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We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting for: Inner Light in a Time of Darkness [Hardcover]

Alice Walker
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

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Book Description

October 30, 2006
A beautifully packaged book of spiritual ruminations with a progressive political edge, from the incomparable Pulitzer Prize-winner—a woman who has devoted her life to befriending the earth.

From the Introduction: "In fact, the happiness that imbues this kind of (impersonal) friendship, whether for an individual or a country, or an act, is like an inner light, a compass we might steer by as we set out across the lengthening darkness. It comes from the simple belief that what one is feeling and doing is right. That it is right to protect rather than terrorize others; right to feed people rather than withhold food (and medicine); right to want the freedom and joyful existence of all human kind. Right to want this freedom and joy for all creatures that exist already, or that might come into existence. Existence, we are now learning, is not finished! It is a happiness that comes from honoring the peace or the possibility of peace that lives within one's own heart. A deep knowing that we are the earth—our separation from Earth perhaps our greatest illusion—and that we stand, with gratitude and love, by our planetary Self.

Author of the perennially bestselling novel The Color Purple, Alice Walker has long been a force for sanity in a chaotic world. In We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For she draws on her deep spiritual grounding, her political conviction and experience, and her literary gifts to offer a series of meditations filled with wisdom, hope, encouragement, and, at times, serenity to a world in need of all these things. The perfect gift for Alice Walker fans and anyone who longs for peace, on earth and within, this lovely volume will be embraced for its wise insights and mature compassion.

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We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting for: Inner Light in a Time of Darkness + Devil in a Blue Dress (Easy Rawlins Mysteries)
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Often rambling and occasionally pedantic, the essays in Walker's latest collection can also be stunningly insightful. Mixing prose with poetry, she discusses Martin Luther King, feminism and meditation, among other subjects, always circling back to themes of integrity and activism. The most substantial entries are based on live lectures. In a speech to the graduating class of the California Institute of Integral Studies, Walker urges that we not fear the pause that "wisdom requires" when "something major is accomplished," despite our eagerness to rush into "The Future." She manages to show how this "moment of reflection" is natural and necessary, whether the defining event is college graduation, menopause or the buildup to a military invasion. Her 2002 lecture, "I Call That Man Religious," argues that Fidel Castro is a "truly religious man" because he "speaks out for the rights of the poor," in contrast to the Catholic Church, which hid its priests' abuse of children for so long. More contradictory is "Crimes Against Dog," in which she describes a visit to buy a labrador retriever and her discomfort at the similarity between dog breeders and slaveholders, but doesn't consider getting a mutt. Despite the annoying inclusion of homework-like assignments at the end of most essays, this book will inspire hope. (Dec.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Walker, best known as a novelist, offers a collection of her essays and talks in a variety of venues and efforts to express and encourage spirituality and progressive political ideas. Talking to midwives, black yoga instructors, college students, Buddhists, and other admirers of her work, Walker offers commentary on the ways that modern society is destroying itself and the earth, and yet stands on the threshold of promising development. Walker urges resistance to war, lower birth rates, simpler living, and simple kindness as ways to improve life for us all. In a commencement address, she urges her listeners to value "the pause," the time between accomplishments when we wonder what is next and are afraid of the temporary emptiness. Taking her title from words by the poet June Jordan, Walker encourages the reader to recognize the potential that each of us has to make positive changes in the world and our lives. This is a thoughtful and reflective look at life and the search for meaning. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 257 pages
  • Publisher: New Press, The; 1st Ed. edition (October 30, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1595581375
  • ISBN-13: 978-1595581372
  • Product Dimensions: 4.5 x 1.1 x 7.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #338,036 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alice Walker (b. 1944), one of the United States' preeminent writers, is an award-winning author of novels, stories, essays, and poetry. In 1983, Walker became the first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for fiction with her novel The Color Purple, which also won the National Book Award. Her other books include The Third Life of Grange Copeland, Meridian, The Temple of My Familiar, and Possessing the Secret of Joy. In her public life, Walker has worked to address problems of injustice, inequality, and poverty as an activist, teacher, and public intellectual.

Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
(9)
4.6 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
38 of 38 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Opening one's eyes and heart April 20, 2007
By Ernesto
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I normally don't pay much attention to the Editorial Reviews, but the review from Publishers Weekly has to be the lamest review I have ever read. It seems as if this reviewer has broken down this book in order to fit into some sort of actuarial table or spreadsheet. I originally took this book out of the library because of the essay about her and address to Black Yoga Teachers in the current issue of "The Shambhala Sun." I was stunned by Ms Walker's grasp of the overwhelming interconnectedness of seemingly paradoxical forces of energy that we create and create the life around us. Issues such as knowledge, kindness, compassion, the persistence of evil, the necessity of nonviolence, the love of the utter importance of the Feminine element in the life of the world. Of contradictions like Castro who, despite the rigidness of his regime, articulates the true needs of the majority of people in the world. She is eloquent in her meditations on silence, on simplicity, on the values of personal "neighborliness", for lack of a better word, on the intrinsic sacredness of the earth and each other. I cannot praise this book enough. I got it from our library and am now buying my own personal copy to treasure and scribble in.
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24 of 26 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome prose February 2, 2007
By Althea
Format:Hardcover
Ms. Walker is an awesome writer. I became addicted to her writing after reading this one. She has down to earth insight, a very thoughtful way of looking at things. This is a must-read for anyone concerned with world violence, oppression, human degradation, poverty, global warming, as well as other issues. It's full of hope.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars May not rock your world, but may light your path. June 14, 2007
Format:Hardcover
I purchased this after hearing an on-air interview of Alice Walker by Amy Goodman on Pacifica Radio and enjoyed the journey through these essays. I encourage those intrigued by the title to take the plunge and buy it. We are the ones we have been waiting for, and it is helpful at times to have someone light the way in a time of darkness.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Reviewing "The Reviewer" December 16, 2008
Format:Hardcover
Funny thing - "officialdom;" almost as funny as the artless science that apparently now best describes reviews.

For if I had not already been privileged - as a longtime reader of Alice Walker's works, to be fully convinced of her intrinsic Human Value and Literary Worth as a generously-gifted, and unconventionally-creative author, I certainly would not have been encouraged to purchase her latest works based solely upon the two "official" reviews logged on this site.

All I can say, therefore is Thank Goodness for the actual READER-REVIEWS! Thoughtful essays which - oddly enough, appear enthused and awed, where the "official" reviews come over as jaded and condescendingly critical.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Packed with inspiration February 18, 2008
Format:Hardcover
I bought this for my sister but read the first half of the book before giving it to her. Now I need my own copy! Alice Walker is always uplifting and full of wisdom.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational and Uplifting July 6, 2007
Format:Hardcover
A friend of mine gave me this book and I read it in 2 days. Loved it! I find that Alice Walker can share some of the most horrendous stories that have been done to her people, and yet, I as the reader, come away, feeling as though there is still hope for us as human beings, and most of all hope for myself in becoming the best
that I can be. So appreciate her gifted writing.
Sherri Rosen Publicity, NYC
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars All Praises to the Pause March 5, 2009
Format:Hardcover
Many of the essays in this book are even more relevant today. Unfortunately we haven't made much progress, except we did elect Barack Obama.

I loved the essay "All Praises to The Pause; The Universal Moment of Reflection". It speaks to honoring the effort spent on a difficult project or life event, stepping back and allowing your mind and body to re-group.
"What it (the I Ching) is referring to in this hexagram is something that I am going to call 'the pause'. The moment when something major is accomplished and we are so relieved to finally be done with it that we are already rushing, at least mentally, into The Future. Wisdom, however, requests a pause. If we cannot give ourselves such a pause, the Universe will likely give it to us. In the form of illness, .....in the form of our car breaking down, our roof starting to leak, our garden starting to dry up. Our government collapsing. And we find ourselves required to stop, to sit down, to reflect. This is the time or 'the pause', the universal place of stopping. The universal moment of reflection."

Maybe this is that Time of Pause. But soon we need to stand up and join our President's call to action.
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8 of 25 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars The Review You've Been Waiting For December 13, 2006
Format:Hardcover
Wow. Nobody else has reviewd this so far. Ok well first off I commend Ms. Walker for clearing up where the title came from. I didn't realize it was from June Jordan.

I definitely want to go back and read the poem. As for the time of darkness part. Its mid-December as I write this so I guess that pretty much qualifies. I found the essays and speeches in here to be very insightful. I wish Ms. Walker the best of luck with her farming as well as writing.
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