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Life, Depth, and the Art of Immersion: Overcoming Fear, Anxiety, and Misunderstanding by Fully Immersing in Life
What if you
could transform anxiety into anticipation, fear into respect, ignorance into knowledge, the mundane into the extraordinary, hate into love, despair into hope, and apathy into compassion?
In Life, Depth, and the Art of Immersion , Andrew Bowen shows us through examples, storytelling, and meditation techniques a way to live our unique and precious lives to the fullest without the burdens of hatred, apathy, despair, fear, and ignorance weighing us down.
Perhaps you suffer from hatred and desire the cooling salve of love and compassion. Maybe you are paralyzed by fear based on past experiences or cultural/social conditioning. The Art of Immersion will open your eyes to objectivity and the world in its pure, unadulterated form. Some of you may live with a debilitating bias toward those you perceive as different from yourself. The Art of Immersion will guide you into the pools of these precious lives, show you our shared humanity, and help you surface from the waters with compassion, equanimity, and an understanding of just how intimately close we really are with all life. There also exists the possibility that you have plateaued or become stagnant in some area of your life, be it religiously/spiritually, your love life, relationship(s), career, lapsed hobbies, passions, or interests, etc. Immersion presents an opportunity to vivify these aspects and areas of your life by helping you go deeper and far beyond the depth and plateau where you currently reside. Or perhaps you simply need encouragement to try something new.
The Art of Immersion is a baptism into a life of courage, compassion, and equanimity. Let us go deeper, together.
In Life, Depth, and the Art of Immersion , Andrew Bowen shows us through examples, storytelling, and meditation techniques a way to live our unique and precious lives to the fullest without the burdens of hatred, apathy, despair, fear, and ignorance weighing us down.
Perhaps you suffer from hatred and desire the cooling salve of love and compassion. Maybe you are paralyzed by fear based on past experiences or cultural/social conditioning. The Art of Immersion will open your eyes to objectivity and the world in its pure, unadulterated form. Some of you may live with a debilitating bias toward those you perceive as different from yourself. The Art of Immersion will guide you into the pools of these precious lives, show you our shared humanity, and help you surface from the waters with compassion, equanimity, and an understanding of just how intimately close we really are with all life. There also exists the possibility that you have plateaued or become stagnant in some area of your life, be it religiously/spiritually, your love life, relationship(s), career, lapsed hobbies, passions, or interests, etc. Immersion presents an opportunity to vivify these aspects and areas of your life by helping you go deeper and far beyond the depth and plateau where you currently reside. Or perhaps you simply need encouragement to try something new.
The Art of Immersion is a baptism into a life of courage, compassion, and equanimity. Let us go deeper, together.
74 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 4, 2013
3 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Bowen
25 books13 followersAndrew Bowen, once a fervent enemy of religion, is now a perpetual student and champion for inter-religious peace and reconciliation. In 2011, Andrew created Project Conversion, a year-long personal immersion into the culture, practices, beliefs, and rituals of 12 belief systems from around the world as a personal intervention after years of animosity toward faith.
He now speaks and writes about his pluralistic adventures and efforts to end the war between, within, and outside the world of faith.
He now speaks and writes about his pluralistic adventures and efforts to end the war between, within, and outside the world of faith.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 30, 2013
In this brief ebook, Andrew Bowen outlines his process for immersing himself into other faiths, as he did with his year-long Project Conversion (which I mentioned on my blog here and about which he wrote a book, that I reviewed here).
Even though this book has much wider applications than interfaith understanding, it would definitely be helpful to read Project Conversion first, to provide context and perspective from Andrew's previous experiences.
That being said, the tone of Life, Depth and the Art of Immersion is very different from Project Conversion. Project Conversion was more conversational and intimate, this one seems a bit more formal and distant. Andrew still uses examples from his own life, as well as drawing from many different religious traditions, but in trying to make his advice broad enough to apply to many different immersion situations, it loses some of the detail that made Project Conversion so readable and engaging. However, he states toward the beginning that Immersion has a great deal of "elasticity" in its application, so that's to be expected to some degree.
In short chapters, Andrew offers guidance on how to identify your goals and how to find a mentor to facilitate your immersion process. He warns of the "shock" and "blunt force" that immersion can have on a person and cautions the initiates against being too hard on themselves for the inevitable stumbles and mistakes. "The Art of Immersion is a gradual, often lengthy process," he reminds readers. "Like exercise of the physical body, the beginning is always the most arduous, the most demanding, because we must align our body and will for the sake of a seemingly distant result. In time however, and with patience and diligence, those results indeed come, and what was once viewed as a cumbersome and laborious chore now segues into a beloved lifestyle."
I was especially intrigued by his categorization of those looking for immersion into four types of "divers": the Student, the Penitent, the Seeker, and the Adventurer. Each pursues immersion for a different reason and by a different path, suited to their purpose. I also appreciated Andrew's egalitarian use of male and female pronouns for both the mentors and the "divers".
Life, Depth, and the Art of Immersion is meant to be a personal, reflective experience. Every chapter includes suggested exercises, and encouragement to meditate and journal your process throughout. This book would be best read as a how-to once you already have an immersion project in mind. I'll have to re-read it when I get to that point.
** Disclosure: I received a free copy of the ebook from Andrew Bowen for review purposes.
For more book reviews, visit my blog Build Enough Bookshelves.
Even though this book has much wider applications than interfaith understanding, it would definitely be helpful to read Project Conversion first, to provide context and perspective from Andrew's previous experiences.
