Entering the Castle: An Inner Path to God and Your Soul

Front Cover
Simon and Schuster, 2007 - Religion - 371 pages
Internationally renowned motivational teacher, spiritual instructor, and popular theologian Caroline Myss has created a transcendent work of unique insight and revelation inEntering the Castle.This exciting new teaching of contemporary mysticism is also a brilliant synthesis of the psychology of consciousness and of Eastern and Western mystical traditions. Myss provides a highly original inner path to self-knowledge -- which is also the road into a spiritual knowledge of God and your own soul -- as she reveals a necessary external path, one that takes you out into the world to serve God and others as a mystic without a monastery -- without having to retreat into total silence, self-denial, or isolation. As her main template for this extraordinary, modern spiritual journey, Myss uses the beloved, revered writings ofThe Interior Castleby Teresa of Ávila. Adapting Teresa's vision of the soul as a beautiful crystal castle with many floors, or mansions, and many rooms within those mansions, Myss guides us from room to room, helping us meet different aspects of our self, our soul, and our spirit -- preparing us for the ultimate encounter with God and our own divinity. Through intense practices and methods of spiritual inquiry adapted for contemporary life, she helps us to develop our personal powers of prayer, contemplation, and intuition and to ascend the seven levels of soul knowledge that build an ever stronger interior castle of our own -- a soul of strength and stamina. As in all her books, Myss also recounts stories of profoundly moving real-life experiences -- of her own, as well as of her students and of renowned spiritual figures -- that bring home the universal truth of her insights. Presiding over the entire book and journey are the great mystics, ancient and contemporary, of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism with their inspiring lives and discerning spirits. And over all, the benevolence, truth, and gentle and tough love of Teresa of Ávila shine through. Doubtless Myss's most deeply personal, revealing, compassionate, and transforming book yet,Entering the Castleis a comprehensive guidebook for the journey of your life -- a journey into the center of your soul. There, peace, God, and a fearless bliss wait for you to discover them...and claim them for your own.
 

Contents

A FAR TOO PERSONAL PREFACE
1
The Call
11
MYSTICS WITHOUT MONASTERIES
23
APPROACHING THE CASTLE Readying the Soul
48
CROSSING THE DRAWBRIDGE The Key to the Castle
80
The Power of Prayer Humility
101
Exploring Chaos in Your Soul
137
Divine Seduction
149
Commitment to God
202
SURRENDER
209
The Mystical Heart
242
DISSOLVING INTO HOLINESS
266
Essential Wisdoms
293
Divine Marriage Healing
322
BIBLIOGRAPHY
347
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
353

GOD IN THE DETAILS
163
Soul Companions
188
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
373
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (2007)

Caroline Myss was born on December 2, 1952 in Chicago, Illinois. She received a bachelor of arts degree in journalism from the Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana in 1974. During her career as a journalist, she interviewed Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, the author of the book, On Death and Dying, which inspired her to pursue a master's degree in theology from Mundelein College, which she completed in 1979. She also studied intuition and energy medicine at Greenwich University. In 1982, she started giving medical intuitive readings and has been in the field of energy medicine and human consciousness for 20 years. She specializes in assisting people in understanding the emotional, psychological, and physical reasons why their bodies have developed an illness. She has written numerous books including Anatomy of the Spirit; Why People Don't Heal and How They Can; Sacred Contracts; Entering the Castle; and Defy Gravity: Healing Beyond the Bounds of Reason.

Bibliographic information