Radical Presence: Teaching as Contemplative Practice

Mary Rose O'Reilley's book, Radical Presence is a wonderful and insightful resource for teaching mindfulness meditation. She writes about "presence" from many perspectives.

This is a little book on an immense subject. It covers the subject in a way that is not wordy or repetitive and not superficial as so often is the case with the subject of Contemplative Practice and Contemplative Teaching.

This small book conveys a simple, yet profound message that deep non-judgemental listening is the foundation of good teaching and of human interaction in general. I think it should be a "must read" for every teacher, professor, social woker, nurse, parent, politician, judge....I highly recommend this little treasure.

Perhaps contradicting the Taoist dictum to the effect that the spoken Tao is not the real Tao, O'Reilley manages to capture in her often poetic words the magical presence that she advocates for the ideal, meditative mind of the truly present teacher. A very pleasant, absorbing read, this book is touching, spiritually affirmative, and realistic - realistic in the sense that it is not about some subtle spiritual distinctions that only matter within a certain tradition, but rather about concrete features of everyday life of the teacher who cares about how she's doing as both a person and a teacher. Very well written, very much worth reading.

This is an absolute gem! A very quick read yet will not leave you when you put it down. O'Reilley's views on contemplative teaching have not come easy. She has questioned her practices as we all do, but somehow she has excepted herself and others shortcomings and has proceeded in giving us not necessarily a guidebook, but a "give it a try" book that should help us all through this journey of life.