Living Simply Through the Day: Spiritual Survival in a Complex Age

A number of years ago, I had the good fortune to take several classes at the Shalem Institute, which was founded by Tilden Edwards. This book can help anyone who can't make it to Washington DC to participate in a Shalem program to nevertheless get a taste of the spiritual wisdom that is offered there. Edwards, an Episcopal priest, found his life turned upside down after participating in an extended retreat at the Nyingma Institute in California. This east-meets-west story does not end with Edwards becoming a Buddhist; rather, he uses the wisdom he gleaned from Tibetan spirituality to deepen his own practice as a western Christian. Over the years, I've come to see that many Christians find eastern or other non-Christian spiritualities to be threatening -- but Edwards shows in this masterfully simple book how the wisdom of the east can enhance, rather than confuse, a Christian's spiritual life. Through meditation, silence, open awareness, and embracing simplicity as a virtue, we create the space in our lives for deep wisdom and joy to transform us. This book is an excellent guide to adopting such disciplines of the inner life.

The author, Tilden Edwards, is an Episcopal priest, who went on a search during the seventies for spiritual guidance in eastern traditions, and was then able to bring back his own spiritual growth to join with the best of the west. Edwards acknowledges that we are driven by anxiety, and that no one size fits all self help solution exists, because we come from different traditions, and have differing gifts and personality types.What Edwards offers are practical round-the-clock suggestions to help each of us live in prayerfulness and simplicity. Edwards divides the routines of daily living into specific windows of opportunity, through which the Holy One can shine through to us, and out from inside of us. Some of these windows are: waking, praying, eating, playing. Edwards shows how it is a matter of God's grace that a holy light shines from each of us, though we may be expert at blocking it, by our careless inattention, our scattered busy-ness, or our anger.The book has usefulness not only for individuals, but also for book study groups, worshipping congregations and the whole gamut of meditation groups. The modern church phenomenon of small groups is thoroughly discussed by Edwards, who was also ahead of his time in approaching churchgoing as an intergenerational experience. This book is both psychologically whole and deeply Scriptural. Edwards walks us through the practice of spiritual attentiveness gently and respectfully. He has punctuated the text with plenty of open space, useful subheadings, and lively brush drawn illustrations. I enjoyed the down to earth anecdotes of the Edwards's family life with young children.I first read this book the year it was published, when I was the mother of a newborn, feeling alternately awestruck and shell shocked, and blessed to be participating in a Taize meditation group. This year, two decades later, I have been trying to learn how to survive the heart aches of mothering a young adult, how to juggle career and school, and how to spend more significant time in the presence of the Holy One. I have had a wise spiritual guide: Tilden Edwards' book LIVING SIMPLY THROUGH THE DAY; SPIRITUAL SURVIVAL IN A COMPLEX AGE. This book is as lively as it was two decades ago. I pray that it will continue to help us "to focus on the union of God in us with God out of us: on the overlap between us; on the Spirit that is whole..." [ page 78].