Wild Grace: Nature as a Spiritual Path - Softcover

Alan, Eric

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1883991536 ISBN 13: 9781883991531

Publisher: White Cloud Press, 2003

Synopsis

Eric Alan masterfully integrates his stunning color photography of nature with profound prose on the spiritual dimensions of nature. Wild Grace is a beautiful celebration of the details of the natural world, and a meditation on living mindfully within it. Eric Alan masterfully integrates his stunning color photography of nature with profound prose on the spiritual dimensions of nature. Dividing Wild Grace into two sections (Sensing the Spirit and Living the Spirit), Alan draws us into the natural world as cathedral where deep lessons await us.

About this title

About the Author:

Eric Alan is a writer, photographer, and broadcaster who currently edits The Jefferson Monthly and hosts a daily local music show for a National Public Radio affiliate station. His words have appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, MicroTimes, Sentient Times, LithiaGraph, national music business trade journals, and album liner notes. His photography has been exhibited in gallery shows in Oregon and California.

From Publishers Weekly:

In this extended philosophical riff on the value of nature as a spiritual teacher, it is clear that author and photographer Alan has spent much time outdoors contemplating the lessons of the natural world. The first section, "Sensing the Spirit," calls to awareness. Using the metaphor of the cathedral, Alan urges readers to consider nature as a place of holy learning without traditional ceilings or floors. He begins gently paying attention to water, wind, earth, stones and the like. His observations here are clear and pointed; for example, he looks to flowing water as a behavior model in various situations, and stones similarly and metaphorically help him "weather" all types of predicaments. Part II, "Living the Spirit," gets more didactic in approach, inserting a naturally wild point of view into 18 familiar topics such as home, religion, exercise, balance, work and sleep. In these selections particularly, Alan also gives an honest appraisal of nature's rougher edges, including the timeless considerations of sex and death. In this handsome book that can be read in one prolonged sitting, full-color photography graces every spread. Alan's writing sometimes lacks precision ("If we barrier ourselves against the physical and emotional rains, we remain rough, untested, unshaped"). However, in the main his worthwhile voice forms a useful and needed bridge to the truly natural language we all share and have forgotten how to speak.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: White Cloud Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1883991536
• ISBN 13: 9781883991531
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 124