Customer Reviews

Spirit Matters

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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.

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.

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.

Michael Lerner's 'Spirit Matters' is a comprehensive examination of the nihilistic dis-ease that assaults the many components of contemporary American life- with an extraordinary grasp upon the source of the sickness, as well as an infectiously hopeful prognosis for the future. Like Cornel West's "Race Matters", which devotes an entire chapter to the specific issue of 'Nihilism in Black America', Lerner's book identifies nihilism as a spiritual matter- but with profound psychological consequences imprisoned within opressive political and economic structures. Remove that which illicits wonder, awe, and praise from life, and see the whithering of care, joy and love that follows. Contemporary America is in horrible spiritual shape: a painfully dysfuctional assortment of belief systems lacking meaning and purpose beyond commodity exchange, which have disasterous effects upon personal lives, families, marriages, the workplace, economic structures, educational institutions, health practices, political systems and especially the ecosystems of the planet. Lerner's book is an attempt to bring people together to share their experiences with the pain and sickness of Nihilism, and to help one another to find where in their lives that Spirit matters. It is not so much about his own diagnosis and prescription for a cure, but about his setting the stage for a much larger conversation that can take place within a cultural framework that is all but paranoid of the Spirit. In many ways, Lerner's book is an approach to Religiophobia and an assault upon all forms of Fundamentalisms, be they Bible Thumpers or those who fanatically defend Scientism. He should be thanked for making it possible for persons from all walks of Secular life to "out" them selves as people who feel that Spirit matters; as well as providing an intellectually challenging and emotionally nurturing discussion concerning what matters about the Spirit.

Michael Lerner's new book Spirit Matters is a book you MUST read! Reading it was a transformative and healing experiencce for me -- and after reading it I had the opportunity to hear him speak and to meet many other intellectually sophisticated people who were similarly moved by his message.Unlike the empty spirituality that has become so fashionable today, Lerner's book presents a rigorous and deep understanding of Spirit and yet does so in a clear and accessible language. His prophetic voice is one that America needs to listen to. When the world seems to be sinking more and more into materialism and dispair, Lerner's Emancipatory Spirituality enables the reader to grasp the vision of a world that can be healed and transformed while at the same time provides us with some practical ideas to introduce spirituality and meaning into our legal, educational and health system. It's sad to read reviews that attack Lerner personally but say nothing about the ideas behind Spirit Matters. But it's not surprising, since the extraordinary wisdom that emerges from Lerner's book really threatens the social order as we know it. Prophets have always been attacked and mocked. History has also taught us, that the attackers voices are never remebered while the visionaries message remains for generations. What shocked me was that Spirit Matters enabled me to overcome my own cynicism and showed me ways that I could integrate into my own personal life a spiritual path without buying into the reactionary elements which I had previously identified with the world of Spirit.

This is the most important book you could read this decade! It will speak to you like it has to so many others, but only if you are open to listening to its message. Lerner defines Spirit as related to the Unity of All Being, emphasizing that we (and everything around us) is an embodiment of Spirit/love/God (it means different things to different people). Fans of Daniel Quinn's _Ishmael_ series and _Beyond Civilization_ will find much to sympathize with in this wonderful book because it focuses on the bigger picture - the fundamental flaws of our current (global) culture. The message also appeals to people on all points of the political spectrum. Lerner disagrees with most "conservative" politics, even though he recognizes that conservatism appeals to people looking for a spiritual connection. However, he does not necessarily support "liberal" politics, either. He feels that progressive, Leftist politics often involve an irrational fear of integrating spirituality into the public sphere. Lastly, the book focuses on specific actions that people can take in their daily lives to ward off the cynicism that permeates our lives and to experience a spiritual rejuvenation. For instance, he emphasizes appreciating other people and our environment for being embodiments of the Unity of All Being, rather than appreciating them for their accomplishments or for what they bring to our own lives. Some people may object that Lerner has too idealistic of a view of human nature, but such an objection is unfounded. The message of the book comes from talking to actual people (from Fortune 500 execs to teachers, etc.) who have expressed a feeling of a spiritual vacuum in their lives. If you feel that current society engenders a lack of meaning in your life and the lives of those you care about, you must read this book.

This is what I got from the book. People feel alienated and conflicted because they have deadened the emotional and spiritual feelings they had as children. As kids, we felt the awe and wonder of being part of the creation, life, but as adults, we repress these wonderful intuitive insights in order to fit in, make a living, and just basically survive in the impersonal, technological society in which we live.

Lerner urges us to reconnect with those memories and gives us exercises to help us do so.

When he attempts to bring his philosophy of spiritual emancipation to society as a whole, however, one cannot help but doubt it will work (due to the very veneer we have build up as we "grew up", and which others have built up as well. The every man for himself attitude.)

My feeling is--this book is very helpful on a personal level, and perhaps you can even make a difference in society in a small way, but the sweeping changes he talks about seem highly unlikely to occur. But then, perhaps this is all he is asking of his readers--to make a change in themselves, and then, perhaps, it will influence others, and spread.

I just discovered Michael Lerner's work within this past year, and he's quickly become a significant influence on my thinking. His reports of the alienation of life in contemporary America resonates with my own experience, and his description of Emancipatory Spirituality is compelling indeed, even to this agnostic. I'm grateful for this hopeful manifesto. Read it, and then join the national conversation about these ideas at www.spiritualprogressives.org.

"Spirit Matters" because our current situation requires the development of a personal spiritual courage which will empower the transformation of daily life, rather than the spiritual fear which enables our addiction to materialism and religious distraction. Michael Lerner's voice is a testimony to this courage. Read this book and begin to become courageous in the same way.

If you often sense a gap between work and life, you may resonate with psychologist, rabbi, and author Michael Lerner's argument that what is most missing in our collective society is Spirit: Spirit, not as in religion according to any particular doctrine, but Spirit as in an experience of love and connection to the world and others through recognition of the ultimate Unity of All Being. (By use of this term, Lerner is trying to broaden Spirit's definition and avoid a restricted definition of God.) More important than the name, Spirit, is the idea that this missing Spirit `Matters'; matters both to individuals and matters for the collective betterment of the world.

The beginning argument is that many people, while drawn to a spiritual connection in their private lives, reject the idea of a spiritual connection in their public or real world lives. The result is a world driven by individualism, scientism, materialism, and selfishness; all accepted as the inevitable consequence of unstoppable `market' forces, and a bottom line mentality that does not measure the holistic impact on human beings, society, or planet earth. And, by the end of Chapter 4, Lerner does an excellent job of demonstrating how this missing element of Spirit affects us and the world we share.

Starting with Chapter 5, Lerner offers his conceptual solution, Emancipatory Spirituality, and in later chapters gives examples of how it might work with regard to Medicine (holistic healing), Law (social consequences not adversarial positioning), and Education (fostering love rather than competition). Throughout the book Lerner often speaks of the need for a `new bottom-line' to measure more than market performance and he had me thinking of a spiritually balanced score card, although this is not a term he uses. If you can get past what sometimes feels like a bashing of the corporate world and of a market economy, the book will get you thinking about how to integrate Spirit and free market concepts; a good and doable thing in my view. Dennis DeWilde, author of "The Performance Connection"