A Course in Life [Hardcover]

Joan Gattuso (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 11, 1998

A Course in Life clearly presents spiritual principles that will resonate with all those seeking deep insight into the spiritual foundation underlying existence. Joan Gattuso, bestselling author of A Course in Love, teaches us how we can begin to recognize fundamental truths as we gain the knowledge that we are spiritual beings governed by spiritual law, living in a spiritual universe. In her new book, Gattuso defines these truths and explains exactly how to fully incorporate them into our lives so they become the basis of our being. While awakening readers to the universality of life, A Course in Life, offers lessons and exercises on the twelve laws of being: Faith, Divine Purpose, Consciousness, Vision, Joy, Power, Love, Wisdom, Non-attachment, Abundance, Forgiveness, and Life. With A Course in Life readers will learn to live out of love and joy, accept that we can demystify the mystical, and begin to experience here and now the kind of glorious, engaged life we were created to live.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Gattuso (A Course in Love) recounts a lifelong journey in search of the "Universal Principles" that were "the underpinnings of all great spiritual thought." Questioning her original Roman Catholicism, studying many religions and finally becoming a Unity minister, she found 12 "Spiritual Laws": faith, divine purpose, consciousness, vision, joy, power, love, wisdom, non-attachment, abundance, forgiveness and life. Gattuso seems to have found her philosophical home in the book A Course in Miracles. Punctuated by many quotes from a wide variety of religious sources, this effort offers yet another retelling of the tenets of the Course in everyday terms. But the simpler language does not always clarify the Course's message. A major theme running throughout the book is summed up by Gattuso's claim that "Whatever it is that you truly desire, from a healing of your soul to your perfect home, from a new face to a new car, inwardly develop the consciousness for it and it shall be yours." She so oversimplifies spiritual work that readers may wind up blaming themselves for being unable to make their lives perfect and problem-free by following spiritual principles. Curiously, it's only near book's end that Gattuso lets on that she suffered uterine cancer and a six-year battle with the IRS after she had discovered and begun living the principles she espouses. It is only here that she describes the useful art of forgiveness and the power we have to say "no" to the negativity we do not want. Alas, this smidgen of good-natured realism comes too late to make this work anything more than an unremarkable addition to the ever-growing Course collection. One Spirit Book Club selection.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Bestselling author Joan Gattuso brings deep, personal insight to all her writing. Her in-depth studies with His Holiness the Dalai Lama has given her the necessary background for her unique look at Tibetan Buddhism. She is the author of the bestselling A Course in Love and A Course in Life, both of which have been translated into several languages. Also a dynamic speaker, she is a Unity minister in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Her spiritual path has taken her around the world to study with renowned spiritual leaders. She lives in Ohio with her husband David Alexander.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 221 pages
• Publisher: Tarcher; 1st edition (May 11, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0874779081
• ISBN-13: 978-0874779080
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,895,373 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joan Gattuso
Biography

Nationally acclaimed author and speaker Joan Gattuso is one of the most insightful and compelling teachers of our time. She has inspired millions internationally through her weekly messages, stirring lecture and workshops, and bestselling books, A Course in Love and A Course in Life. Joan's most recent book, The Lotus Still Blooms, received the Silver Nautilus Award and had outstanding reviews in Tricycle, Body and Soul, Science of Mind, and Unity magazines. It is destined to become a spiritual classic.
Joan was born in Akron, Ohio, where she lived a short time before her family relocated to Gloucester, Massachusetts. At a young age Joan developed a great love for New England, and in its beauty and comfort she began her early quest for spiritual enlightenment.
Over the years Joan's openness to exploring life's many opportunities has allow her to evolve through the highs and lows the come with living a full life. She has withstood and triumphed over difficult relationships, a cancer diagnosis, and the struggles of building and maintaining a sustainable church. Joan's often painful history helped solidify her commitment to healing the past and attracting joyous circumstances and loving relationships into her life. Joan has imparted these critical life lessons over the course of her career as a teach, speaker and author, and she has become a highly sought-after mentor and guide.
Through insights into her own life Joan has gained an intense understanding of our deep connection to a Higher Power and the inner workings of human relationships and their potential when they are partnered with spiritual balance. Joan has also applied these principles in her personal business and in the establishment of Unity of Greater Cleveland in Shaker Height, Ohio, where all aspects of day-to-day operations come under her supervision.
Joan has finely tuned her life codes through intense spiritual studies in becoming a Unity minister and through years of study with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and political leader of the Tibetan people. She has embraced his teaching that the purpose of life is to be happy. Through compassion, humor, wisdom and spiritual insights Joan gently guides her audiences in the steps to get there, showing them how to integrate happiness into their everyday lives and maintain their personal inner joy to be liberated from suffering.
Within a two-week period in the mid-1990s, Joan was encouraged by two transformational speakers, Wayne Dyer and Marianne Williamson to write a book on relationships. She took their suggestions to heart, and the resulting bestseller was A Course in Love. She has been creating her message for living a fuller life ever since.
Joan authors a regular column called "Living a Noble Life" in Unity magazine. She has also been published in Science of Mind, Tricycle and Hawaii magazines.
A dynamic speaker relating her knowledge to all paths of life, Joan Gattuso guides those from the most willing to the most reluctant seeker into a deeper understanding of their exceptional possibilities within this present existence.
Joan is joyfully living her philosophy of a happy, holy relationship with her husband, author David Alexander in Northeast Ohio and continues to be a beacon of light to those seeking a more triumphant life experience.
For further information, see her website, JoanGattuso.com or write her at [e-mail]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Getting Back on Course, December 31, 1999

