Book Review: Entering the Castle

I've read other books by Carolyn Myss, so when I found this one, I figured it was worth exploring. Entering the Castle:  An Inner Path to God and Your Soul is a handbook for how to apply the principles from St. Teresa of Ávila's The Interior Castle to a contemporary life.  I have 2 confessions to make.  First, I may have gotten more from this book if I had read it side by side with The Interior Castle, comparing and contrasting Myss's ideas with Teresa's.  Second, this is a book full of exercises, and although I thought through several of them, I didn't really invest the time to work through all the exercises completely.  With books like this, I generally read straight through once just to get the generally idea and then I go back and work through some of the exercises if they interest me.

I have very mixed feelings about this book.  There are some pages that I highlighted multiple places because it made so much sense to me and fit so well into where I am currently in my spiritual journey.  Then I'd turn the page and read a little more, and respond with, "No!  Really??"  More than any other book I've read in recent memory, this one was filled with moments that brought incredible insight and peace, followed by moments that crushed your soul.  Yes, I do think it is totally to do with where I am and what I need right now.

Although the approach of this book is very Christian and God centered, I was struck by how similar the exercises were to what I've been reading about Buddhism.  In fact, the book jacket even says this

This exciting new teaching of contemporary mysticism is also a brilliant synthesis of the psychology of consciousness and of Eastern and Western mystical traditions.  

Perhaps the most helpful parts of this book were those places where she talks about a concept that I was familiar with already, but gives new life to it through descriptions and imagery that is new to me.  One example is this description of grace.

Grace is divine fire, cosmic power, that runs through your being, calming your body, inspiring your thoughts, healing your physical pain, preventing you from an accident, guiding your inner journey.  Grace is the indescribable breath of God entering into your being while you pray.  Grace is the energy you call upon to help another person in need of comfort, healing, or inspiration.  To embrace grace, become aware of its presence in your life, mindful of the reality of this divine substance.   (page 307-308)

This book took a long time for me to get through, but even with the things I disagree with, it was not wasted time.  No book is ever wasted time.  You may disagree with the premise or even find that the writing style was poor (which this one was not), but seeing those things helps clarify what you believe or how you write.

On the plus side, this book introduced me to a saint that I was not familiar with before.  Plus, I was enough interested in her work, that I would now like to read Teresa's text and explore it for myself. Carolyn Myss gave me one way of exploring the text through a contemporary lens.  I wonder what wisdom and insight I might find on my own.