Awakening the Spirit, Inspiring the Soul : 30 Stories of Interspiritual Discovery in the Community of Faiths

by Teasdale, Wayne

• ISBN13: 9781594730399
• ISBN10: 1594730393
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-06-30
• Publisher: Skylight Paths Pub

Summary

This fascinating array of thirty original spiritual mini-autobiographies showcases 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 the stories of how they learned to integrate the life of the Spirit into their dailly lives, and the remarkable transformations that followed. From South Aftica 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 readers on a trip through the spiritual lives of Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, Mulsims, Jews, and people who are continually searching to find their spiritual identity. Many of these brief, inspiring memoirs exhibit the spirit of interspirituality that is growing in the world today, showing readers how to build the foundatin for a religiona nd spirituality that can serve to unite, rather than divide, humanity. Published to coincide with the Parliament of the World's Religions in Barcelona, Spain, Summer '04. Wayne Teasdale is a lay monk and the author of The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World's Religions and Bede Griffiths: An Introduction to His Interspiritual Thought. Teasdale is an adjunct professor at DePaul University, Columbia College, and the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. Martha Howard, MD, is a pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, which she has practiced since 1982. She is medical director of Wellness Associates of Chicago, and author of the Power of Suggestion CD series. A practicing Buddhist, she is a producing partner of a documentary film in development, Journey to Peace. Joan Borysenko, PhD, is a respected scientist, gifted therapist, and unabashed mystic. Trained at Harvard Medical School, she was an instructor in medicine until 1988. Currently the president of Mind/Body Health Sciences, Inc., she is an internationally known speaker and consultant in women's health and spirituality, integrative medicine, and the mind/body connection. She is the author of nine books, including the New York Times bestsellers Minding the Body, Mending the Mind; A Woman's Book of Life; 7 Paths to God; The Power of the Mind to Heal; and Inner Peace for Busy People.

Table of Contents

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	(5)
Know Love, Know Life
Shirley Baas	6	(1)
Down from the Mountain
April Kunze	7	(5)
A Muslim at the Catholic Worker
Eboo Patel	12	(6)
To Be a Mensch
Harold Kasimow	18	(4)
Finding Harmony in the Spiritual Journey
Jeff Genung	22	(6)
The Gift
Juliet Beriou	28	(5)
One Small Step Can Change Your Life
Desmond Papi Oganne	33	(2)
Fulfilling the Heart's Deepest Longing
Lama Palden Drolma	35	(6)
Awakening
Spencer Perdriau	41	(11)
The Search for Narrative
Mariah Neuroth	52	(5)
The Fly Box
Dan Johnson	57	(5)
How the AIDS Pandemic Changed My Life
Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati	62	(4)
Religious Diversity on the Spiritual Path
Annapurna Astley	66	(6)
Sacred Story
Aquil Charlton	72	(5)
Vision of the Future
Swami Shraddhananda (Maureen Dolan)	77	(9)
Ethical Speech as Spiritual Practice
Mirka Knaster	86	(3)
In Search of Myself
Romuald Jakub Weksler-Waszkinel	89	(9)
I Do
Rajal Regan	98	(5)
Spiritual Search
Rory McEntee	103	(7)
Interspirituality: The Next Wave of Consciousness
Russill Paul	110	(8)
Witness
A. Frell Levy	118	(4)
Living Christ, Living Guru
Bill Hayashi	122	(10)
My Path Back to Judaism Was Paved in Breakbeats: The Return of a Jewish B-Boy
Kevin Coval/Melek Yonin	132	(7)
From Mourning to Light
Leslie Gabriel Mezei	139	(11)
Sustaining a Commitment to the Common Good
Jim Keen	150	(7)
Watching the Previews
Brian Sturgulewski	157	(3)
The Yellow Carnation
Ida-Regina Lucas Oliver	160	(4)
The Secret of the Six Perfections and the Four Immeasurable Minds
Martha Howard, MD	164	(9)
A Christian Contemplative in an Interspiritual World
Brother Wayne Teasdale	173	(7)
Conclusion Toward a Unified Humanity: From the Age of Materialism to the Age of Integral Spirituality
Brother Wayne Teasdale and Martha Howard, MD	180	(7)
Acknowledgments	187	(2)
Appendix: Blank pages to be used as a workbook for the reader's own comments and stories	189	(3)
About SkyLight Paths	192