Rhythms and Cycles [Paperback]

Nancy Bruning (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 10, 2001

The rich texture of this book will charm and inspire any reader willing to pause, look, listen, feel and learn.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Bruning's short, well-written examination of the significance of rituals in the major religions offers a spiritual tour of the human condition. Comparing the rhythms and cycles of different religions, Bruning reveals the qualities that bring their adherents together and keep them apart. The celebration of rituals, she reminds us, commemorates the past and gives meaning to the present. Broaching such matters as the parallels between ancient philosophies and modern physics, the dichotomy between mind and body, and the difference between good and evil, she acknowledges their seminal importance without diluting the differences in the ways different religious traditions regard them. Finally, she confronts the unanswerable questions: What happens to us when we die? Is there an afterlife? Why do we die? Why do we live? For Bruning, death is but another stopping place on the mysterious journey called life. June Sawyers
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Crossroad (September 10, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0824519620
• ISBN-13: 978-0824519629
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,276,287 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Is it really possible to be healthy without feeling deprived? Yes! I specialize in writing books designed to help you find your way through confusing and sometimes conflicting health information, and discover your new favorite ways to be. Along with writing, I provide wellness and weight management coaching that feels good. From aromatic Ayurvedic remedies to Mediterranean style eating to creative ways to use a park bench to improve your strength, flexibility, coordination, and balance--there's no need to suffer to be beautiful--contrary to what my mother told me!

I combine real-life experiences like facing breast cancer at the age of thirty, world travel, uncountable hours counseling and teaching regular folk with the latest scientific evidence and multiple certifications to create comprehensive, practical programs and books that people can trust

Because life is too short to spend it drinking diet soda on a treadmill.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The sacred and the common: a balance, October 25, 2001

By 

"meg_oldman" (Davis, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rhythms and Cycles (Paperback)

Nancy Bruning's newest book "Rhythms and Cycles: Sacred Patterns in Everyday Life is filled with a warm, rich and comforting perspective.

She examines various religious practices for their common threads of traditions, songs and expression. She points out the great and often overlooked value of rhythmic repetition of even the smallest act, such as singing or humming at any time. Or lighting a candle to rememeber an event or a person.

What Ms. Bruning does so well is to bring back the sacred to our everyday life by reminding us to pay even the scantest attention to a ritual. One need not attend a typical place of worship, but rather one can worship anywhere and regain strength and uplift.

In these trying days of all the world's tragic actions, we need to focus energy toward keeping the spirit of life in our hearts. This book goes a long way to making connections in the heart through study, music, and extention of a helping hand.

Read this book, it's very good for you!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rich and resonant, May 13, 2002

By 

Martha LaBare (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rhythms and Cycles (Paperback)

Somehow this book simultaneously gave me focus and set my mind to wandering. What more could one ask? Rhythms and Cycles' dialogue of opposites (sound and silence, solitude and community, for example) seems an invitation to draw on memory, to think about meaning. Nancy Bruning is conversational, engaging, generous, and even gently witty. Her exploration of patterns in everyday life in different cultures, different religions, offers lots of information; just as important, it encourages you to reflect on your past and present, on identities and contexts. It fills gaps and connects pieces of what you know. It's a fast and easy read, that you want to take slowly, to interrupt with your own reflections and insights. I'm giving it to several friends.

5.0 out of 5 stars Why can't we all get along???, October 16, 2001

By 

Paul L. Liebenberg (Hollister, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rhythms and Cycles (Paperback)

This book traces ancient rituals, as they have been adapted to modern religious practices. Primary focus is upon Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Hinduism, Buddhism and others are also examined.

Common day-to-day activities that seem non-secular are explored and shown to have religious roots. Conversely, this book explains that many religious practices are simply modified celebrations dealing with the cycles of nature. I liked how Nancy Bruning wrote about this in a very open, non-judgmental way.

I liked the image that common threads relating to natural cycles show up in the cloth of distinctly different faiths. I wish that the extreme fundamentalist believers in any faith could read "Rhythms and Cycles" and realize that perhaps there is only one God, a God that wouldn't be pleased with the notion of killing or dying.

This is very timely given the recent WTC tragedy. For me, a chilling sentence on page 211 summed up the mindset of the hijackers: "Martyrs of Islam have their evil deeds completely erased and they are sent to the Garden immediately."