Customer Reviews

The Dove in the Stone: Finding the Sacred in the Commonplace (Quest Book)

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Alice O. Howell has written the type of simple book that holds profound truths. It is personal in the wonderful love story of Alice and her husband Walter and universal in their search for spiritual truth. I always wanted a book like the ones Marmee gave each of the Little Women and this is it. There are excerpts of spiritual passages from all the world's religions and there is the connection of the Earth, its feminine nature and the Divine Spirit. If you are interested in Celtic Christianity, the Hagia Sophia or the esoteric tradition in Western Philosophy I highly recommend this book.

a unique, conversational mystery play of sorts...but it's autobiographical and universal at the same time. we share in walter and alice's discussions and musings. one of my favorite books. now with fall arriving soon, i am somehow drawn back into reading it again. one of those kinds of books you want to revisit.

it's a mirror.

keep your eyes open...

"The Dove in the Stone" is Alice O. Howell's piece de resistance, her 'Holy Writ' for the New Age. It is Einstein's famous 'E=mc squared' scientific equation translated and made comprehensible for us, the uniniated, non-scientific folk. It brings us back to thinking 'polaristically', which she calls "symbolic thinking." In this book she does not deny 'dualistic' thought that engenders thoughts of unending war and strife, good and bad, the sacred and profane, battles between dark and light, etc. That deep chasm between thoughts of life and death. No, Ms. Howell leads us instead to discover the "Sacred in the Commonplace', the "Hagia Sophia/Holy Wisdom" who, as she explains, the ancients recall: "...at the time of creation, hid herself playfully from God in matter as 'drops of light." 'Light' which science tells us is 'matter-in-motion' and where, polaristicslly speaking, 'matter is Light-at-rest'. "The Dove in the Stone" is a reminder that: "Nous n'avons pas la choix: nous devons nous entrainer dans l'amour, ame veritable de la terre." Or, as Ms. Howell tranlates this thought by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin so beautifully : "We have no choice: we must root ourselves in love, the veritable soul of the earth." "The Dove in the Stone", a truely seminal work for this, our Aquarian New Age.

This book made me actually plan a trip, and reserve a hotel, on Iona, but to my everlasting regret, circumstances caused a cancellation of our plans. But like Wiederkehr's "A Tree Full of Angels", there is definitely some over-the-top stuff here, just not Catholic in nature. Very definitely New Age. Howell is a Jungian psychologist, which should tell you much. The lure of this island, though, as Howell describes their stay there, is almost unbearable. Perhaps someday.