In Search of the Miraculous by Eliza Mada Dalian

Mada Dalian’s book is, in part, in homage to Osho and to Gurdjieff, both her teachers who have books with similar titles.  Indeed, in many places, Mada speaks of her experiences in Osho’s presence and suggests his active meditations as useful tools in bringing what is unconscious into consciousness and so healing oneself from past lives, past conditionings, past traumas.  She calls both the search for enlightenment and the sudden awakening “healing into consciousness.”  This is also the phrase used to describe her work (the Dalian Healing Method®) as a teacher and a healer in her own right.

Mada writes beautifully, in accessible language, about that which is at the core of life and essentially inaccessible by language.  Her approach is practical, clear, varied and interesting.  This book is “dense” and packed with wisdom.  It is not something to be read quickly or merely once. If one takes the time to read, to re-read, to try the processes for oneself, there is much of value here for those who wish to realize their Buddha nature Here and Now.

The book’s chapters are broken into manageable sub-topics.  Each chapter also contains a section of Questions and Answers on the topics.  Many contain practical suggestions of meditations and questions to work with.  In fact, there is an entire chapter on meditations and visualizations that Mada finds helpful with those who come to her for healing.  There is, in fact, a free guided meditation, Transcending the Fear of Death and the Unknown, downloadable with purchase of the book.  You will even find a chapter which tells, in brief overview, Mada’s own story of discovering past lives, experiencing Osho’s meditations and communes, re-discovering her childhood ability to read thought forms in people’s energy in the Star Sapphire process, and the story of her own awakening and life in its aftermath.

As with any book written by a spiritual healer or teacher, it is likely that you will find things here that speak to you and things that do not.  Much depends on your own particular stage of the journey.  Personally, I am not much into discovering my past lives or working with my chakra system.  So those aspects of this book did not appeal to me, but I am sure will be relished by others who are fascinated by these topics as insightful and helpful.  What I find particularly appealing among Mada’s words and the meanings between them are messages which speak:  to the joy that is everyone’s nature; to the one-ness of all things in the ocean of consciousness; to the key to discovery, which is witnessing awareness as strengthened through meditation; to the fact that everyone is responsible for their own happiness, pain, healing and for doing their “own work”; to the necessity of dis-identifying with the suffering of the ego-mind (including “thoughts, emotions, fears, desires, insecurities, and judgments”) and of peeling away behavior patterns and layers of energetic blocks held in the body.

Mada speaks of stages of development, both of the ego-mind and of the spiritual seeker’s journey, in a way that lends clarity.  She repeats the wisdom of the ages in discussing impermanence, the importance of a naturally-arising compassion, the necessity of looking inside, facing one’s fears, surrendering to and trusting in existence.  There is, in fact, a whole chapter dedicated to the topic of surrender, a topic greatly misunderstood in the West, and seven paths which you may follow in doing so at different periods of your life.   The paths she describes are surrendering to:  “Your Sexuality, Life, Your Inner Power, Love, Your Individuality, Your Inner Wisdom, and to the Will of Existence.”  Mada discusses eleven practical ways to move beyond thoughts into silence—a most valuable discussion, especially for newcomers to meditation.  There are tips on breaking through illusions on the personal, collective and cosmic levels, and especially about how to abandon the fear of death and allow the realization that we are, each of us souls, eternally merged with the no-thingness out of which everything is born.  One of the most useful lists in the book may well be the one called the “52 Signposts on the Journey.”

Of course, any book review is only one person’s perspective on the words and silences contained on the pages.  I can only highlight what jumped off the pages for me.  But if you are interested in any of the topics above, you will certainly find in Mada Dalian’s work some most enlightening insights.  Deepak Chopra says about the book:  “I enjoyed reading Mada’s book In Search of the Miraculous:  Healing into Consciousness. It has the ring of authenticity and offers a simple and elegant map of the path of enlightenment.”  This book is definitely worth a read for any seeker interested in practical assistance on the journey from here to Here.

Roshani Shay, PhD

Available at:
OshoViha – amazon.com – amazon.co.uk

Thanks to Jivan Mada’s questions we have heard Osho speak about Gurdjieff so often. In the 1990s, she developed a method, out of her own experience, to help people move from psychological and physical pain and suffering into health and consciousness. Mada currently lives in Vancouver, Canada. Mada’s book can be ordered from Osho Viha. Later this year a Russian edition will be available and a German edition is due out in the spring of 2011. www.madadalian.com