Customer Reviews

Doorways to the Soul: 52 Wisdom Tales from Around the World

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I stumbled on this book when looking for wisdom stories to use in my own (feeble) attempts at story telling. I wanted something with a spiritual basis, but not just one faith. This book has stories from many places - Buddhist, Hasidic, Middle Eastern, Native American, Sufis, Christian, Desert Fathers, Rumi, Japan, Zen, Burma and Tailand, Africa and China...

In her introduction, Pearmain talks about the connection between spirituality and storytelling (my own note: read Psalms or Proverbs aloud if you want to find great stories!) She gives suggestions for personalizing the stories to fit situations, and the use of visualization and journaling. This is a short section, and not key to the book -- the stories are definitely good ones!

Each story fits most often on just two pages -- some a tiny bit longer. This is handy for those of us with limited room in the brain.

Pearmain gives also some ideas after each story for ways to further explore it (through meditation, visualization, writing, art, etc.), on ways for the teller and listeners to make a personal connection to the story, and a little encouraging bit on sharing the story.

This book is an excellent source -- short short stories from all around the world, with stories that have a way of telling the truth in an entertaining way.

This book is designed to be a year-long journey into tales of wisdom from around the world and different cultures. An enjoyable read with ideas for incorporating wisdom, and journeys of the soul shared, in every day life.

I thought the book was pretty concise, and had a good collection of wisdom tales. Handy little book, as well. There were a few stories that seemed a bit of a stretch, and I was not particularly interested in their "personal exercises", but it had some stories I had not seen before. I hope they publish another volume, with lesser known wisdom tales.

I am a fan of Elisa Davy Pearmain so I was delighted to finally get this book in my collection. It is full of short tales, many familiar to me; however following each story, there is a guide to reflection - very helpful. I decided to do as Ms. Pearmain recommended and use the stories for a years worth of personal reflection. So far, it is going well and I eagerly anticipate the next story in the collection.

I'm always happy to find some new wisdom tales, and this book has a few that I haven't seen before. It was very helpful to have the guide for better storytelling.

For those who like different tales, have you seen Ayat Jamilah: Beautiful Signs by Sarah Conover? It has tales from all over the world, and most of them are new to the written scene

This is a good reference book for short stories from different religions and philosophies. Some of the stories are well known in their specific spiritual traditions, but some were rather obscure.

The sections after each story on how to further "explore" their meaning was a bit repetitive and did not need to be placed in each chapter. One section at the end of the book would have sufficed.

The best part about the book is I could pick it up and read it any time, without having to remember where I left off when I put it down. The stories about Nasrudin were very entertaining.

When I got this book I was originally going to read it as suggested - one story a week. But the stories are so good I went through more than a story a day. But in each case I saw something that applied to my inner work and life. I will be reading this again a story a week and going deeper with it. It is one of those books I will be returning to again and again like the Tao Te Ching, a book I use for inspiration and guidance.

The stories are great stories by themselves, so even if you were to get nothing from the intent of the book (which is HIGHLY unlikely) then you still have a great book of tales. Most of the stories are traditional folk tales and parables and come from all cultures. There are Buddhist tales, tales from India, Hasidic, Sufi and First American tales, European, African, Zen and Christian tales which all offer great insight to ourselves and the world around us. Some of the tales are less than a page in length, others are longer at two or three pages.

The 'work' Pearmain suggests you do is explore the story, visualize the story, writing about the story, exploring the story through expressive art form, making a personal connection to the story, trying on the ideas of the story, sharing it with others and creating a personal vision to guide your journey using the stories and book as a whole. These are all a series of exercises Pearmain suggests and offers ideas of who to use at the end of each tale. Of course you can pick and chose what you want to do with each story, if anything. Each story has a depth to it which can be plumbed using the techniques Pearmain offers. And you can discover parts of yourself and your life in these tales. As I read them I saw myself in ways I did not before, sometimes as the 'bad guy', which caught me off guard. The stories teach healing and forgiveness and gives one an opportunity to forgive oneself and those around you. You can gain insight from the stories which could help you on your journey through life, spiritually or not.

This book could be good for so many applications for all ages. I can see religious leaders and teachers, and therapists using it, parents with their children using it (grief and loss), people who are stuck in a rut, people who have lost their spiritual path and want to get back on track, or as a book of great tales for storytellers and story lovers alike. It is a beautiful book and a gentle book, well written and presented in a clear way. Some of the tales you might know, some will be different versions of tales you have heard before, and some, I am sure, will be new to you. And the price is perfect. The book is well bound and is of good quality so will stand the test of time from reading it again and again which I plan on doing.