The Heart of Who We Are: Realizing Freedom Together

(Paperback)

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When Caverly Morgan reentered the world after a period of eight solitary years as a practicing Zen monk, she was confronted with a question so many of us find ourselves asking these days: When faced with the enormity of the collective problems before us, how can an individual mindfulness and meditation practice actually make a difference in our world In The Heart of Who We Are, Morgan explores how contemplative technologies designed for the pursuit of personal freedom can be-and must be-applied collectively. Filled with wisdom rooted in presence and the truth of our oneness, this timely guide invites us to connect with the core of who we are and then use that understanding to transform our own lives and the world around us. Blending Zen practice, Western psychology, and a focus on direct experience, Morgan presents a nondual approach and systemic view of the global challenges before us, offering a wealth of teachings, tools, personal stories, and reflection questions that inspire us to put our deeply held values into action. At the heart of this book is the call to liberation, to find freedom that is within and without, both personally and collectively. "The longer we cling to the notion that there's a separate self who awakens, the more arduous our path will be," Morgan writes. "We realize freedom together."

Reviews

"Morgan aims to reorient... personal seeking and unease into collective strategies for facing difficult questions about how we live." --Lion's Roar

"Collective liberation is first grounded in collective healing. Collective healing starts with the labor of individuals willing to begin healing for themselves. That will open into collective healing. Our future must be a future that centers the work of healing to get free. In The Heart of Who We Are, Caverly Morgan offers us a vision of how to do this imperative work through the profound lens of Buddhist dharma, which she has deeply embodied through her many years of practice and study. This book is a part of the canon of work we must rely on to bring about a more liberated future." --Lama Rod Owens, author of Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation Through Anger

"Awareness is contagious, and Caverly skillfully encourages readers to harness our awareness to find the peace and contentedness that already exist within. The energy that follows brings healing to our lives, as well as helps us work to improve the lives of others." --Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness and Real Change

"Caverly Morgan's writing is immediately intimate, fresh, and friendly--and it goes straight to your heart. She combines spiritual depth with enormous practical wisdom. I loved reading her personal stories, mind-stopping enlightenment zaps, effective suggestions, brief psychological exercises, and gentle, humorous, encouraging guidance. She is a true friend to the reader, a deeply realized being who is utterly committed to your healing and awakening. A gem!" --Rick Hanson, PhD, author of Neurodharma: New Science, Ancient Wisdom, and Seven Practices of the Highest Happiness

"Transcendence and transformation. In The Heart of Who We Are, Caverly deftly holds two seemingly opposing truths--our shared being of oneness whose nature is peace, and our shared world of apparent separation and its suffering--and invites us to explore how our true nature might find its fullest expression in both ourselves and the collective. This beautiful and courageous book not only provides a way for us to explore who we are and how we are in the world but stands as a shining example of what it means to do both." --Rupert Spira, teacher of nonduality, author of The Nature of Consciousness and Being Aware of Being Aware

"This book is a masterpiece. It offers the reader a deep understanding of nonduality in an accessible and tangible way, illustrates how to apply this understanding to social justice and cultural change, and offers a path toward realizing freedom together through love, compassion, and awareness. One of the most personally impactful books I've read in a long time." --Kristin Neff, PhD, author of Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself and Fierce Self-Compassion: How Women Can Harness Kindness to Speak Up, Claim Their Power, and Thrive

"Drawing upon her decades of experience as a Zen monk and meditation teacher, Caverly Morgan generously shares the practices of deep inquiry and guided meditations that have transformed the lives of thousands of teenagers in the Peace in Schools program in Portland, Oregon. At a time when so many people are discouraged about the future of the world and its inhabitants, her creative teachings can help us see through the illusion of a separate and flawed self, offering the real possibility that individual awakening can become community, societal, and eventually, worldwide awakening." --Jan Chozen Bays, Roshi

"Inspiring and immersive, The Heart of Who We Are invites us to access a way of being whole that dissolves the illusion of the separate solo-self, so often taught in our modern culture, and instead come to release what rests beneath that veil--an open awareness from which love, experience, and consciousness arise. The practices and stories of this marvelous book are lessons guiding us in how to live more fully and freely, releasing the life force of love that is the essence and energy of the liberation within these transformative pages." --Daniel J. Siegel, MD, New York Times bestselling author of IntraConnected: MWe (Me + We) as the Integration of Self, Identity, and Belonging, executive director of the Mindsight Institute

"Caverly Morgan has created a practical guide that will change your life and help you see the world differently. This work moves you from despair to hope, from pain to possibility, all through deep practices, truth, and love. Read this book. You, and the world, will be better for it." --Justin Michael Williams, author of Stay Woke