By 

Paul Peszko - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Course in Life: The Twelve Universal Principles for Achieving a Life Beyond Your Dreams (Paperback)

If your life were a TV channel, which one would it be? ESPN, Disney, Lifetime or the Discovery Channel? Or perhaps the Suffering Channel or the Struggle and Stress Channel? That's the question posed by Joan Gattuso at the beginning of her latest work, "A COURSE IN LIFE."

Like her previous work, "A COURSE IN LOVE," one could rightly assume that Joan Gattuso's newest book is heavily based on the popular New Thought seminar series, "A COURSE IN MIRACLES." Since the author is "A COURSE IN MIRACLES" teacher as well as a Unity minister, "A COURSE IN LIFE" dwells on our spiritual nature and accentuates the positive and the sacred aspects of life. Borrowing liberally from Ernest Holmes as well "...we are Spiritual Beings living in a Spiritual Universe governed by Spiritual Law," Gattuso has written an excellent primer for anyone interested in delving into Holmes' voluminous "SCIENCE OF MIND." And for serious students, "A COURSE IN LIFE" serves as a fascinating summary work to both "A COURSE IN MIRACLES" and "SCIENCE OF MIND."

With that said, this work can certainly stand on its own as a handbook for living a joyful, fulfilling life. In fact, it may well be the only self-improvement book you need. A non-fiction page-turner if ever there was one, "A COURSE IN LIFE" uses wonderful analogies and metaphors such as the Discovery Channel or equating faith with tofu to demystify the mystical. Gattuso weaves interesting real-life stories, personal anecdotes, practical exercises, affirmations, visualizations and quotations from varied spiritual and literary sources into a tapestry of artful living. She begins by introducing us to twelve universal truths that open a vista of life-enhancing possibilities. Then she devotes a chapter to each of these truths. Every chapter is self-contained. A reader can pick and choose which principles to focus on. I would suggest reading through the entire work then going back and choosing those principles which seem most meaningful. Spend a week or even a month working on the exercises and affirmations presented in that chapter. If you follow this step-by-step guide faithfully, you will no doubt experience your life switching from the Suffering Channel to the Self-Discovery Channel.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars over and over again!, February 23, 2000

By 

Kami Wood (Greeley, Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Course in Life: The Twelve Universal Principles for Achieving a Life Beyond Your Dreams (Paperback)

I will read this book over and over again. I have purchased copies for friends and I am purchasing two more today. This book was an incredible gift to my life. I have that found books that make me work on my innerself take longer to read than others, but what a journey. I recommend this book to anyone who chooses a better life for themselves and is willing to take the time and energy to make it happen.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I tried it. I liked It!, August 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: A Course in Life (Hardcover)

[e-mail] from California, 08/06/98

A great roadmap or reinforcement for the novice or adept. I really enjoyed A Course in Life, and got a lot out of it, even though I know a few things about spirituality myself. The concepts and principles in this book (12 steps in all) are written in such a fashion, that they are easy to understand and apply, even if this is a reader's first exposure to the subject. It was reinforcing for me to see that Joan Gattuso had endured and overcome some of the scariest trials that present themselves to ordinary mortals as myself,i.e, IRS audits, betrayal by friends, life-threatening illness (cancer in her case). She gives many examples of human frailties and how to move beyond them, even healing some of the most deep-rooted pain. The book also contains many easy, useful affirmations to help the readers to re-program their thinking, in order to attain the harmony and prosperity that we all desire in our lives. It is beautifully written, and you can't help but admire the author for her contribution to "A Course In Life."