searching, who will be the “finder,” who will achieve the final goal, and who will be the primary beneficiary. But do you truly know what you are seeking, what is motivating the search, or who it is who is seeking and wants the search to end?"


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Ending the Search: From Spiritual Ambition to the Heart of Awareness by Dorothy Hunt will be available to buy on all major online book stores by March 2018?

Many thanks to Sounds True Publishing for review copy.

Interesting book regarding what to do when all else fails. New take on spirituality.