{"product_id":"a-sunlit-absence-martin-laird-9780195378726","title":"A Sunlit Absence: Silence, Awareness, and Contemplation","description":"\"The practice of contemplation is one of the great spiritual arts,\" writes Martin Laird in \u003cem\u003eA Sunlit Absence\u003c\/em\u003e. \"Not a technique but a skill, it harnesses the winds of grace that lead us out into the liberating sea of silence.\" \u003cbr\u003eIn this companion volume to his bestselling \u003cem\u003eInto the Silent Land\u003c\/em\u003e, Laird focuses on a quality often overlooked by books on Christian meditation: a vast and flowing spaciousness that embraces both silence and sound, and transcends all subject\/object dualisms. Drawing on the wisdom of great contemplatives from St. Augustine and St. Teresa of Avila to St. Hesychios, Simone Weil, and many others, Laird shows how we can uncover the deeper levels of awareness that rest within us like buried treasure waiting to be found. The key insight of the book is that as our practice matures, so will our experience of life's ordeals, sorrows, and joys expand into generous, receptive maturity. We learn to see whatever difficulties we experience in meditation--boredom, lethargy, arrogance, depression, grief, anxiety--not as obstacles to be overcome but as opportunities to practice surrender to what is. With clarity and grace Laird shows how we can move away from identifying with our turbulent, ever-changing thoughts and emotions to the cultivation of a \"sunlit absence\"--the luminous awareness in which God's presence can most profoundly be felt. \u003cbr\u003eAddressed to both beginners and intermediates on the pathless path of still prayer, \u003cem\u003eA Sunlit Absence\u003c\/em\u003e offers wise guidance on the specifics of contemplative practice as well as an inspiring vision of the purpose of such practice and the central role it can play in our spiritual lives.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Martin Laird\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0195378725\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780195378726\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Oxford University Press, USA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/28\/2011\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 208\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.62lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.27h x 5.31w x 0.78d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/01\/2011 pg. 85\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChristianity Today\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/01\/2011 pg. 68\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChristian Century\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/20\/2011 pg. 41","brand":"Martin Laird","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44047957459199,"sku":"9780195378726","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_9c0a7566-1407-4f21-9010-98afa9c0e3e7.jpg?v=1684993112","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/a-sunlit-absence-martin-laird-9780195378726","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}