Christian Bhakti Yoga : Love
Christian Karma Yoga : Service
Christian Raja Yoga : Meditation
Christian Jnana Yoga : Understanding
DONALD
JAMES GIACOBBE
Donald James Giacobbe
is the author of Memory Walk in the Light,
which is described at the bottom of this web page. Don worked for
sixteen years as a case manager for the state of Arizona serving
developmentally disabled clients. The professional nature of his human service
work placed limitations on his ability to express his spiritual motivations
overtly, so out of necessity he served as an "undercover agent" for
God.
A more direct approach to spirituality was facilitated by
living with Zen Buddhist seekers and then being part of a yoga community. Later
he was the director of the Aquarian Age Yoga Center in Virginia Beach, VA. He
served as an instructor of meditation and yoga, teaching college courses and
appearing on television. He specialized in providing yoga teacher training
certification courses and leading meditation workshops and retreats. Don has
attempted in his teaching of meditation to strip away the rituals of Zen
Buddhism and yoga practices and transpose only the bare essence into a
Christian context. Techniques of meditation inspired by Eastern sources enhance
the use of traditional Christian practices, such as the "Jesus
Prayer," and lead to the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit that occurs in
Christian contemplation.
Don
encourages the doing of God's
Will, being receptive to the Holy Spirit, and finding Christ within the
temple
of one's own heart. While respecting all Christian spiritual
expressions, he
became a monk by making his vow directly to God, without the stamp of
approval
from any religious organization. For many years Don used the term
"Christian yoga" to describe his spiritual path, which combined
following Christ with yoga disciplines. However, in recent years he has
adopted
the term "Miracle Yoga" to describe the specific path of Christian Yoga
he has chosen. This form of spirituality is a synthesis of yoga and the
philosophy of A Course in Miracles, encouraging the seeker to see
with "forgiving eyes" and perceive Christ in everyone. Don's goal is
to maintain a balance between opening to divine love inwardly and
allowing that
love to be extended outwardly to others.
WHY I WROTE “MEMORY WALK IN THE
LIGHT”
When I
was deciding on the title of this autobiography, I gave strong consideration to
Autobiography of a Christian Yogi because of the book, Autobiography
of a Yogi. When I read this life story of the Hindu guru, Yogananda, I
appreciated learning about seekers living lives devoted to awakening to God and
was inspired by examples of the divine manifested in this world. I was drawn to
Eastern philosophy, which encourages inner spiritual seeking, yet I was also
firmly rooted in my Western culture with its focus on maintaining outer loving
relationships. I was centered in Christ, Who I did not feel was limited to the
West. Rather, I felt that Jesus, having fully manifested His Christ nature, had
embodied the best of the East through His own enlightenment in His resurrection
and the best of the West in His emphasis on forgiveness and loving
relationships. However, at that time there was a lack of available literature
bridging the gap between the East and West. In this autobiography I have
included the information that I would like to have had forty years ago when I
was first consciously embarking on my spiritual path with one foot extending to
the East and the other foot solidly planted in the West.
Because
I have an interest and background in art, visual imagery has played a prominent
role in my life. Thus the graphics in this autobiography will help you to
visually see my life through my eyes. Interspersed throughout the 678 text
pages are 120 graphics pages for an overall total of 798 pages. There are 131
black and white graphics in the form of photographs, paintings, drawings, and
diagrams. The color image on the front cover symbolizes my spiritual destiny in
the Light, just as it is the spiritual destination of all of God’s children.
The color images on the back cover collectively represent the “marriage of the
East and West,” which has been an ongoing theme of my life as a Christian
seeker open to Eastern methods of spiritual growth.
In
writing this book the key question for me has been, “What would be most helpful
for you, the reader, in terms of inspiring you to pursue spiritual growth?” I
could have taken the direction of some inspirational life stories to create a
one-sided picture of a spiritually guided life and to minimize personal
shortcomings and dark shadows. But I have taken the opposite direction by
presenting an unvarnished version of my spiritual search, which includes
unusual and uplifting spiritual experiences right alongside the numerous
embarrassing warts of my life.
There
are many paths that can be taken. However, I can only present for your
consideration the means that I myself have used for spiritual growth. I am
grateful for my experience of the Roman Catholic faith that first nourished me
in my childhood and then later sustained me in my early adult life. From that
starting foundation, I will share with you my spiritual evolution, which has
resulted in my current blending of the East and West with Christ remaining in
the center of my life. But there was a ten-year period starting at age fourteen
when I left behind my focus on Christ. That time period began with sowing the
wild oats of youth and ended with a serious exploration of Zen Buddhism, which
ironically brought me back to Christ. In my former practice of Zen meditation
my goal was the elusive spiritual “gold medal” of enlightenment. I thought that
one transcendent peak experience would answer every question of life. But what
do Olympic athletes discover after their one-time experience of finally
winning the gold medal? They usually discover that the real challenge in
everyone’s life is to find peace of mind and thus fulfillment in each moment of
everyday life, where no medals are awarded or needed.
How can
this peace of mind be obtained? Peace of mind is acquired through a refinement
of one’s own mind through a combination of human effort and divine grace. First
must come the realization that one’s current thought system is egocentric and
inadequate to bring peace to the mind. This awareness leads to the decision to
implement spiritual practices and to find a new and better thought system that
represents a reversal of the ego-driven thinking of this world. In my own
search I have been attracted to a combination of Christian and yoga spiritual
practices, including daily meditation, body postures, and breathing practices,
which could be called Christian Yoga. Such tangible spiritual practices
are necessary to calm and purify the mind as a preparation for the direct
experience of the divine beyond the conceptual thinking of the mind. On the
other hand, within the realm of concepts I still felt the necessity to find a
thought system that could be the philosophical foundation for my practice of
Christian yoga and could guide my mind in the activities of daily living.
Along
the way in my growth there wasn’t a clear, ready-made East/West thought system
that I could simply adopt and use as a basis for my practice of Christian yoga.
Consequently I had to formulate my own “buffet style” philosophy by picking up
ideas here and there from Eastern and Western sources. The development of my
philosophical thought system involved studying a variety of different Christian
and Eastern philosophies and also reading books by writers attempting to
synthesize different philosophies. For example, I familiarized myself with the
writings of Aldous Huxley and Huston Smith on the “perennial philosophy,”
which seeks to identify the universal principles of truth underlying all
religions. In addition, I relied on information from Edgar Cayce, who was both
a psychic and a Christian open to Eastern influences. Then after this study I
pieced together my own Christian/Eastern philosophy to form a basis for seeking
the divine and living in the world of form.
Although I was very happy with my patchwork East/West
philosophy, I encountered several friends who had
adopted the thought system of A Course
in Miracles. For many years I was exposed to this new thought system
and resisted any involvement with it. However, as events turned out I have not
only accepted A Course in Miracles, but now feel guided to share this
spiritual teaching with others. The subtitle of this autobiography is “My
Christian Yoga Life as A Course in Miracles,” and this has a dual
meaning. One meaning is that my life itself has been a course in miracles,
revealing God’s immanent presence in the world and His transcendence beyond the
world. The other meaning is that this autobiography is presented here as a way
for you to learn about the spiritual principles of A Course in Miracles in
the context of my attempts to manifest these principles in the course of my
everyday living.
What is A
Course in Miracles? It is a
course in mind training set forth in three books for personal study and
application, now usually combined into one volume. The Text presents
the philosophical thought system that is the basis for this course of study. The Workbook for Students is a
one-year course of daily practices to provide practical application of the
thought system. The Manual for
Teachers is for those who have
learned the Course principles and would like to share their learning with
others. The Course is not a religion and not associated with a church, but many
Course students do come together for local study groups.
The
Course integrates the ideas of Eastern philosophy into a Western context that
can be applied by Christians of any denomination or even by followers of Christ
who are not affiliated with any church. However, in addition to being inclusive
of Eastern philosophy, the Course also offers a profound understanding of
psychology from a spiritual perspective. This unique synthesis of Eastern and
Western philosophy with psychology has attracted many spiritual seekers and
from its inception in the seventies has had an amazing growth with no initial
advertising.
Whatever
personal growth benefit you gain from this autobiography will be due to your
degree of openness. It takes a certain degree of openness for a
Westerner and/or follower of Christ to consider the true inner value of yoga
beyond the obvious physical health benefits. An even greater degree of openness
is necessary to be willing to examine carefully the principles of A Course
in Miracles. These principles can be very challenging for anyone accustomed
to traditional Christian thinking. For many seekers the Course is presented in
such an intellectual manner that it is hard to understand and seems difficult
to apply to daily life. I hope that describing the Course as it relates to my
life experiences will demonstrate the practical application of the Course
principles.
Just as
the Course was gradually introduced into my life, its principles are slowly
brought into this autobiography with greater emphasis toward the end. If you
have no previous experience studying the Course, this life story can be a good
introduction. If you have some familiarity with the Course, yet have been
confused by it, this autobiography may provide some clarity. If you already
consider yourself to be a Course student, this life story can reinforce your
current understanding and can provide insights into how to apply Course
principles. If you are a Course student who considers the Course all by itself
to be your entire spiritual path, you will find examples of forgiveness and
relationships that may inspire you in your own spiritual practice of
forgiveness. I respect those purely Course students who have dedicated their
lives to mostly or exclusively focusing on forgiveness. However, I have spent
my life giving equal weight to making inner contact with spirit and allowing
that inner connection to be expressed outwardly, for example through loving
relationships, because I want to embody and teach a balance of the East and
West. The cornerstone of the Course is forgiveness, and the central message of
yoga is opening to the divine presence. As an instructor of Christian yoga
based on Course principles, I feel it is my mission to teach and be an example
of both practicing forgiveness and opening to the experience of spirit.
The
final goal of all spiritual seeking is to transcend the world of form and wake
up in the heavenly Arms of God. Nevertheless, living a useful and meaningful
life along the way is equally important—not only as a preparation for ultimate
transcendence, but also as a manifestation of the divine presence in the here
and now. The goal of Christian yoga is to simply live in Christ on a daily
basis. What Christian yoga has to offer is an emphasis on finding our divine
life in Christ within, with the aid of specific yoga disciplines, and then
expressing our divine life outwardly. Christian yoga can lead to becoming what
might be called a “spirit vessel”—a seeker who has an intimate experiential
contact with the divine within and allows that divine spirit to flow outwardly
into the lives of others.
The term
Christian yoga can be applied to the practice of any seekers who combine
following Christ with yoga disciplines. However, in recent years I have used
the term Miracle Yoga to describe the particular path of Christian yoga
I have chosen, which combines Christ, yoga, and the Course. Hopefully this
autobiography will foster a deeper appreciation and understanding of how to
live in Christ through yoga and how to apply the spiritual principles of the
Course in order to bring blessings into the lives of others.
The
title of this autobiography, Memory Walk in the Light, emphasizes my life as
a concrete journey of forgiveness leading toward an abstract destination. My
journey is different than yours, but in the end you and I will discover the
same transcendental Light. This Light is the abstract destination to which I
have devoted my life.
Many
years ago a total stranger walked up to me and invited me to go on what he
called a “memory walk” with him. I accepted his invitation, and since then my
life has never been the same. Now I am inviting you to take a “memory walk”
with me. This autobiography is a journey into the darkness of the past with the
goal of arriving at the light of the present moment. My story bears witness to
the truth that with the Love of God all things are possible. Quite naturally
God’s Love leads to forgiveness, which has shown me that, “The holiest of all
the spots on earth is where an ancient hatred has become a present love.”(1)
Just as
I am convinced that God’s Love goes with me on my journey, I am equally certain
His Love abides with you on your journey. Who knows? Perhaps His Love will
attract you to this book and will inspire you to read it. If so, I hope you
will be as blessed in taking this memory walk as I have been blessed in having
the opportunity, through God’s grace, to make it available to you. As we walk
together through the memories of my life, I trust that you will absorb from my
experiences whatever would be most helpful to assist you in your own unique,
yet universal journey to the Light.
1. T-26.IX.6:1,
p. 562
RADIO
INTERVIEW OF DONALD
JAMES GIACOBBE
The following is an interview of Donald James Giacobbe, who discusses his autobiography Memory Walk in the Light: My Christian Yoga Life as "A Course in Miracles." This interview was conducted in May of 2010 on the Christian Author's Radio Show. Simply click below and the MP3 interview will immediately start playing:
Click for this autobiography at Amazon.com
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