The Holy Way: Practices for a Simple Life [Paperback]

Paula Huston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2003

Drawing on the powerful histories of the saints and personal experience, author Paula Huston, a professor, wife, and mother, offers practical guidance to pursuing and achieving spiritual simplicity in a chaotic world. In this book, Huston examines a variety of spiritual practices in the Christian tradition that lead to a simpler life.

Each chapter introduces a different spiritual practice, including solitude, purity, and generosity, and explores it through historical perspectives and Huston's compelling personal reflections. From Saint Anthony's chosen life of solitude to Saint Catherine of Siena's strength of conviction, Huston tells stories of courageous faith that exemplify the blessed and transformative power of being alone with God. Although based on Christian philosophies, Huston's strategies are applicable to people of all faiths.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Paula Huston, a woman of many talents— professor, wife, mother and author (Signatures of Grace)—offers this outstanding Christian guide to voluntary simplicity. Right from the start, we know we are being led by a woman who walks the talk (and is honest about when she stumbles). "One of the first tricks I tried to play on myself was to pretend that some parts of me were exempt from this difficult transformation process, for example my tendency to exaggerate," she confesses. After all, exaggeration is a writer’s birthright, she told herself. "It did not take long to figure out that the quest for a simpler, holier life eventually must touch every aspect of our nature, and that Jesus refers to the spiritual path as the 'narrow way' for a reason." Most of us assume that this "narrow way" is a desolate journey—filled with enormous sacrifice and meal after meal of brown rice with tofu. But, as Huston explains, the path of simpler living begins with an internal journey rather than a sudden external shift in lifestyle. She starts the book with the art of creating more solitude—showing us how much we define and distract ourselves by the company and clutter that surrounds us. When Huston moves into a chapter on silence—we see how the greatest challenge is quieting the noise in our head, not the noise in our household or workplace. She quotes scripture in just the right doses and at the end of every chapter she shares stories of the lives of saints who lived various forms of simplicity. The highlights are Huston's personal reflections, especially as she reveals the challenges and the rewards of "the holy way." This is a highly inspirational life story that becomes more rich and satisfying with every step on the path. --Gail Hudson

From Publishers Weekly

Using the Christian tradition of solitude, silence and contemplation as her foundation, Huston offers one of the best books available on living the simple life. Voluntary simplicity may sound like an enormous personal sacrifice, downscaling material purchases, unplugging the phone, turning off the TV and pursuing meaningful work instead of high-income drudgery. But according to Huston, the payoff is so enormous that it's hard to understand why anyone wouldn't jump on the bandwagon. "Interior chaos subsides; the psychic battlefield goes calm and silent," she promises. She notes that practicing the simple life requires more of an internal shift than an outward act of shedding possessions or moving to a monastery. In each chapter, Huston offers healthy doses of self-disclosure. When she wanted to create more silence, she first tried to quiet all the noise around her, only to discover that the real challenge was learning to silence herself. (She's a self-confessed motor mouth.) When she wanted to start carving out times of spiritual contemplation, she had to face her chronic habit of oversleeping. She even reveals how much of her self-esteem was invested in attracting male attention in her exquisite chapter on the deeper meaning of celibacy. Huston gives readers the sense that if she can make these small, yet profound, steps toward a simpler life, anyone can. Each chapter includes an inspirational story about a saint as well as just the right seasonings of scripture. This excellent guidebook will motivate many readers to take at least one small step toward living a simpler life.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 358 pages
• Publisher: Loyola Press; First Edition edition (November 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 082941441X
• ISBN-13: 978-0829414417
• Product Dimensions: 1 x 5.4 x 8.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #326,115 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #39 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Protestantism > Quaker

More About the Author

(Author Photograph by Dennis Eamon Young). Paula Huston, the eldest of five children, was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1952. Her Norwegian Lutheran family moved to California when she was only two; she grew up in Long Beach, married at nineteen, and relocated to San Luis Obispo county on the Central Coast in her early twenties. About the time her two children were born, she began writing short stories; in her early thirties, she divorced and spent several years as a single working mother, which convinced her that she really needed to complete her college education. After remarrying and becoming a stepmother of two, she returned to school for a B.A. in English, and went on for a Masters in English and American Literature while continuing to write and publish fiction.

