An excerpt from Larry O’Toole’s foreword to Inner Invitations
Inner Invitations by Lucy Tierney is a universal guidebook for nurturing inner balance, healing and freedom. The blog post contains an excerpt from the Foreword to the book, written by Larry O’Toole.
Lucy Tierner
Author Inner Invitations
For over a decade, Larry O’Toole has been my partner-in-purpose in creating a spirituality system that uncouples the universal dynamics of human spirituality from exclusively religious language.
We share a deep commitment to personal growth, and he is one of my dearest friends. Larry is passionate about making purposeful inner growth work accessible to the average man and woman on the street, without religious dogma getting in the way. Larry wrote the Foreword to Inner Invitations and I am delighted to share an excerpt below.
Foreword to Inner Invitations - An exerpt
By Larry O’Toole
Larry O’Toole
Experience Living Purposefully
I’m an atheist.
I do not believe in the existence of a personal god. I don’t believe that my “soul” will survive my body. I don’t believe there is a “next life” be it heaven or hell. I believe that when you breathe your last, that’s the end.
I am an ordinary Australian bloke.
I weigh too much. I wear shorts and thongs (flip-flops/jandals) to BBQs. I work in an office and laugh a lot. I crack poor-taste, politically incorrect jokes. I probably drink too much.
I am a music lover, especially rock from the ‘70s & ‘80s. I love loud concerts with chest-pounding bottom-end and I forgive myself if I spill a beer while chanting the audience part in the Angels’ “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again”. (If you don’t spill your beer, you aren’t chanting properly.)
I’ve turned my back on the toxic religion of my youth.
In broad terms, organised Western religion has evolved into a belief-based, hierarchical power system that wouldn’t recognise Christ if he walked in the door. It breeds preachers rather than listeners and the whole point of spirituality is to listen.
If I’m being honest (and why hold back now?) I think that religion is the reason many people distance themselves from spirituality altogether.
So, you might ask, why am I thrilled and honoured to be recommending a book about spiritual growth written by a nun?
It’s because Lucy Tierney transcends religion.
I learned from her that spiritualty is Self-encounter, about listening to your own inner inklings - the niggles and nudges, tingles and clangs we all feel, and the inner wisdom we can learn to access.
My association with Lucy goes back to a Catholic religious-order-owned senior girls’ college in Brisbane. I had joined the board in 1998 and Lucy joined sometime later as chair of the board. I was on that board for nine years and was chair for the last two.
I watched Lucy through those seven years and knew that she had something different – something others talked about but didn’t live, well not the way Lucy lived it. We became friends and some of her wisdom began to rub off on me. Or rather, she helped me to get in touch with my own.
Once the lightbulb came on that spirituality was about knowing myself, my life began to change for the better.
In relationships, at work, in the ordinary moments of each day. I recommend it. As you set out on an authentic inner journey, life can expand and unfold to where you imagined it might. It can bring you happiness and freedom in ways you may not yet understand. It can lead you to a depth-of-life experience you thought had escaped you. I assure you, the depth of life hasn’t passed you by, it’s just been waiting for you to get ready.
It is not possible to fully explain or to adequately teach the kind of physical, embodied wisdom Lucy describes. It cannot be conveyed. It has to be felt.
Lucy’s book, Inner Invitations, takes us through a learn-and-practice process whereby we can take simple steps one at a time and feel what each one does for us. It’s an invitation to park our obsession with a world of achievement and accumulation and learn again how to listen.
Lucy and I began working on Self-encounter video content in 2010 and that work is ongoing today.
We name this wider project, “Experience Living Purposefully”, and this book, Inner Invitations, brings together a lot of the learnings from the last decade and counting.
One of those learnings is what is called the “2” practice in the book and I’ll mention it here because it was the tool I used to start my inner journeying. It is a simple way to align yourself with your purpose and it takes two minutes, hence the name. That two-minute experience permeates through you all day even though you might never give it a second thought.
The other lesson that I eventually understood was how to listen in the pauses. This book walks you through these things better than I can, so I’ll leave it there.
I am just an ordinary Aussie bloke who pursued growth and managed to keep on growing – in no small part thanks to Lucy’s insights and teachings. If, like me, you want to pursue an invigorating life-long Self-encounter that delivers happiness, freedom, and purpose then I suggest you read what follows and stay open to growth.
Good luck on your inner journeying.
Larry O’Toole
August 2023
Inner Invitations Available Now
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Inner Invitations: a universal wisdom
e-book for nurturing inner balance, healing and freedom.
This e-book from Lucy Tierney offers potent and practical wisdom for growth. You’ll explore insights and practices to help you find your authentic path for personal development and spiritual unfolding. Learn to exercise your innate human capacities to balance your conscious and unconscious domains in the service of freedom and healing. An adventure awaits, as you dare to go within and discover the unique-to-you invitations for growth that arise from your deepest Self.