I actually lost my copy of PON, of maybe I loaned it to someone who hasn't returned it. So, I got a brand new copy. And here's what I have decided to do.
Y'see I am very wary generally of following any one teaching to the letter. But, since I am finding my present state of being - or not being - absolutely unbearable, I am in the "I'll try anything" phase. So, I am going to read PON again, finish it this time, and for the rest of this week I am going to practice the very things he says in the book. I can't guarantee I'll be able to do them all the time, but I am going set my intention of observing thought and staying in the now as much as poss. Observing pain bodies, too
Then, at the end of the week, I'll report back here with my experience.
Having a report back time and a time allocation may be contradictions in terms when it comes to PON, but let's just say, it gives me the feel of an experiment, and I need that at this stage.
I also have to say, I am a bit concerned about the idea of 'silent' meetings. I was looking at the ET web-site to see if there is an actual group that meets in my area. Yes. But this group consists of sitting in silence, then listening to what Eckhart has to say, then sitting in silence again, and then going home. I'm trying to puzzle out what the point of meeting with a group of people has if you are not allowed to interact with them. Perhaps it's interaction on an astral level or something....hmmm. I mean...haha..I can sit on my own in silence

And it does also beg the question that I think has been put: would any discussion be considered suitable for presence practioners? Since it has been stipulated that discussion stimulates the mind AND the ego? How can we engage in discussion and interaction that stimluates the Higher Self and the Spirit? Does presence practice kill the art of conversation?
OKay. Logging off. I'll be back next week a completely transformed woman

Clare