The Returning Way
Contents

Contents

Invocation

The way in. It belongs to neither book and opens both.

Theology

A theology of attention, love, and freedom held in common

  1. iThe Table
  2. iiCovenant
  3. iiiThe Ground
  4. ivAttention and Love
  5. vThe Mystery
  6. viThe Near Otherworld
  7. viiThe Crown in the House
  8. viiiThe Crown in the World
  9. ixReturning
  10. xStar and Commons
  11. xiThe Great Work
  12. xiiThe Branch Carried Home

Practices

Small Practices for the Great Work of Returning

Attention and Love

  1. iThe Ten-Second Return
  2. iiThe Sitting
  3. iiiMetta and Tonglen
  4. ivOne Thing Eaten
  5. vThe God Unfed
  6. viThe Ruined Ordinary
  7. viiThe Bird Gate
  8. viiiThe Open Window

Boundaries and Thresholds

  1. ixThe Hearth Boundary
  2. xWhen Intensity Speaks
  3. xiTrue Naming
  4. xiiThe Two Shores
  5. xiiiThe Rite of the Near Otherworld
  6. xivThe Width of the Room

Relation and Repair

  1. xvFeed the Guest, Keep the Door
  2. xviThe Bowl of Names
  3. xviiThe Watch
  4. xviiiThe Mending Table
  5. xixWho Answers to You
  6. xxBe Beside Me
  7. xxiThe Web
  8. xxiiThe Mirror at Four in the Morning
  9. xxiiiComing Back In

Direction and Uselessness

  1. xxivThe Letter to the Guardian
  2. xxvThe Star Ledger
  3. xxviThe Map Without a Permit
  4. xxviiThe Feast of Enough

The last pages

  1. xxviiiOther ways through
  2. xxixWhen the practice must end
  3. xxxA blessing

Finding a return

If the question is…Begin with…
I have been away a long time and the house does not fit.Coming Back In
I have no one to call.The Open Window, then The Bird Gate. Both are built for one person. The book will not pretend this is the same as company.
I have ten seconds.The Ten-Second Return
The day has taken everything.The Ten-Second Return
I want to train attention on a day when nothing is wrong.The Sitting
I need to stop improving myself.The Sitting
I cannot feel anything and my body is a long way off.The Sitting, the door of no object. Or The Ruined Ordinary, which asks nothing of your feelings and only that you stand there for a fixed time.
I cannot hold a good wish for anyone, including myself.Metta and Tonglen
I want to know what I am eating and who it cost.One Thing Eaten
Something has been eating my days.The God Unfed
I am not the only one feeding it.The God Unfed, the last movement
I want to say something to whatever exceeds me.The Open Window
People cannot refuse me and I decide what happens to them.Who Answers to You
I need to stand somewhere that is not beautiful.The Ruined Ordinary
I want to set a frame for one day and see what comes through it.The Bird Gate
I need a boundary with someone.The Hearth Boundary
My life has become too available.The Hearth Boundary
Intensity is demanding a decision.When Intensity Speaks
A bond has started to speak like fate.True Naming
Somebody has made this an emergency and is offering me the only way out.True Naming, the last movement
The old map no longer matches the ground.True Naming
I cannot stop returning to one question.The Two Shores
I met an image, a dream, a presence, or a strange coincidence.The Rite of the Near Otherworld
I am caring for someone I cannot leave.The Width of the Room
A state has taken over the whole house.Feed the Guest, Keep the Door
I keep doing the thing I said I would stop.Feed the Guest, Keep the Door
I am grieving.The Bowl of Names
A hard season has ended and I do not know what I am now.The Bowl of Names
The grief is not new and it has not stopped.The Bowl of Names, the last movement
Someone is making the last crossing.The Watch
An animal is dying — mine, found, hit, or one I killed.The Watch, the animal movement
I caused harm.The Mending Table
I do not know what I have not looked at.The Mending Table
I want company without merger.Be Beside Me
I am about to refuse something, alone.The Web
I need to be heard and nobody is awake.The Mirror at Four in the Morning
I cannot trust my own read of what happened.Say it to a person first. Then The Mirror at Four in the Morning
A decision is stuck.The Letter to the Guardian
I am asking what is mine to do.The Star Ledger
I think I have awakened, attained, or gone deep.The Map Without a Permit
Life has become only work.The Feast of Enough