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The Conscious Activist: Where Activism Meets Mysticism
Award-winning author James O'Dea has created a handbook for those interested in Sacred Activism, a fusing spiritual knowledge with radical action. O'Dea outlines the polarities between the inner path of spiritual growth and the outer path of social activism, concluding that the two must co-exist in equal weighting so that the human race can become a compassionate force for good.
'James O’Dea is a modern-day prophet who has journeyed further than anyone I know in the ways of peace' Lynne Twist 'The Conscious Activist is a major contribution to the most important movement of our time - one that fuses profound spiritual awareness with radical action. It is wise and passionate and superbly written, with the kind of graceful but pungent clarity that only long experience can engender' Andrew Harvey 'After reading The Conscious Activist , you will drop to your knees in heart-opening awe and then you will rise to your feet, inspired to act in a truly transformational way' Marianne Williamson An extraordinary and rousing manifesto from award-winning author James O’Dea, The Conscious Activist is both a compelling narrative and a deep reflection on the demands of mystical realization and effective activism.
Throughout the book, O'Dea poses that an integration of the two has the power to permanently transform the social order and to wake up humanity from its course of rapid self-destruction. Divided into two parts, Part I offers parallel narratives of author James O’Dea’s training and spiritual development as both a mystic and an activist. The mystic, he explains, must move past petty ego concerns in order to experience oneness with each other and our divine source. The activist, on the other hand, explores the role of passion and conscience in activating social change. In Part II, O’Dea pursues this fascinating concept of a meeting ground between the two worlds, where spirituality and action unite to spark an accelerated transition towards our greater a more evolved civilization. He asks us all to become conscious activists – to learn, collectively, how to move beyond our rigid conformity to beliefs of the past and its archaic structures of power and control.
'James O’Dea is a modern-day prophet who has journeyed further than anyone I know in the ways of peace' Lynne Twist 'The Conscious Activist is a major contribution to the most important movement of our time - one that fuses profound spiritual awareness with radical action. It is wise and passionate and superbly written, with the kind of graceful but pungent clarity that only long experience can engender' Andrew Harvey 'After reading The Conscious Activist , you will drop to your knees in heart-opening awe and then you will rise to your feet, inspired to act in a truly transformational way' Marianne Williamson An extraordinary and rousing manifesto from award-winning author James O’Dea, The Conscious Activist is both a compelling narrative and a deep reflection on the demands of mystical realization and effective activism.
Throughout the book, O'Dea poses that an integration of the two has the power to permanently transform the social order and to wake up humanity from its course of rapid self-destruction. Divided into two parts, Part I offers parallel narratives of author James O’Dea’s training and spiritual development as both a mystic and an activist. The mystic, he explains, must move past petty ego concerns in order to experience oneness with each other and our divine source. The activist, on the other hand, explores the role of passion and conscience in activating social change. In Part II, O’Dea pursues this fascinating concept of a meeting ground between the two worlds, where spirituality and action unite to spark an accelerated transition towards our greater a more evolved civilization. He asks us all to become conscious activists – to learn, collectively, how to move beyond our rigid conformity to beliefs of the past and its archaic structures of power and control.
- GenresMysticism
256 pages, Paperback
First published September 12, 2014
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96 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 20, 2015
a remarkable journey on how to cultivate peace in the 21st century as a peace ambassador who takes the journey of evolving souls. Its where the activist meets mysticism, a journey of personal transformation where you let your imagination catch fire.
February 6, 2015
`Repressed and unresolved conflict is the greatest thief of joy.'
