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.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now
Her writing clearly flows out of her own realization....the act of reading her words can become an awakening.

Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now
The golden thread that runs through Catherine Ingram's excellent book is the possibility of immediate awakening.

Book Description
Based on Catherine Ingram's work with thousands of students, Passionate Presence takes the reader on a heart journey that is an immediate experience of seven awakened qualities, speaking directly to the inherent wisdom within each of us.

In Passionate Presence, Catherine Ingram celebrates the seven awakened qualities through stories and dharma points accumulated over three decades of spiritual training. Through her popular interactive Dharma Dialogues (dharma meaning "truth" or "the way"), she has helped thousands of students in their quest for awakening by encouraging them to give up the quest and to let their own heart intelligence guide them in life. Now she brings these many years of experience and teaching to a book that fosters awakened awareness in daily life and encourages us to recognize life's greatest gift: our own passionate presence. Based on "non-dual" teachings that rely on direct experience and filled with numerous stories illustrating her points, Ingram shares with the reader:

* The seven inherent traits of passionate presence: silence, tenderness, embodiment, genuineness, discernment, delight, and wonder.
* The ease of recognizing these traits and letting them inform our lives
* The danger of accepting beliefs without directly experiencing them
* The sense of wonder that is inevitable when we live in passionate presence

Filled with illuminating anecdotes and personal reflections, Passionate Presence reminds us of our divine innocence. Inspiring and profound, it is a sojourn into the timeless wisdom secretly known by all.

About the Author
Catherine Ingram is a renowned dharma teacher with communities serving several thousand students in the U.S, Europe, and Australia. Since 1992, she has led Dharma Dialogues (dharmadialogues.org), which are public events of inquiry into the nature of awakened awareness and its benefits in life. She also leads numerous silent retreats each year and is founder and president of Living Dharma, an educational non-profit organization dedicated to inquiry and service.

A former journalist specializing in issues of consciousness and activism, Catherine is the author of In the Footsteps of Gandhi: Conversations with Spiritual/Social Activists (Parallax Press, 1990). Since 1982 she has published numerous articles and served on the editorial staffs of New Age Journal, East West Journal, and Yoga Journal.