Love and Awakening: Discovering the Sacred Path of Intimate Relationship [Paperback]

John Welwood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 10, 1997

Unlike other guides that focus on how to make relationships work, this groundbreaking book teaches couples how their relationships can make their lives work. Combining the practical advice of Harville Hendrix with the spiritual guidance of Thomas Moore, it shows couples how their relationships can help them discover their sacred selves in such chapters as "The Power of Truth-Telling", "The Inner Marriage", "Men In Relationship" and "Soulwork and Sacred Combat". Along the way, it provides a wealth of practical guidance on how to deal with difficult problems and includes lively dialogues from Welwood's workshops that dynamically illustrate his core ideas.

Men and women are searching for deeper meaning and purpose in their everyday lives and relationships. Love and Awakening fills this need. It is a book couples will want to read together.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Believing that our relationships with others parallel how we relate to ourselves and that our outer relationships are an expansion of our inner life, psychologist Welwood (Journey of the Heart: Intimate Relationship and the Path of Love, HarperCollins, 1990) challenges couples to approach difficulties as opportunities for spiritual growth rather than conflict. Reinterpreting Eastern and Western psychological concepts, Welwood introduces techniques of dialog that can clarify issues and lead to resolution and healing. Topics covered include open communication, working with the inner male and female, and men relating emotionally to women. A guidebook for couples seriously committed to spiritual and personal growth rather than a manual offering quick solutions, this title is recommended for popular psychology and spirituality collections in public libraries.
Lucille M. Boone, San Jose P.L., Cal.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Love and Awakening offers a new, inviting, and challenging vision that gives hope to those of us who have become too soured, too guilty, too cynical. Where the glut of simplistic "how-to" books leaves us in the shallows, Welwood stirs the depths of relationships and the reader experiences those depths rising into possibilities. Don't simply read this book, take it in and let it help you and yours return to the Source. -- New Perspectives, August, 1996

Few writers who explore contemporary love as a sacred path do so as lyrically, as deeply, and as cogently as John Welwood. In his beautifully-cratted new book Love and Awakening, Welwood examines human relationship at that unique junture where psychology and spirituality meet. -- Body Mind Spirit, March, 1996

Though the idea of "relationship as a sacred path" is a notion I have heard given lip service for years, this thoroughly engaging and enlightening book is the first I have encountered that actually contributes something concrete to the process of helping couples experience their relationship as sacred. -- AHP Perspective, March 1996

Welwood introduces a new paradigm for intimate relationship in which the inevitable difficulties all couples face can be a springboard for enriching and deepening their connection. -- Yoga Journal, July, 1996

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (January 10, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060927976
• ISBN-13: 978-0060927974
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #199,434 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

As a psychotherapist, teacher, and author, John Welwood has been a pioneer in integrating psychological and spiritual work. Welwood has published several books, including the best-selling Journey of the Heart (HarperCollins, 1990), as well as Challenge of the Heart (Shambhala, 1985), and Love and Awakening (HarperCollins, 1996). He is an associate editor of the Journal for Transpersonal Psychology. He leads workshops and trainings in psychospiritual work and conscious relationship throughout the world.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a life-changing event, November 16, 2000

By 

a reader (San Rafael, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love and Awakening: Discovering the Sacred Path of Intimate Relationship (Paperback)

To say that Love and Awakening changed my life is an understatement. I found this book so moving that sometimes I could only read a few pages before I needed to stop and catch my breath. I truly believe that this book has the potential to change the lives of those who take its message to heart. Reading this book was like looking in a mirror. I've always known what the author writes about, but never had the exact words for it. I have a background in psychology and have read and studied spiritual matters all my life, but I've never read a book that spoke so personally to me, and was such a clear and powerful synthesis of psychology, spirituality, and East/West concerns.This book--along with John Welwood's other book, Journey of the Heart, has been the most powerful teacher on relationship (both to myself and to others)I have yet encounterd. It is an awesome book of heart and profound sensitivity, and has had an enormous impact on my life.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful sequel to Journey of the Heart., January 1, 2002

By 

Mr. Steve Seto (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Love and Awakening: Discovering the Sacred Path of Intimate Relationship (Paperback)

Welwood has crafted a masterful book. Although he expands on the material he presented in his previous book Journey of the Heart, this book can be read by itself. Journey of the Heart was like a roadmap of the terrain of intimate relationships. Love and Awakening provides dialogue from some of Welwood's clients rediscovering their personal authenticity in relationship. There are also brief sections throughout the book narrating a quality or observation about relationship that are truly stunning in its poetic clarity. It perfectly echos the truths we all know deep in our hearts. His section on the "Broken-Hearted Warrior" is the most poignant, eloquent and beautiful passage about the path of intimate relationship I have ever read. The real power and magic of this book is that it does not prescribe cures like a doctor towards a patient. It gently guides us to our own center, our own being and provides tools for awakening greater awareness.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Warriors of the Heart, March 20, 2001

By 

D K Middleton (Huddersfield, W Yorks United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love and Awakening: Discovering the Sacred Path of Intimate Relationship (Paperback)

This is a very valuable book - not just for those in relationships - but for anyone interested in the path of personal development. Welwood writes lucidly and with authority: therapeutic and spiritual concepts and practices are clearly and accessibly presented. This book usefully develops the ideas outlined in Welwood's earlier Journey of the Heart. The inclusion of 'dialogues' gives readers an insight into the experiences of people Welwood has worked with - and this provides a very helpful practical model for readers wishing to explore their own lives in similar ways. Based in solid scholarship, but designed for the lay-reader, I heartily recommend this book to all who are interested in the 'warrior work' of looking into one's own heart.