That being said, the tone of Life, Depth and the Art of Immersion is very different from Project Conversion. Project Conversion was more conversational and intimate, this one seems a bit more formal and distant. Andrew still uses examples from his own life, as well as drawing from many different religious traditions, but in trying to make his advice broad enough to apply to many different immersion situations, it loses some of the detail that made Project Conversion so readable and engaging. However, he states toward the beginning that Immersion has a great deal of "elasticity" in its application, so that's to be expected to some degree.
In short chapters, Andrew offers guidance on how to identify your goals and how to find a mentor to facilitate your immersion process. He warns of the "shock" and "blunt force" that immersion can have on a person and cautions the initiates against being too hard on themselves for the inevitable stumbles and mistakes. "The Art of Immersion is a gradual, often lengthy process," he reminds readers. "Like exercise of the physical body, the beginning is always the most arduous, the most demanding, because we must align our body and will for the sake of a seemingly distant result. In time however, and with patience and diligence, those results indeed come, and what was once viewed as a cumbersome and laborious chore now segues into a beloved lifestyle."
I was especially intrigued by his categorization of those looking for immersion into four types of "divers": the Student, the Penitent, the Seeker, and the Adventurer. Each pursues immersion for a different reason and by a different path, suited to their purpose. I also appreciated Andrew's egalitarian use of male and female pronouns for both the mentors and the "divers".
Life, Depth, and the Art of Immersion is meant to be a personal, reflective experience. Every chapter includes suggested exercises, and encouragement to meditate and journal your process throughout. This book would be best read as a how-to once you already have an immersion project in mind. I'll have to re-read it when I get to that point.
** Disclosure: I received a free copy of the ebook from Andrew Bowen for review purposes.
For more book reviews, visit my blog Build Enough Bookshelves.
May 13, 2013
Before reading this book, I think you should read Project Conversion in order to understand all the references by the author. I think it could be read without Project Conversion, but you won't get the fullest understanding.
Sadly, I wasn't impressed with this book. Project Conversion was one of the best books I've read in a long time, and this was one of the most trying.
Most notably, it's like reading another author. The voice is totally different. While Project Conversion was honest, personable, and straightforward, this text reads like an obscure Buddhist treatise. The language is lofty and full of affectation. I can't relate to it, and I can't even always figure out what the flowery language is trying to actually *say.*
Some examples:
"We must therefore purge ourselves of negativity so that we do not poison the womb and emerge corrupted."
"My children love to swim. In the spring and summer months, when the chill of winter dissipates and the sun beckons life out of its burrows, the water invites us to thaw within its embrace."
"Panic is the first to visit him, and he risks losing control and sight of what he knew would transpire, for one does not make the descent in order to return as we were, but to die unto ourselves and rise anew."
Strangely, he only uses feminine pronouns for the "example person who doesn't really exist"...except for when choosing a mentor. When discussing a person in a leadership role, the pronoun is masculine, but the student/initiate is always depicted as female. I don't think it's done on purpose, but it was interesting how obvious it was to me.
More importantly, I think the book fails to lay the groundwork in the beginning. I'm not sure what this book is meant to do, but I immediately get instructions to journal my experiences with the journey, and then we jump right in. He list various uses for this "method" throughout the book, and most make sense: spiritual journeys, dealing with psychological issues from the past, healing family estrangements. One that definitely didn't seem to fit? Mountain biking. This needs a proper introduction and a description of the possibilities this method will open for you.
This is a philosophical text, an alternative perspective on life, so it's practical application takes time to discover. I'm disappointed because I expected this to be something else, something practical and something personable.
Sadly, I wasn't impressed with this book. Project Conversion was one of the best books I've read in a long time, and this was one of the most trying.
Most notably, it's like reading another author. The voice is totally different. While Project Conversion was honest, personable, and straightforward, this text reads like an obscure Buddhist treatise. The language is lofty and full of affectation. I can't relate to it, and I can't even always figure out what the flowery language is trying to actually *say.*
Some examples:
"We must therefore purge ourselves of negativity so that we do not poison the womb and emerge corrupted."
"My children love to swim. In the spring and summer months, when the chill of winter dissipates and the sun beckons life out of its burrows, the water invites us to thaw within its embrace."
"Panic is the first to visit him, and he risks losing control and sight of what he knew would transpire, for one does not make the descent in order to return as we were, but to die unto ourselves and rise anew."
Strangely, he only uses feminine pronouns for the "example person who doesn't really exist"...except for when choosing a mentor. When discussing a person in a leadership role, the pronoun is masculine, but the student/initiate is always depicted as female. I don't think it's done on purpose, but it was interesting how obvious it was to me.
More importantly, I think the book fails to lay the groundwork in the beginning. I'm not sure what this book is meant to do, but I immediately get instructions to journal my experiences with the journey, and then we jump right in. He list various uses for this "method" throughout the book, and most make sense: spiritual journeys, dealing with psychological issues from the past, healing family estrangements. One that definitely didn't seem to fit? Mountain biking. This needs a proper introduction and a description of the possibilities this method will open for you.
This is a philosophical text, an alternative perspective on life, so it's practical application takes time to discover. I'm disappointed because I expected this to be something else, something practical and something personable.
May 14, 2013
Andrew Bowen explains in this book the actual steps he took through Project conversion. Throughout this book he shares how we can experience these steps in our own lives. He relates the steps of immersion as diving into water and how the water can wash away our fear and anxiety. Each chapter provides an exercise to help delve deeper into this new immersion.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews