Customer Reviews

The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a most amazing book, impossible to classify. It is written on a number of levels at once; if you have read `Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance', which broke new ground twenty years or so ago, you will know what I mean. The whole book is about prayer, in one way or another; I found it marvellous and beautifully written. If you are a desert dweller, this one is for you. The exploration of desert and mountain landscapes goes hand in hand with a reading of the apophatic traditions of prayer. "The desert practice of contemplative prayer abandons, on principle, all experiences of God or the self. It simply insists that being present before God, in a silence beyond words, is an end in itself....In the practice of contemplation, one comes eventually to embrace an apophatic anthropology, letting go of everything one might have imagined as constituting the self - one's thoughts, one's desires, all one's compulsive needs. Joined in the silence of prayer to a God beyond knowing, I no longer have to scramble to sustain a fragile ego but discern instead the source and ground of my being in the fierce landscape of God alone. One's self is ever a tenuous thing, discovered only in relinquishment. I recognize it finally as a vast, empty expanse opening out on to the incomparable desert of God". (pp 12-13) . . . "Apophatic spirituality has to start at the point where every other possibility ends. Whether we arrive there by means of a moment of stark extremity in our lives or (metaphorically) by way of entry into a high desert landscape, the sense of inadequacy remains the same. Prayer without words can only begin where loss is reckoned as total"

What a curious book this one is, joining three main narrative threads: spiritual journals of the author's experiences in desolate terrains, emotional journals of the author's mother's protracted and painful death, and historical chronicles of monastic places and practices. The candor, humility, and knowledge of the author is everywhere evident. Lane has as deep an awareness of theological writings as he has passionate appreciation for some fine desert writers (neither naturalists nor ecologists fits them better). I cannot say every page of this book provided easy going or smooth engagement, but that can hardly be said to be the point of the book. The author mentions the relative ordinariness of the lives of those who seek spiritual focus in these places. The ordinariness of these lives makes the strange ferocity of the surrounding landscapes more portentous. I came to this book seeking description of the fierce landscapes and was rewarded. The rest of the book made for bracing enrichment of the sort I can't say I commonly read (grief memoirs & theology).

Simply a very good read. One needn't be familiar with the traditions of the Desert Fathers, apophatic theology, or the Yamabushi warrior traditions of Japan to feel a kinship with this work. Rather, a very serious subject is treated with great respect and sensitivity. Composer Alan Hovaness writes, "Mountains are symbols of mankind's search for God," and Allen Ginsberg tells us, "Things are symbols for themselves." In this book, the mountain and the desert are allowed to both be symbols of the seeking soul and symbols of themselves--they are encountered as we internalize them in our quest, and they are encountered as they really are: cold, hard, lonely, and often dangerous.

Mountains and deserts occur in cities as well. Should you find yourself struggling with one, this book may just be the companion you need.

This book is a gem for anyone who appreciates monasticism and the beauty and spirituality of the desert. It contains some of the freshest theological insights I have come across in quite awhile.

This is a rare treasure among the multitude of contemporary books on spirituality. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in a fresh view on cultivating a sense of the divine in everyday life. A friend of mine gave me this book, impressed as she was by the lovely and compelling title, and I have since read it through twice, and now refer to it often when I need an uplift for my soul (...often at night). I believe that this is a book for anyone seriously interested in finding real depth in their spiritual path. I am not the first to say this, but in a world of "user-friendly" and "feel good" religion and practices, this book reminds us of how difficult life can be, and of the power to be found in a dedicated heart. In the midst of his own personal trials, the author found deep wisdom, and solace, in his exploration of those who sought for God in remote places. He shares this with his readers in moving and profound ways, and I am grateful to the author that he has done so.

Belden Lane has written a remarkable book. I so appreciate his modesty as exhibited, for example, at p. 217: "What little expertise I can offer to legitimate these words lies less in the training of a scholar than in the perseverance of the companero, one who has traveled with another through dangerous territory."

Lane is a scholar and a good one. He knows how and when to document his sources. He is a theologian and a good one, one who appreciates the value of non-Christian religions. He is also a wounded and broken human being, like us all. His writing does not take us to the lofty heights of Theologia and Esoterica leaving us to wonder how to return to the Real World. Lane takes HIS woundedness (and if we would only will it, we the readers may let go and take OUR own wondedness with us as we journey with Lane) with him. It is Lane's lived experiences that make sense out of the lofty heights of Theologia and Esoterica, as well as the aridity Philosophia's desertscape.

This is a great book and those who complain of its over-sentimentality totally miss the point. They may well be resisting dealing with their own woundedness.

This scholarly work is one of the best-researched and documented I've ever read. Lane also writes passionately and beautifully. The two powerful messages for me were (1) the desert beckons silence, and (2) desert spirituality is about self-abandonment, not self-realization. In the desert, stripped bare before God, less is more. Words aren't required. God doesn't speak through the silence so much as God speaks in the silence. In the desert, it's not about how much we need but how little we can get by on. Ego and pride are abandoned. This is refreshing in light of a popular spiritual culture that succeeds on promises of and easy steps to self-realization. The desert is indifferent. It's not about me. I am set free.

Very detailed and academic work. Had the opportunity to meet the author at a retreat centered in this kind of spirituality. Excellent!

By melding his own experience with that found in scripture and other testimonies to the inner life, Belden Lane has written the best book I have read so far on contemplation within the Western spiritual tradition (although his examples certainly are not limited to only the West). His well researched and beautiful prose attempts to answer the crucial questions of where the modern seeker can find the "wilderness" within our fast-paced culture and what can be expected to grow from the heart that learns to be attentive and to draw on its own courage. Bonus: The extensive bibliographic notes that support his theological discussions provide a rich source for further study.

Rather sad book which draws on his erudition and his personal experience. The background is interesting, but when he describes his experience with his mother`s decline and death, for me he descends into unconvincing sentimentality. I guess he should stick to the academic writing he is undoubtedly skilled in, as those are the best parts of the book. Little genuine experience of the relationship of the physical to the spiritual desert comes through for me with any conviction. I`m glad he survived;but it doesn`t share enough of his experience to enlighten me.