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''Original Goodness'' is a practical commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, emphasizing how to translate it into daily living with the aid of spiritual practices. Written by Eknath Easwaran, the book was originally published in the United States in 1989. Subsequent editions of the book have been published in the US and India, and foreign (non-English) editions have also been published in several languages.〔〔〔 name=spanish89/>〔〔(Non-US editions of Nilgiri Press Books ) (accessed 17 December 2011)}.〕 The book's original subtitle was ''Strategies for uncovering your hidden spiritual resources''. In its second edition in 1996, as part of a 3-book series entitled ''Classics of Christian Inspiration''〔The 3-volume ''Classics of Christian Inspiration'' includes ''Love never faileth'', ''Original goodness'', and ''Seeing with the eyes of love''(ISBN 0915132907, ISBN 0-915132-92-3, ISBN 0-915132-88-5, respectively).〕 the book was subtitled ''Eknath Easwaran on the beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount''. Across its various editions, ''Original Goodness'' has been reviewed in newspapers,〔 name=graham90/>〔 name=jwg97/>〔 name=ramakrishnan97/>〔 name=stpierre97/> magazines,〔 name=conner90/>〔 name=organica89/>〔 name=fip90/>〔 name=tlc97/> and professional journals.〔 name=steed91/> ==Topics covered== All editions of ''Original Goodness'' contain 9 chapters. After the first introductory chapter, each of the remaining 8 chapters offers a practical commentary on one of the Beatitudes,〔 as shown in the table (''below, at right''). The first chapter opens with a quotation from the 13th century Christian mystic Meister Eckhart:
Easwaran states that these words, "addressed to ordinary people... testify to a discovery about the nature of the human spirit as revolutionary as Einstein's theories about the nature of the universe. If truly understood, that discovery would transform the world we live in at least as radically as Einstein's theories changed the world of science." Easwaran claims that "if we could grasp the mystery of Eckhart's 'uncreated light in the soul' - surely no more abstruse than nuclear physics - the transformation in our thinking would set our world right side up."〔 He explains that behind "Eckhart's passionate sermons, straining to convey the Absolute in the words of the street and marketplace," were "essentially, four principles that Leibnitz would later call the Perennial Philosophy, because they have been taught from age to age in culture after culture."〔 These principles are that 1) there is a "divine core of personality which cannot be separated from God,"〔 2) "this divine essence can be ''realized'',"〔 3) "this discovery is life's real and highest goal,"〔 and 4) "when we realize this goal, we discover simultaneously that the divine within ourselves is one and the same in all - all individuals, all creatures, all of life."〔 The chapter explains that "in this book, a mystic is one who not only espouses these principles... but lives them," resulting in "unfailing compassion, fearlessness, equanimity... these are demanding criteria."〔 Only the "great mystics"〔 - from whom he quotes throughout the book - can be said to fully meet these criteria. After further elaborating on shifts in perspective that accompany this realization, the chapter goes on to argue that "there comes a time in the growth of civilizations, as with individuals, when the life-and-death questions of material existence have been answered, yet the soul still thirsts and physical challenges cease to satisfy."〔
Easwaran then argues that whatever one's religious beliefs - "or even if formalized religion is anathema"〔 - it is possible to uncover one's core of goodness through meditation, by which he means "a specific interior discipline which is found in every major religion, though called by different names."〔 Easwaran gives a brief summary〔see pp. 31-33 of the 1996 edition.〕 of a method of meditating on inspired textual passages, such as the Prayer of Saint Francis, the Beatitudes themselves, or other texts he has collected and recommends.〔"You will find it helpful to keep adding to your repertoire so that the passages you meditate on do not grow stale. My book ''God Makes the Rivers to Flow'' contains other passages that I recommend, drawn from many traditions. But whatever your background, I suggest you begin by giving Saint Francis a try" (''Original Goodness'', p. 32, 1996 edition).〕 (he states that full instructions are available in his book ''Passage Meditation''). He explains that by ''meditation'', he means the systematic training of one's attention "to turn inward and dwell continuously on a single focus within consciousness, until, after many years, we become so absorbed in the object of our contemplation that... we forget ourselves completely."〔 Then,
The task of making space for the realization of God is challenging, however, and Easwaran quotes Eckhart as stating that "There is no greater valor nor no sterner fight" because "he who would be what he ought to be must stop being what he is."〔 The remainder of the book then "take() up the Beatitudes one by one as strategies for winning the war within."〔 In doing so, it quotes the perspectives and testimony of numerous mystics, primarily Western, but also Eastern. The book also at several places compares mystical perspectives with modern literary, scientific, and cultural perspectives, mentioning or quoting figures ranging from William James, Werner Heisenberg and Carl Sagan to Edmund Hillary, Ogden Nash, and George Bernard Shaw. The most recurring focus is the perspectives of mystics, including William Law, Baruch Spinoza, Bernard of Clairveaux, Catherine of Genoa, Hans Denck, Brother Lawrence, Teresa of Avila, Margery Kemp, the ''Cloud of Unknowing'', Patanjali, and Mahatma Gandhi. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Original Goodness (book)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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