EarthLight Spiritual Wisdom for an Ecological Age [Paperback]

Cindy Spring and Anthony Manousos (Author, Editor), Various Artist (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 31, 2007

During its fifteen years of publication, EarthLight Magazine celebrated the living Earth and our thirteen billion year story of the Universe. Founded and inspired by Quakers, EarthLight featured articles by many of the world's seminal figures in secular and religious thought about the place and participation of humankind in creation. This anthology embodies what we feel is the best of EarthLight and of Quaker writers on spirituality and ecology during the past twenty years, a period that some see as the beginning of a new era, an "Ecological Age."

Editorial Reviews

Review

Reviewed by Marilyn Sewell "How shall the heart be reconciled to its feast of losses?" K. Lauren DeBoer invokes this question by Stanley Kunitz to introduce this beautiful collection of essays, interviews, and poems about spiritual ecology, all originally published in the Quaker magazine, Earthlight. How shall the heart be reconciled to the loss of the giant sequoias? DeBoer asks. The buffalo? Our 20,000 fellow species that are gone for good? How, indeed. The authors featured here have all plumbed the deep sorrow of our "ecological age," as well as the joyful abundance and mystery of our world. Each guides readers down a different path to a tender, if bittersweet, spiritual relationship with the Earth. Susan Tweit writes of "Picking Up Roadkill" as a spiritual practice. Joanna Macy describes the process she calls "The Great Turning," through which "we begin to see the world as our body, and (whether we say the word or not) as sacred." In discussing the Great Work that humans must undertake to live in harmony with the earth, Thomas Berry writes, "Humans, more than any other living form, invent themselves." The unspoken question of this anthology is this: can we reinvent ourselves in time? --Yes Magazine Spring 2007 Issue 41

Gaian Voices readers may remember the magazine EarthLight which ceased publication a couple of years ago. This new book is an anthology of the best of Earthlight. The book's essays, interviews, poems, photos, graphics, and quotes are organized into seven main sections, which are also EarthLight Principles: Conscious Evolution, Sacred Relationships, Collective Wisdom, Mutual Learning, Conscious Choice, Inclusivity, and Celebration. Included among the more than 50 contributors are: K. Lauren de Boer (editor of Earthlight), Joanna Macy, Thomas Berry, Pattiann Rogers, John Seed, Brenda Peterson, J Ruth Gendler, Terry Tempest Williams, Brian Swimme, Gary Snyder, Freeman House, and Jesse Wolf Hardin (graphics), among others. Another inspirational and highly recommended book. --Gaian Voices Earth Spirit, Earth Action, Earth Stories, Volume 5, Number 1 & 2

EarthLight, a magazine launched 15 years ago by West Coast Friends, explores the spiritual roots of the environmental challenges facing our planet. This anthology collects articles published in the magazine by writers from many paths, including such influential Buddhists as Thich Nhat Hahn, Joanna Macy, and Gary Snyder. The collection's magazine story-length chapters provide a highly accessible introduction to the important topic of spiritual environmentalism. --Turning Wheel; The Journal of Socially Engaged Buddhism, Summer 07, pg 51

About the Author

Cindy Spring is an environmental activist and a writer. She co-leads a bioregional awareness program called Close to Home: Living with Wildlife in the East Bay. She writes a column for Bay Nature magazine. She has co-authored two books with her husband, Charles Garfield, including Wisdom Circles: A Guide to Self-Discovery and Community Building in Small Groups. Anthony Manousos is the current editor of Friends Bulletin, the offical publication of independent Western Quakers. He has edited two Quaker books, A Western Quaker Reader (2000) and Compassionate Listening and Other Writings by Gene Knudsen Hoffman (2003).

Product Details

• Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: Friends Bulletin; 1st edition (January 31, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970041020
• ISBN-13: 978-0970041029
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #271,449 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)