Searching for Your Soul: Writers of Many Faiths Share Their Personal Stories of Spiritual Discovery [Paperback]

Katherine Kurs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 24, 1999

"Spiritual genius emerges from every facet of God's diamond. All faith traditions share His light, brought forth most beautifully in this lovely volume."
-- Marianne Williamson, author of  A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of a Course in Miracles

"The spiritual life is often a journey and a process rather than a state of bliss.  We might learn more about this essential part of life through honest and spunky stories like the ones told here than from books of guidance and doctrine.  This book will instruct your spiritual imagination, and that is what inspires and sustains the work of the soul."        
-- Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul and The Soul of Sex


Searching for Your Soul brings together the stories of more than fifty writers who have eloquently explored the spiritual impulses that inform their lives.  Whether Jewish or Hindu, Muslim or Roman Catholic, Methodist or Mormon, Buddhist or Pagan, Vodou or Jehovah's Witness, the rich experiences shared here offer a compelling glimpse into the uneven terrain that is often part of the spiritual journey.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Editor Katherine Kurs understands that a spiritually illuminated existence often requires bouts of darkness and isolation, which is why every story in this exquisite collection speaks so eloquently to this paradox. "Attempting to live a spiritual life can indeed be a confusing and painful experience beset with obstacles and detours, rather than filled with the bliss we might have expected," Kurs writes in her introduction. "The autobiographies collected in this anthology offer companionship, helping us to understand our own frequently perplexing journeys."

Kurs is also a connoisseur of excellent spiritual writing, evidenced by her list of contributors, such as Sue Bender, Malcolm X, bell hooks, Kathleen Norris, Mary Gordon, and Barbara Grizutti Harrison. In one essay, Terry Tempest Williams claims a spiritual mother in the land and water of the Great Salt Lake as her physical mother dies from cancer (which she suspects is caused by exposure to government atomic weaponry tests in Utah). Each essay contains vibrant images and language that bring the ethereal realm of spiritual awakening into the grounded stories of life on earth. --Gail Hudson

From Publishers Weekly

In this remarkable collection, Kurs, who teaches religious studies at the New School of Social Research, has gathered a rich variety of autobiographical writings on spiritual matters. Writers both contemporary and historicalAranging from Augustine, Thomas Merton and Mohandas Gandhi to Dan Wakefield, Dennis Covington and Kathleen NorrisAreflect upon such questions as: "Who or what is God, or the holy, for me?"; "Who are my spiritual ancestors?"; "When did I begin to lose my sense of connection to the holy and to the world around me and how do I regain it?" In the section on "Flesh and Spirit," for example, Gandhi recounts how his struggle with lust led to his vow of celibacy, and contemporary poet Kim Barnes (In the Wilderness) recalls the conflict between her desire for holiness and her desire for boys that she felt as an adolescent. In the section on "Suffering and Mortality," San Quentin death-row inmate Jarvis Jay Masters (Finding Freedom: Writings from Death Row) uses Buddhist meditation to contemplate his past life and to enact the Eightfold Path of noble living as he faces the remaining days of his life. Finally, in the section on "Exploration and Encounter," Diana Eck (From Bozeman to Benares) vividly describes how her encounter with Hinduism forced her to more fully examine her own Methodist religious roots. Every piece in Kurs's collection pulsates with life, inspiring readers in their own spiritual paths.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Schocken; 1st edition (August 24, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080521111X
• ISBN-13: 978-0805211115
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,250,004 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Starting My Own Spiritual Journey, September 22, 1999

By 

Anne Close ([e-mail]) (New York City, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Searching for Your Soul: Writers of Many Faiths Share Their Personal Stories of Spiritual Discovery (Paperback)

In her introduction, Katherine Kurs says "Attempting to live a spiritual life can indeed be a confusing and painful experience beset with obstacles and detours,rather than filled with the bliss we might have expected." As a spiritual novice, I can only concur with this comment, so it was with a great deal of joy, that I poured through these essays and pieces, written by some of the famous(and not so famous) writers and thinkers of our time. How fascinating it was to realize how these great writers realized their own spiritual journeys. Quite naturally, I identified with several of them. Lauren Slater's "Three Spheres" hit a little too close to home for me, as I understood her feelings perfectly. Other favorites included "Taking Martha With Me", by Beverly Coyle, where traditional Methodist theory, undergoes a radical change, during one service, and "The Generation of Faith" by Randall Balmer, where the author attempts to break away from his strict Christian Fundementalist upbringing and still remain faithful to God. However, I think I found my own enlightenment, when I read Sue Bender's "A Woman's Journey to the Amish" from her "Plain and Simple"...Oh would that I could find my Self in one of those Amish quilts, and my Soul in one of her Amish faceless dolls! Among the many writers and thinks, in this potpourri of wondrous discovery, I find myself drawn to this plain and simple tale of hope. This is a lovely book

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Food for the Soul, August 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Searching for Your Soul: Writers of Many Faiths Share Their Personal Stories of Spiritual Discovery (Paperback)

This is a lovely collection of stories from spiritual seekers of many traditions and none. It reads beautifully as literature but also is a very practical resource that we can use to learn from the experience of others and in order to nourish us on our own journey.The essays are organized in such a way that we can use them to illuminate issues in our own lives and relationships. I am delighted to have found this book and am giving copies to all my friends.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A delicious peek into the spirit lives of "ordinary" people., September 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Searching for Your Soul: Writers of Many Faiths Share Their Personal Stories of Spiritual Discovery (Paperback)

This is a jewel of a book for anyone interested in the journeys that begin to bring each of us in our own way to some understanding of how Spirit works in our lives. The selections are by people who are delightfully honest in their pursuit to encapsulate in language how they came to see the hidden workings of the universe that speaks to their souls. I've read many spiritual autobiographies that run the gamut from Monks and Mystics in Ordinary Life to The Sanctified Body and I would recommend this book not only to people who are already "believers" but to all who like to hear true autobiography at its best. You won't be sorry you've read it.