Spirit Matters [Hardcover]

Michael Lerner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2000

According to Rabbi Michael Lerner, we live in a society that systematically denies spiritual meaning in our everyday lives. On Spirit Matters, Rabbi Lerner offers his step-by-step approach for welcoming back "a spirituality that has been repressed for centuries" to foster personal, institutional, and global transformation. For those of us who are still "in the closet" spiritually, here is a much-needed guide from a bestselling author leading the way to a new "Emancipatory Spirituality."

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Spirit Matters is a highly recommended book for anyone who longs to live in a world with stronger spiritual values and less emphasis on ecological destruction, material gain, and technological progress. And nowadays, there are a lot of us out there struggling with those phenomena, according to acclaimed rabbi and author Michael Lerner (The Politics of Meaning). Many individuals live as a "divided self," he explains. We privately hold deep, spiritual beliefs but are too uncertain or shy when it comes to asserting those beliefs in the public arena.

To bridge this duality, Lerner offers this thoroughly readable manual on how to introduce solid and healthy spiritual values into our world culture. This is not about pushing a hidden religious agenda or trying to create a fadlike movement around the latest New Agey ideology. Rather, Lerner presents an intelligent vision of people deeply caring for one another and our planet. Chapter by chapter Lerner gives examples of what readers can do for the environment, endangered animals, hospitals, prisons, the workplace, the home front, and neighborhoods. As a narrator and thinker, Lerner is sweeping and eloquent in his understanding of spiritual complexities. He also offers specific suggestions, such as improving education by eliminating "the SATs and other odious forms of testing" or addressing U.S. prison problems by eliminating jail terms for nonviolent crimes. As a spiritual and political manifesto, Spirit Matters cannot be praised enough. --Gail Hudson

From Publishers Weekly

Lerner, psychotherapist, rabbi and editor of Tikkun magazine, strongly feels that people subconsciously realize that they have closed off their sense of spirituality, and that they long for deeper meaning. He calls for this hunger to be openly recognized, with humanity working toward a global "Emancipatory Spirituality." Emancipatory Spirituality proclaims a recaptured awe of the universe, affirms the equal worth of every human being and promotes the healing and transformation of the world. It connects people to the "oneness of all being," embracing our innate sense of play, creativity and intellectual capabilities. Spirit matters, Lerner says, and denial of this fact leads to fractured personal lives, an alienated society and the unhealthy treatment of our environmental resources. His theoretical arguments are compelling and well considered, particularly as he traces the history of the horrors we have reaped from collectively denying the Spirit, and readers will no doubt appreciate his exercises in becoming more open to the Spirit. Unfortunately, Lerner's arguments on how to implement the needed focus on the Spirit in vocations such as medicine, education and law often fall short of reality and practicality, sounding shallow and glib. While he may be correct in arguing that individuals should remain open to the Spirit made manifest in their lives, he neglects to acknowledgeAor prescribe a cure forAthe large numbers of people who may not care to do so. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Walsch Books (June 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157174195X
• ISBN-13: 978-1571741950
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,058,415 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spiritual Optimism Combined with Acute Social Criticism, June 6, 2000

By 

Roger S. Gottlieb "Classical music lover" (Jamaica Plain,, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spirit Matters (Hardcover)

Lerner tackles conservatives who think religion should defend the status quo and liberals who think secular society has all we need. His basic argument is that 'spirit matters' -- people's need for meaning, connection, love, awe, mystery, rest and joy are essential to our happiness; and, when absent, are a source of profound personal and collective malaise. If you don't share Lerner's spiritual optismism, as I don't, you nevertheless will have to confront his insistent questioning about the sources of your pessimism, fear and despair. Not content to rest with generalities about spirit in society, Lerner applies his ideas to medicine, law, education and the environment. Get the book. Read it. Argue about it. It will challenge many of your assumptions about spirituality, politics and society.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spirit Matters, December 14, 2002

By 

Cassandra Barnes "Cassandra" (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spirit Matters (Hardcover)

Michael Lerner, described as "one of the most significant spiritual innovators of our times, calls for "Emancipatory Spirituality" in his latest book, Spirit Matters. Lerner, who holds degrees in philosophy and psychology, says emancipatory spirituality involves regaining our awe and wonder at the universe and reconnecting with Spirit.
He maintains that people are seeking spiritual meaning in their lives, but the world we live in today discourages openness about spiritual matters. People are torn by conflict between what they privately know is right, and the way they're forced to abandon that in their public lives, in order to be "successful." Thinking only in terms of the "bottom line" has led to destructive behavior, individually, socially, and environmentally.
Lerner describes a new kind of bottom line, where love and caring are the measure of success. Although spirituality can be incorporated into every aspect of a society, he goes into great detail with his vision of how medicine, education, and the law would function in a spiritually-based world.
The world we live in is determined by the choices we make. Most people feel that, given the opportunity to do so, they would make spiritually responsible choices, but they can't, because other people can't be trusted to do the same. Lerner says "the more we trust each other and the universe . . . the more we will make the world safe for Spirit. And the safer it feels, the more people will start to come out of their own closets and acknowledge their deep hunger for a spiritually grounded life."
Lerner doesn't just offer his vision of a more spiritual world--he includes some practical suggestions for what people can start doing right now to get involved and help heal their lives and transform their communities.
Regardless of their religious beliefs, Spirit Matters will help all readers achieve a deeper spiritual understanding that "can bring you both a deeper fulfillment in your life and, at the same time, a deeper connection to the central challenges facing our planet." Buy two copies--one for yourself, and one for sharing. It's essential reading for anyone wanting to transform unhappy, alienated, and destructive lives and societies into a new reality of spiritual joy and meaning.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you for helping to clarify, I thought I was alone!, January 3, 2004

By 

Mark D. Schaeffer - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Spirit Matters (Paperback)

Excellent, enlightening, and inspiring. Well done, reminding us that there are no "right answers", and we can have the courage to place our integrity and ideals as values to stretch for and live by, rather than passively buy into some of the insanity created by the collective fears and egos of the society around us. (And this can result in not only greater happiness, but more effective organizations - they go hand-in-hand). This is a great book for stimulating thought, and encouraging us by letting us know that some of the things we thought were "wrong" or "missing" in society and in organizations we participate in, are very real and very valid (rather than believing they are our own "hangups"). The beautiful human spirit and goodness which we share (the important things in life), is typically precisely the stuff we don't share and talk about. Reading this book a great way to get started, or to provide further inspiration.

I'de recommended to anybody who is looking for a deeper meaning in life or work.