Searching for Your Soul: Writers of Many Faiths Share Their Personal Stories of Spiritual Discovery - Softcover

Kurs, Katherine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 080521111X ISBN 13: 9780805211115

Publisher: Schocken, 1999

Synopsis

"Spiritual genius emerges from every facet of God's diamond. All faith traditions share His light, brought forth most beautifully in this lovely volume."
-- Marianne Williamson, author of  A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of a Course in Miracles

"The spiritual life is often a journey and a process rather than a state of bliss.  We might learn more about this essential part of life through honest and spunky stories like the ones told here than from books of guidance and doctrine.  This book will instruct your spiritual imagination, and that is what inspires and sustains the work of the soul."        
-- Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul and The Soul of Sex
Searching for Your Soul brings together the stories of more than fifty writers who have eloquently explored the spiritual impulses that inform their lives.  Whether Jewish or Hindu, Muslim or Roman Catholic, Methodist or Mormon, Buddhist or Pagan, Vodou or Jehovah's Witness, the rich experiences shared here offer a compelling glimpse into the uneven terrain that is often part of the spiritual journey.

About this title

Review:

Editor Katherine Kurs understands that a spiritually illuminated existence often requires bouts of darkness and isolation, which is why every story in this exquisite collection speaks so eloquently to this paradox. "Attempting to live a spiritual life can indeed be a confusing and painful experience beset with obstacles and detours, rather than filled with the bliss we might have expected," Kurs writes in her introduction. "The autobiographies collected in this anthology offer companionship, helping us to understand our own frequently perplexing journeys."

Kurs is also a connoisseur of excellent spiritual writing, evidenced by her list of contributors, such as Sue Bender, Malcolm X, bell hooks, Kathleen Norris, Mary Gordon, and Barbara Grizutti Harrison. In one essay, Terry Tempest Williams claims a spiritual mother in the land and water of the Great Salt Lake as her physical mother dies from cancer (which she suspects is caused by exposure to government atomic weaponry tests in Utah). Each essay contains vibrant images and language that bring the ethereal realm of spiritual awakening into the grounded stories of life on earth. --Gail Hudson

From the Publisher:

Dear Reader -

What is the purpose of my life? What are the sources of my spirituality? What is my connection to the religious tradition into which I was born? Why do I struggle between the life of the body and the life of the spirit? What is the relationship between my sexual identity and my spiritual identity? How do I respond to pain and suffering? Why am I drawn to religious traditions other than my own?

These are important questions. Most of us might even find them intimidating - we'd like to know the answers, if only we knew where to look. At a time when more and more people are searching for spiritual meaning in their lives - and for answers to the provocative questions above - the powerful first-person accounts presented in Searching for Your Soul: Writers of Many Faiths Share Their Personal Stories of Spiritual Discovery offer insight, inspiration, and companionship. Editor Katherine Kurs brings together for the very first time nearly 60 different historical and contemporary writers from a wide range of religious beliefs and backgrounds, reflecting on the spiritual impulses that have significantly informed their lives.

Kurs reminds us that we can understand our own journeys more fully by listening to the experiences of others. Among the diverse narratives featured in Searching for Your Soul are 20th-century spiritual role models Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King Jr., Mohandas Gandhi, Carl Jung, and Thomas Merton; ancient, historic figures such as Saint Augustine and medieval mystic Margery Kempe; and well-known contemporary writers including Mary Gordon, Kathleen Norris, Lauren Slater, Jan Morris, Julius Lester, bell hooks, Mary McCarthy, Rita Dove, Dan Wakefield, Terry Tempest Williams, and Letty Cottin Pogrebin. The anthology offers a broad spectrum of compelling voices: white, African-American, and Hispanic; heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered; with a very wide range of faith traditions represented, including Jewish, Roman Catholic, Mormon, Methodist, Muslim, wiccan/pagan, Buddhist, Hindu, Eastern Orthodox, Pentecostal, Voudou, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Anglican/Episcopal.

We're all looking for answers, and searching for meaning in our lives. We at Schocken are proud to help in this endeavor by bringing Searching for Your Soul to your attention.

Best regards,
Sophie Cottrell
Director of Publicity
Schocken Books

About this edition

• Publisher: Schocken
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 080521111X
• ISBN 13: 9780805211115
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 512