"The Heart of Who We Are: Realizing Freedom Together is a game changer. It is a book for spiritual teachers and for students alike. In her practical approach that draws on her successful methodologies, Caverly shows us how to bridge the chasm between spiritual wisdom and social responsibilities. Caverly guides us to understand what we are not seeing as individuals and the impact of our blindness on the collective unconsciousness within our culture. She gives us hope by showing us not only what we can do but how to do it. The Heart of Who We Are: Realizing Freedom Together is a significant addition to spiritual wisdom teachings." --Jac O'Keeffe, teacher, author of How to Be a Spiritual Rebel and Born to Be Free

"In The Heart of Who We Are, Caverly Morgan has offered our troubled world a wish-fulfilling gem--crystal clear in its transparent honesty, luminous in shining the light of wise compassion on the shame that binds us all in different ways, incisive and unbreakable in its exposing and cutting through the knots of fear-based conditioning that lock us into lives of separation, othering, and harming. Given the urgency of this now--with our individual and collective lives, our spiritual practice, and communities crying for voices that help awaken us from the nightmares of spiritual bypassing and systemic racial and other oppression, her voice is a freedom bell that calls us to return again to our wholeness and to join as one in the act of co-creating the beloved community we all need to truly be together in shared presence, here and now." --Joe Loizzo, MD, PhD, founder of the Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science, assistant professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College

"This is the book I've been waiting for! A deeply profound and practical path of liberation that fully integrates the collective with the individual." --Christopher Willard, PsyD, Harvard Medical School, author of How We Grow Through What We Go Through: Self-Compassion Practices for Post-Traumatic Growth

"The Heart of Who We Are: Realizing Freedom Together offers crystal clear perspective on the truth of Shared Being. In a voice as candid and transparent as it is poetic and unrelentingly compassionate, Caverly Morgan provides a bridge to collective awakening within the complexity of the world we are navigating today. The mindful inquiry and experiential practices in this book invite the reader into clear seeing, embodiment, and ultimately, radical togetherness." --Deborah Eden Tull, author of Luminous Darkness: An Engaged Buddhist Approach to Embracing the Unknown

"Caverly's embodiment of compassion and wisdom empowers us to walk the courageous path to deeply question and examine our individual and collective suffering and to recognize and dismantle the systems that perpetuate harm that has resulted in the chasm of separation in our world today. We humans have forgotten our inherent belonging that is our birthright and the interconnectedness of our existence. The Heart of Who We Are is the bridge of remembrance back to ourselves and each other that we so profoundly need right now if we are to survive as a species." --La Sarmiento, guiding teacher of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington's BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ sanghas

"Caverly's book is a beautiful invitation into an awake presence. She artfully invites us to traverse duality and nonduality amidst everyday life. Rich with insight and heart earned from deep spiritual practice, life in community, and exploring her own privilege, this inspired work is a wonderful companion for how to live with freedom, wisdom, and connection in a complex, challenging world." --Mark Coleman, author of From Suffering to Peace

"The Heart of Who We Are is meant to inspire practitioners to not only find the heart of our humanity in community but also to question how we have come to form and hold our individual and collective illusions. In a time when fear is causing our fellow human beings to reinforce their concretized personal realities, Caverly Morgan encourages us to practice experiencing the depth and benefit of cultivating a mindful and wise shared reality." --Justin F. Miles, MA, LCPC-S, LCAD-S

"Infused with wisdom, this brilliant book invites readers to go inward as the starting point for reimagining collective freedom. Weaving together lived experiences and practical teachings, The Heart of Who We Are serves to free us from the trance of social conditioning and connect with a deeper purpose. I held this profound and courageous book to my heart, reminded of the connection between personal inner peace and peace on earth." --Rev. Grace Sangjin Song, Won Buddhist dharma teacher at Won Institute of Graduate Studies

"The Heart of Who We Are is a luminous and multifaceted gem of a book, beautifully written and grounded in wisdom from Caverly Morgan's own lived experience as a dharma practitioner and teacher. This treasure store offers us one of the

Author Bio

Caverly Morgan is a meditation teacher, nonprofit leader, and visionary. She is the founder of Presence Collective, dedicated to igniting personal transformation and collective awakening, as well as the founder of Peace in Schools, a nonprofit that created the nation's first for-credit mindfulness class in public high schools. She is the author of A Kids Book About Mindfulness and lives in Portland, Oregon. For more, visit caverlymorgan.org.