Passionate Presence: Experiencing the Seven Qualities of Awakened Awareness - Hardcover

Catherine Ingram is a renowned dharma teacher who has been leading Dharma Dialogues and retreats since 1992. She is a cofounder of Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, considered the most prestigious Buddhist center in the West. She is the author of In the Footsteps of Gandhi: Conversations with Spiritual/Social Activists and has contributed articles to O magazine, New Age Journal, East West Journal, and Yoga Journal, among other publications.

Trained in Buddhist teachings, Ingram (In the Footsteps of Gandhi) is also the founder of Living Dharma and conducts Dharma Dialogues for devotees and interested students. Transcending traditional religious practices, Ingram here offers a program of how to develop a heightened awareness of the self. This awareness may be achieved with or without a personal instructor (the author's teacher was the late H.W.L. Poonjajai of India) and involves developing the qualities of silence, tenderness, embodiment, genuineness, discernment, delight and wonder. According to Ingram, engaging in meditation (silence) may lead to heightened creativity that eludes those who pursue ego-driven ambition. She also believes that for noble causes (e.g., environmental movements) to have an effect on society, there must be a strong commitment on the part of individuals to treasure the interconnectedness of all life. Cultivating wonder means, in part, an acceptance that most of life is a mystery and what we understand best can only exist in the present moment. In this thoughtful and clearly written exploration, Ingram details ways to achieve all her stated qualities of heightened awareness at length from a humanistic/Buddhist perspective.
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