The Silence of the Heart

My advice about this book is: Read something from this book often and you will grow. "When the breath is shallow, thinking is superficial. If you want to live a spiritual life, bring your awareness to your breath. Become aware of the times when you are breathing in a shallow way and bring your awareness to your thoughts. You will see that your mind is chattering." (-from the introduction to the book.) I find the content of this book to be easy to understand and absorb. My copy is heavily underlined and marked up. For me, this is a good book to read through the first time. Then, thereafter, it will become a useful tool for guidance on specific subjects. -Or you may not even know what you need, and just open it and begin reading and find that something from the book speaks to you. There are 10 chapters full of spiritual advice/teachings throughout this book. Paul Ferrini is one of my favorite authors in the spirituality realm. His words have an easy flow to them. You don't feel like you're being preached at, you feel as though you are sitting comfortably and conversing with. I think the tone is gentle but teaching. Here are a few excerpts from the book, that I hope you will find helpful: "There are no failures on this planet. Even the homeless, the prostitutes, the drug dealers, are molding the clay that was given to them. Because you do not like a particular piece of artwork does not mean that it ceases to be a work of art." "It is the moment in which you realize that everything outside you is merely a reflection of an attitude you have toward yourself." "As long as you "need" something, you cannot have it. As soon as you no longer "need" it, it appears in front of you."

The Silence of the heart is the place we find ourselves after we get out of the cycle of victimhood and commit to honoring ourselves. It is the place where we can embrace our feelings and experiences in the moment without judgment. It is a place of pure, non-judgmental awareness. To reach this place, we must stop complaining and take responsibility for our own healing. We have the tools to extricate ourselves from our suffering, we just need to acknowledge them. We need to face the scared, unhappy, wounded, angry child inside who feels unfairly treated, and help him let go of his wounds. The Silence of the Heart walks us through a recipe for spiritual healing: 1) accept and feel the pain, 2) admit your mistakes, 3) accept your feelings, 4) bring love to the self, 5) become aware of self-violation, 6) forgive yourself, 7) bring love to the wound, 8) prevent further abuse by always honoring your self (ask for what you want, do not accept what you do not want). You must always hold onto compassion for yourself. When we succeed at fully loving and honoring ourselves, then we can apply this to others in our relationships without judging or fixing. We cannot give to others until we first learn to give to ourselves. And by extension, when we learn to give to ourselves, our compassionate natures will cause us to give to others absent judgment. This is a book that is so full of profound wisdom on such a plethora of relevant topics, you will wear your pencil out from underlining. You will refer back to it again and again, and you will find yourself sharing it and quoting it with friends. Like another reviewer said, it is not always a comfortable read in that it confronts you to take full responsibility for every aspect of your experience and shakes you free from your denial. But it is simultaneously comforting in its unending compassion for the work we all must do. If you are ready to take responsibility for your healing, growth, and ultimate happiness, you will embrace this book.

When they student is ready, the teacher will appear. I'm very grateful that this book came into my life at just the perfect time. This is the most important book I've ever read, and I've read a lot of books. It was like having an emotional surgery. I plan on reading it over and over until I can live and breath every words and until it doesn't hurt to read it anymore. If you're not ready to take responsibility for every single one of your actions, this is not the book for you. If you're not ready to understand that judging others is simply refusing to forgive a part of yourself, this is not the book for you. If you are ready to face your fears and walk through the darkness, I recommend Paul Ferrini's the Silence of the Heart. It will change your life.

I just completed this book and did not find this to be a comfortable read, but one that truly stretched my personal limits of self-examination. I found this book to open up areas within me, where I generally gloss over. In some parts of the book I felt that I came face to face with the deepest places of my psyche and for that reason found this to be one of the most important books I have read in my spiritual journey. This is not a book where I found myself polarized or locked into a particular point of view, but one that allowed me to open up and search fearlessly for the sources of my beliefs. Where I could move beyond my judgements, see my own mind at work and feel the center of my being. This book was a journey to and through my heart and soul. I don't know how Paul Ferrini does this, he just has a way of taking me to the places where I can heal myself. He is an amazing author and teacher.

This book has recently be translated into Dutch; title: "Stilte van het hart". I am amazed about the fact that it appears to answer all the important questions about life I have--even the ones I wasn't fully aware of until now. It may be especially helpful for people who feel confused about matters of religion or faith, but also for people who chose a spiritual path and are satisfied with their choice--just to enlighten things that are not yet fully clear to them. (As a student of A Course In Miracles, I am among the latter.)