She began teaching at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo after completing the Master's degree. While still matriculating, she took a class in ethics that helped spur a return to the Christianity she had abandoned years before. This time, however, she came back to the church as a Catholic, and in the process, shifted to writing spiritual non-fiction. Eventually, she became a Camaldolese Benedictine oblate, a lay associate of a contemplative Catholic hermitage on the Big Sur coast, which means she does her best to live by two ancient rules written primarily for monks and hermits: the Rule of St. Benedict and the Brief Rule of St. Romuald of Ravenna, Italian founder of the Camaldolese. For many years, she and her husband Mike have lived on four acres in the country where, in the spirit of St. Benedict, they produce much of the food they eat, including fruits, vegetables, olive oil, eggs, honey, and wine. They have six young grandchildren

Huston is the author of six books and a co-editor and contributing essayist for a seventh, SIGNATURES OF GRACE: CATHOLIC WRITERS ON THE SACRAMENTS. Her essays and short stories have appeared in numerous literary journals and magazines over the years, including AMERICAN SHORT FICTION, STORY, NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW, IMAGE, AMERICA, THE CHRISTIAN CENTURY, and GEEZ. She is a National Endowment of the Arts Fellow in Creative Writing, and a founder and faculty member for a low-residency California State University Consortium Master of Fine Arts program. Her work has been honored by BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES and included in the annual BEST SPIRITUAL WRITING anthology. She has taught at the Glen Workshop and in the Glen Online writing school, and is currently teaching in Seattle Pacific University's MFA in creative writing program.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Find Internal Peace by Following Holy Tradition December 15, 2003

By Harold McFarland HALL OF FAMEVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

With our hectic lives it seems impossible to slow down, simplify, and deepen our spiritual relation with God. Author Paula Huston has been here with all the rest of us, but she has found, through her personal experiences, that you can move to a simpler, holier life without moving to a monastery and completely eschewing the modern world. Paula invites us to travel with her along her journey as she shares her experiences successes and shortcomings. She models her philosophy on some of the most prominent saints of the early Christian church including some of my favorites, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Ignatius, and St. Benedict. As she turned to these people she tried to practice the things that allowed them their holy walk with God. Some of the things she discusses include the need for and ability to obtain solitude, silence, asceticism, meditation and other practices of a simple life. Although she does not word it that way, it becomes obvious that part of what she is talking about is the ability to break free from the things that enslave us and keep us in such a state that we can't even keep our minds quiet for all the thoughts and worries that invade it.

Choosing to lead a simpler life so you can have a more peaceful, more holy life, may sound like an extreme sacrifice, but what is the price that you put on internal peace? Standing on the other side after having made these changes Paula finds it hard to understand why anyone would not do the same. Paula Huston is a role model for those who want to simplify their lives and clearly demonstrates that this path is available to anyone who wants to travel it. "The Holy Way" is a highly recommended book for any audience.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The personal impact of The Holy Way September 27, 2005

By Luci N. Shaw

Format:Paperback

Paula Huston's The Holy Way has made a significant impact on my personal and spiritual life. In many ways our lives are parallel, and her spiritual longing for divine transcendence is mine as well. Her book met me on many levels, and has resulted in several changes in outlook and lifestyle for me. Her stories are very human, yet show how a mind open to God and re-creation can result in healing and wholeness. Thank you, Paula Huston.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Remarkable Book by a Remarkable Woman August 10, 2005

By Jack Luther

Format:Paperback

This book practically fell off the shelf at the bookstore, like I was supposed to read it. This is a remarkable book by a remarkable woman. Like Paula, I am on the monastic-contemplative-mystical path. Unlike her, I have remained in the Lutheran tradtion, but like her, have learned a great deal about this path from the Roman Catholic monastic tradition. I've read a number of books by celibate monks, and many books on specific components of this path, such as fasting, celibacy, silence, meditation, etc. What makes Paula's book so helpful for me is that she is married, with kids and a career, like myself. Secondly, she presents a road map for this journey via the ten chapters, each one looking at a component of the path. I appreciated the few pages at the end entitled "How to Begin a Better Life". She is an excellent writer. She has done her homework about the monastic traditon and the saints she writes about in each chapter. Most importantly, she shares her own journey in an honest and vulnerable way. Clearly Paula heard a "call" to live a simpler life; and her book in an autobiographical way shows how she, God, and others are making that happen. This book, and my on-going desire to be a married contemplative/an urban monk, will be the topic of conversation next time I meet with my spiritual director.