Reading the Movement
“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant.”
Receive dispatches as the movement unfolds.
This is not a reading list.
It is a record of what we are reading as the world shifts.
Here you will find poetic, philosophical, and contemplative texts, that inform, interrupt, or deepen the work of Roam Within.
These are not books to be mastered, but companions for the path: writings that speak to spiritual yearning in a secular age, to the cultivation of inner life, and to the search for sincerity in a culture of performance.
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Why is the brain divided? The difference between right and left hemispheres has been puzzled over for centuries. Drawing upon a vast body of brain research, the renowned psychiatrist, author, and thinker Iain McGilchrist reveals that the difference between the two sides is profound—two whole, coherent, but incompatible ways of experiencing the world. The detail-oriented left hemisphere prefers mechanisms to living things and is inclined to self-interest, while the right hemisphere has greater breadth, flexibility, and generosity.
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Roshi Philip Kapleau, founder of the eminent Rochester Zen Center, offers a personal account of his own experiences as a student and teacher, and in so doing presents a comprehensive overview of Zen Buddhism that includes practical guidance, insights from Zen masters, integration of Eastern and Western perspectives, and inspiration for personal transformation.
A moving and eye-opening work in eleven sections, including Yasunati-roshi's Introductory Lectures on Zen Training and Commentary on the Koan Mu, The Three Pillars of Zen is the definitive introduction to the history and discipline of Zen.
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Cracking the ancient questions: Who am I? What am I? What is life? For thousands of years seekers have asked themselves these questions by sitting in silence. In 1968 a way was found to use this practice in dyads: two people seated facing each other and periodically reporting what came up, all in a Zen-style intensive retreat. The results were powerful, and the Enlightenment Intensive was born. It spread quickly and now, fifty years on, it is time to see what is ahead for this honorable method so well loved by people around the world. A historical breakthrough in how you can know yourself.
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To make the journey into the Now, we will need to leave our analytical mind and its false created self, the ego, behind. From the very first page of this extraordinary book, we move rapidly into a significantly higher altitude where we breathe a lighter air. We become connected to the indestructible essence of our Being, “The eternal, ever present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death.” Although the journey is challenging, Eckhart Tolle uses simple language and an easy question-and-answer format to guide us.
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Humans are social creatures: in this simple and obvious fact lies both the problem and the solution to the current crisis of loneliness. In his groundbreaking book, the 19th Surgeon General of the United States Dr. Vivek Murthy makes a case for loneliness as a public health concern: a root cause and contributor to many of the epidemics sweeping the world today from alcohol and drug addiction to violence to depression and anxiety. Loneliness, he argues, is affecting not only our health but also how our children experience school, how we perform in the workplace, and the sense of division and polarization in our society.
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Drawing on cutting-edge research, friends and Harvard collaborators Daniel Goleman and Richard Davidson expertly reveal what we can learn from a one-of-a-kind data pool that includes world-class meditators. They share for the first time remarkable findings that show how meditation - without drugs or high expense - can cultivate qualities such as selflessness, equanimity, love and compassion, and redesign our neural circuitry.
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Combining over 40 years of ground-breaking research with practical advice, world-renowned psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi reveals the key to optimal experience: flow.
Arguing that the human brain is most happy when engaged in the meaningful pursuit of a goal - anything from sport to learning a language, from enjoyable work to practising music - he demonstrates that the need to concentrate and lose yourself in the moment is the key to finding inner peace, happiness and order in the midst of our chaotic lives.