Review
Mystics tell us that behind the veil of material appearances exists an infinite, unconditionally loving principle of benevolence, abundance and peace. Would you like to develop your own awareness of that? An awareness so vivid, so unwavering that you can no longer mistake the veil for the reality? An awareness so penetrating that the laws of Love, with their transforming, healing power, are admitted even into the darkest hell?
This, and no less, is the aim of The Gentle Art of Blessing, described so eloquently by Pierre Pradervand. To bless, says Pierre, means to wish, unconditionally and from the deepest chamber of your heart, unrestricted good for others and events. To bless is to acknowledge the omnipresent, universal beauty hidden from material eyes; it is to activate that law of attraction which, from the furthest reaches of the universe, will bring into your life exactly what you need to experience and enjoy.
By making The Gentle Art of Blessing your daily spiritual practice, you will learn to send out thoughts and feelings that will enable you to:
* stay spiritually centred and calm - even in the most trying circumstances
* attract more goodness, joy and love into your own life, and the lives of those around you
* spread an atmosphere of kindness, peace and healing wherever you go
* open possibilities for healing in the hearts of those controlled by greed, selfishness and fear
* enhance the life and growth of all the kingdoms of nature - human, animal, plant and mineral alike
* experience a greater sense of Oneness with all life
* reverse negative energy, whatever its source
* feel empowered instead of victimized in difficult situations
You will find that The Gentle Art of Blessing is the perfect way to develop an awareness constantly centred in love. When you bless all those you meet in their total happiness and true integrity, without the slightest concern for their appearance, expression, race, class, gender, or any other label, when you wish them the very best from your innermost being, it will be impossible for your heart not to expand. From a narrow cubicle, it will become a temple without walls.
295pp, 127mm x 202mm, softback, 2004
Click here to read contributions to the Cygnus Review from Pierre Pradervand.
Extract
The Law of Unconditional Love
To bless all without distinction is the ultimate form of giving, because those you bless will never know from whence came the sudden ray that burst through the clouds of their skies, and you will rarely be a witness to the sunlight in their lives... It is impossible to bless and judge at the same time.
For the past twenty-four years, I have spent part of each summer in a small chalet in the Swiss Alps. The chalet is nestled at close to 7,000 feet in a hamlet surrounded by an extraordinary carpet of Alpine flowers. These flowers, especially the bright clusters dancing around the chalet, have taught me important lessons about the art of blessing. They give indiscriminately to any and all passersby. Whether you are a saint or a sinner, a millionaire or a tramp, they offer you their beauty and their perfume freely, and with equal generosity. Their giving knows nothing of vacations or days off. In sunshine, snow, or rain, they are faithful to their post, giving, giving, giving unceasingly. Their sharing is natural and effortless, expressing the essence of their being, which is to give freely.
Do we have to make efforts to be American or South African, Japanese or Syrian if we are a citizen of one of these countries? Do we wake up in the morning, thinking, 'Oh, today, I must really make a big effort to be American (or Japanese)'? No, it is the most effortless thing in the world. We know without any doubt that we are citizens of a given country. In the same way, the day we understand that the depth of our most authentic being is total love, we will start loving and blessing in the same manner the flowers give of their beauty and perfume, effortlessly, in the most natural manner. ('Love which created me is what I am' states A Course in Miracles - can there be a more powerful, liberating, and exciting awareness?) Above all, we will bless unselfconsciously. As Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran says in The Prophet,
There are those who give and know not pain in giving,
nor do they seek joy, nor give with
mindfulness of virtue;
They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes
its fragrance into space.
Through the hands of such as these God speaks,
and from behind their eyes He smiles upon the earth.
A life filled with the perfume of such constant unselfconscious blessing can only exude happiness and in itself be a blessing to all those who encounter it. In this respect, I love the little prayer that goes,
'Shine as me, and may I be so Thee that all those I encounter may experience me as Thy presence. May they no longer see me, but only Thee.'
Love is possibly the only thing
in the universe
that is at the same time
its own cause,
means,
and end.
To understand this, consider a mother's love for her child. She takes care of the child out of love (this equals love as a cause), she cares for it with infinite tenderness (love as a means), and she does all this with no other aim or goal than love (love as an end). Love needs no justification of any sort. It simply is.
From The Gentle Art of Blessing, ©2005 by William Bloom, published by Cygnus Books.
|
|
Spirituality 
