Contributors from many faiths, ages and backgrounds tell how they learned to integrate the spirit into their daily lives and the remarkable transformations that followed.
Edited by Brother Wayne Teasdale and Martha Howard MD
Foreword by Joan Borysenko, PhD
Hardcover
6 x 9, 224 pp | 978-1-59473-039-9
Many paths can lead to the Divine—these inspiring stories may help you clarify yours.
“There is a thirst for authentic connection in our scattered, busy, speedy culture. Sharing deeply from the soul and being received with an open heart satisfies that thirst. Being seen and acknowledged cultivates the soil of our good hearts. That is what this beautiful book, and the integral spirituality it addresses so elegantly, is all about.”
—from the Foreword by Joan Borysenko, PhD
These original spiritual mini-autobiographies showcase the varied ways that people come to faith—and what that means—in today's multi-religious world. Examining their own journeys from belief to disillusionment and from searching to discovery, contributors from many faiths, ages, and backgrounds tell how they learned to integrate the spirit into their daily lives, and the remarkable transformations that followed.
From South Africa to India, Chicago to San Francisco, and many places in between, Awakening the Spirit, Inspiring the Soul is the first international collection of its kind. It takes you on a trip through the spiritual lives of Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Jews, and others who are continually searching to find their spiritual identity.
Many of these brief, inspiring memoirs portray the spirit of interspirituality that is growing in the world today, showing you how to build the foundation for religion and spirituality that can serve to unite, rather than divide, humanity.
Foreword
Joan Borysenko, PhD ix
Introduction
Brother Wayne Teasdale and Martha Howard, MD xiii
The Golden Rule: An Evolutionary Future xvii
Look Inside, Look Outside: Concentric Circles of Interfaith Action
Abra Pollack 1
Know Love, Know Life
Shirley Baas 6
Down from the Mountain
April Kunze 7
A Muslim at the Catholic Worker
Eboo Patel 12
To Be a Mensch
Harold Kasimow 18
Finding Harmony in the Spiritual Journey
Jeff Genung 22
The Gift
Juliet Beriou 28
One Small Step Can Change Your Life
Desmond Papi Oganne 33
Fulfilling the Heart's Deepest Longing
Lama Palden Drolma 35
Awakening
Spencer Perdriau 41
The Search for Narrative
Mariah Neuroth 52
The Fly Box
Dan Johnson 57
How the AIDS Pandemic Changed My Life
Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati 62
Religious Diversity on the Spiritual Path
Annapurna Astley 66
Sacred Story
Aquil Charlton 72
Vision of the Future
Swami Shraddhananda (Maureen Dolan) 77
Ethical Speech as Spiritual Practice
Mirka Knaster 86
In Search of Myself
Romuald Jakub Weksler-Waszkinel 89
I Do
Rajal Regan 98
Spiritual Search
Rory McEntee 103
Interspirituality: The Next Wave of Consciousness
Russill Paul 110
Witness
A. Frell Levy 118
Living Christ, Living Guru
Bill Hayashi 122
My Path Back to Judaism Was Paved in Breakbeats: The Return of a Jewish B-Boy
Kevin Coval/Melek Yonin 132
From Mourning to Light
Leslie Gabriel Mezei 139
Sustaining a Commitment to the Common Good
Jim Keen 150
Watching the Previews
Brian Sturgulewski 157
The Yellow Carnation
Ida-Regina Lucas Oliver 160
The Secret of the Six Perfections and the Four Immeasurable Minds
Martha Howard, MD 164
A Christian Contemplative in an Interspiritual World
Brother Wayne Teasdale 173
Conclusion
Toward a Unified Humanity: From the Age of Materialism to the Age of Integral Spirituality
Brother Wayne Teasdale and Martha Howard, MD 180
Acknowledgments 187
Appendix:
Blank pages to be used as a workbook for the readerճ own comments and stories 189
About SkyLight Paths 192