James O'Dea is award-winning author of two books, Cultivating Peace: Becoming a 21st-century Peace Ambassador and Creative Stress: A Path for Evolving Souls through Personal and Planetary Upheaval.He is lead faculty for the Shift Network's acclaimed Peace Ambassador Training and has trained more than 800 peace ambassadors from 30 countries. He has served as president of the Institute of Noetic Sciences; as Washington, DC, office director of Amnesty International; and as CEO of the Seva Foundation. Currently he serves on several advisory boards including the Peace Alliance and Kosmos Journal and is a member of the Evolutionary Leaders group. James is also a mystic who is passionate about global transformation. He offers guidance and consultancy services on peacebuilding, visionary leadership, and spirituality and service from his mountain home in Crestone, Colorado
Rarely do we encounter books of this power and magnitude that make us wish to hold the book not only as we journey along, but also to remain in our active thinking to allow us to grow along with the thoughts shared by The Conscious Activist. O'Dea blends mysticism and activism in a manner that places us one the brink of understanding the universe as it might be and as it could be. Some of the discussions he share are the becoming aware of the cultural distortions; the different layers of our participation in the world; witnessing the breakdown and putting our energy in the breakthrough; wisdom of the energy masters; "the conscious activist"; the evolutionary journey into knowledge; the ripening of our oneness; transformational listening; looking into the shadow of the old stories, and the compassion game. He shares his awakening in Part I - his marriage of the mystic and the activist. Or as he explains, `The mystic must move past petty ego concerns in order to experience oneness with each other and our divine source. The activist, on the other hand, explores the role of passion and conscience in activating social change. In Part II he urges us to learn collectively how to move beyond our rigid conformity to beliefs of the past and its archaic structures of power and control.
This is one of those books that as you read you wish it would never end, but it doesn't end, really, in that it has the power to alter our thinking so that hopefully we can all reach the level of enlightenment as James O'Dea. Highly Recommended.
James O'Dea is award-winning author of two books, Cultivating Peace: Becoming a 21st-century Peace Ambassador and Creative Stress: A Path for Evolving Souls through Personal and Planetary Upheaval.He is lead faculty for the Shift Network's acclaimed Peace Ambassador Training and has trained more than 800 peace ambassadors from 30 countries. He has served as president of the Institute of Noetic Sciences; as Washington, DC, office director of Amnesty International; and as CEO of the Seva Foundation. Currently he serves on several advisory boards including the Peace Alliance and Kosmos Journal and is a member of the Evolutionary Leaders group. James is also a mystic who is passionate about global transformation. He offers guidance and consultancy services on peacebuilding, visionary leadership, and spirituality and service from his mountain home in Crestone, Colorado
Rarely do we encounter books of this power and magnitude that make us wish to hold the book not only as we journey along, but also to remain in our active thinking to allow us to grow along with the thoughts shared by The Conscious Activist. O'Dea blends mysticism and activism in a manner that places us one the brink of understanding the universe as it might be and as it could be. Some of the discussions he share are the becoming aware of the cultural distortions; the different layers of our participation in the world; witnessing the breakdown and putting our energy in the breakthrough; wisdom of the energy masters; "the conscious activist"; the evolutionary journey into knowledge; the ripening of our oneness; transformational listening; looking into the shadow of the old stories, and the compassion game. He shares his awakening in Part I - his marriage of the mystic and the activist. Or as he explains, `The mystic must move past petty ego concerns in order to experience oneness with each other and our divine source. The activist, on the other hand, explores the role of passion and conscience in activating social change. In Part II he urges us to learn collectively how to move beyond our rigid conformity to beliefs of the past and its archaic structures of power and control.
This is one of those books that as you read you wish it would never end, but it doesn't end, really, in that it has the power to alter our thinking so that hopefully we can all reach the level of enlightenment as James O'Dea. Highly Recommended.
February 19, 2015
The Conscious Activist can be read as James O'Dea's personal, sincere and deeply felt expression of love, longing, and perhaps above all learning from death; an expression of the necessity and possibility of healing and cultural transformation. The book tells the author's visionary tale of merging roads and common fields that lie ahead for mystics and activists, a tale of deeper alignment far beyond the limitations of the ego, and a tale of our critical assignments to open up our old fortresses, 'both from inside and outside the belly of the beast'. For there is a garden we must find - the garden of our soul, in the centre of all. Go tell the story of human possibility, James O'Dea tells us, he who definitely knows that he was born for such a time as this.
December 30, 2014
I liked the authors integration of purpose "activist" and conscious, mindful choices "mystic".
We could use a big dose of purpose and mindful choices.
My favorite quote in the book:
"We are kept from our goal, not by obstacles, but by a clear path to a lesser goal." (Robert Brault)
We could use a big dose of purpose and mindful choices.
My favorite quote in the book:
"We are kept from our goal, not by obstacles, but by a clear path to a lesser goal." (Robert Brault)
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January 23, 2019Read this book for yoga book club but only made it halfway through because I couldn't renew at the library :( I really enjoyed his story, lessons, and activism. I had a hard time staying engaged with the mystic side but listened and learned from his words.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews