Caught in the ACT: Reflections on Being, Knowing and Doing

by Toinette Lippe

A literate and profound meditation that illuminated the truth of who we are. A reprinted edition with a new afterword.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1939681553
• ISBN13: 9781939681553
• Release Date: August 2016
• Publisher: Monkfish Book Publishing
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 4.9" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

"a fuller trust in the universe"

This account of beginning her semi-retirement, told with candor and vulnerability, wonderfully illustrates how the personal becomes universal. Who doesn't have an identity centered around what they do, think, and know? More than a flash of recognition in the mirror, Caught in the Act is an invitation to explore your own boundaries and to step out beyond them. Best of all, the challenge is to step out playfully, to keep a sense of humor about how our conditioning limits us. How to enjoy life just as it is now, while being open to seeing more than we think we already understand. This is no instructional manual of advice, thankfully, instead it is a book about learning to surrender. An informed and well-grounded wisdom shines forth on every page. While the stories from her life give the reader a sense of connection to her, somehow the book magically becomes about you. Her questions become your questions, too. She writes unpretentiously, as one who finds it unnecessary to state the obvious. It is tempting to credit her decades as a book editor for the clarity of her writing, but the ability to turn a rigorous, analytical mind back on itself requires a degree of personal honesty that only comes with years of spiritual practice and contemplation. This is what makes her insight so recognizably human and relevant. It takes both humility and courage to first see, and then reveal oneself so forthrightly. It is easy for anyone to relate to the challenges of losing your identity with one's work and filling free time creatively; you needn't wait for retirement to explore the territory of "doing non-doing" or to face the inner critic that turns play into more work. Learning to live at ease in the "don't know" zone sounds like the advice of many a Zen master. To watch how someone really applies these teachings to their own life is a wonderful opportunity. Trips to Japanese Zen monasteries, classes in Chinese brush painting, and retreats with Dzogchen masters are fascinating enough just as stories, the inner life evoked by them contains observations you may find useful in any circumstances. I found myself saying "Oh, I do that, too" a hundred times over, as would anyone paying attention to the mind's usual antics. Her focus on the many ways we avoid being present shows (with the usual irony) how awareness of doing that immediately puts us in touch and makes us present in a deeper way. Sometimes just seeing how plain silly we can be might jolt us into whatever is real for us now. Never mind that she calls herself an "almost-Buddhist", her grasp of the issues centered around "aimless aim" is right up there with Zen and the Art of Archery. If we don't have any goals or intentions with whatever activity we are doing, we may go nowhere. Yet if we are too focused on results, we burden our actions with heavy expectations. This book is about finding that balance in your daily life.

ELEGANT, INTIMATE, AND THOUGHT-PROVOKING

This book takes me straight to the heart of my current preoccupation, how to live more fully in the present. Many spiritual teachers address this subject, but rarely is the experience captured with the intimacy of Toinette Lippe's reflections. Reading Caught in the Act is like being inside her mind-which is astonishingly like being in my own. In the practice of entering ever more fully into each moment, the aspirations and the obstacles encountered are largely common to all of us. I was touched and inspired and also greatly entertained by reading such candid accounts of another person's path toward deeper awareness of moment to moment "being, knowing, and doing." My favorite parts of the book concern the author's painting lessons. Her description of a Chinese calligraphy workshop makes almost palpable the sensations of moving an ink-laden brush across paper-so vivid, in fact, that I felt an intense yearning to have the same experience myself. The writing in this section is like a thick ribbon of silk drawing us through each sensuous step in the act of painting to the unexpected culmination: folding the sheet of paper and putting it aside, relinquishing the work of one moment, surrendering to the next, acknowledging impermanence. "Where the paint meets the paper," the author writes, "there is discovery." In addition to the elegant writing and thoughtful examination of many fascinating subjects, I enjoyed smaller elements of the book, like the clever chapter titles. "Watch This Space," for example, is followed by an epigraph from Ovid: "Let your hook always be cast; in the stream where you least expect it, there will be a fish." The illustrations at the head of each chapter are another nice touch-the author's own paintings, offering a lovely link to her descriptions of her art classes.

More than a handshake

We have to hope Toinette Lippe keeps writing since she does it with such grace, and it is clearly addictive. Her observations are profound, but they require only a receptive mind to be understood and accepted. The spiritual books she has edited over the years offer clues to her intellectual integrity and serene spirit. For those who are inspired by clear and imaginative thinking, she has become one of America's most endearing writers. She writes about how we feel and what we would say if we were poets. For readers unaccustomed to contemplative writing, their first encounter with Ms. Lippe's ideas will feel like reaching to shake a new friend's hand and being pulled into a full embrace: surprising, delightful, and comforting.

A favorite...

This book gave me the refreshing feeling of having a deep conversation with a kindred soul. When finished, I had numerous pages marked to reread, as profound thoughts are interspersed between interesting anecdotes from the author's own life...much in the same way that we all experience our everyday lives with unexpected moments of insight and clarity. For those who haven't read it, I also heartily recommend the author's earlier book "Nothing Left Over: A Plain and Simple Life."

Honest, deep, unpretentious

I sat down to read just a chapter of this book, and simply couldn't put it down until I'd read almost the whole book. Reading it was like spending time with a good friend--the best kind of friend: one who levels with you, thinks deeply, cares about the spiritual path, and is unusually honest and direct in discussing core issues. The author talks about her own struggles with meditation, for example, and the difficulties that we all have with remaining really present. Topics include surrender, dealing with hard times, and learning how to just *be*, instead of self-defining by *doing*.