A friend who is teaching Infamies of the Soul asked for additional resources and general advice on teaching the book. I don’t have a lot of advice, but here goes:
- Be prepared to spend more time working with what you read than you spend reading
- Know that your responsibility is to strive toward perfection – not to actually achieve it
- Read 1–3 infamies each week
- When you read an infamy
- List 3–5 ways it manifests itself in yourself & people around you
- List 3–5 things you can do to treat it
- Work 1+ of those treatments into your daily routine (look for ways to treat several infamies through a single act)
- Skip infamies that, for the time being, do not appear to be applicable or make sense (be honest with yourself)
- Cycle through the book a few times (again: only 1–3 infamies each week)
- After your first time, whenever you read an infamy
- Check the 3–5 manifestations from the previous time. Note your progress. If you can cross off one of them, consider looking for a new one to add
- Reconsider 1+ treatments you added to your daily routine. If it isn’t working well, try one of the others. If none appears to be working, think of some new ones
- Read the book with a partner – someone who is familiar with your dirty secrets, and whose observations and advice can be followed even if hurtful
That’s the advice I would give myself the next time I work through the book. According to my friend, the old lesson recordings are useful, too.