What Matters: Spiritual Nourishment for Head and Heart [Hardcover]

Frederick Franck (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2004

After his nearly 100 years of seeking, Franck’s reflections on what really matters will help you to savor what truly matters in your own life.

"Could the meaning of being born human be, to become Human?"

This elegantly simple book of reflections presents the rich harvest of a lifetime of thinking, feeling, and seeing by an artist whose vital spirituality has inspired hundreds of thousands of readers and students through his art, books, and workshops.

The pithy, sometimes humorous, always wise contemplations reveal Franck’s lifelong confrontation with the human in himself and others.

Originally jotted down as reflections for himself and close friends, Franck’s insights will challenge you to consider new ways of experiencing your spiritual path and to savor what truly matters.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"The religious attitude to existence is rooted in wonder at the mystery of sheer Being, at being here at all, the axiomatic certainty that there is a Meaning in our being here, hence in total openness to It."

In this compact volume of reflections, Franck’s own sensitive line drawings and witty ornaments enhance the pages, creating a visual vocabulary that, combined with his words, makes us not only think but see as well. At the age of ninety-four, Franck still writes about "that something of unfathomable depth: that specifically Human, that divine spark, known in the East as Buddha Nature, in the West as the Spirit of Christ." He says that spark is the criterion of what is truly human in us and allows us to recognize the Transcendent in all true paths.

"Wise, witty, compassionate observations jolt us awake to the wealth of our planetary heritage."
—Joanna Macy, author of Widening Circles and World as Lover, World as Self

"Franck’s words are thrilling, especially as evidence of his vocation as one who brings things together."
—Spirituality & Health

About the Author

Frederick Franck served as a doctor on Albert Schweitzer’s staff in Africa. He is the author of the bestseller My Days with Albert Schweitzer and the classics The Zen of Seeing and Zen Seeing, Zen Drawing. The only official artist for Vatican II, his drawings and paintings are in the collections of many museums including MOMA and the Whitney, and his sculptures are installed in religious and secular institutions around the world. He lives in Warwick, New York, where he has converted an eighteenth-century mill ruin into a transreligious sanctuary called Pacem in Terris.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 83 pages
• Publisher: Skylight Paths Publishing; First edition (February 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159473013X
• ISBN-13: 978-1594730139
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,097,185 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Medicine for the Soul, March 7, 2006

By 

OAKSHAMAN "oakshaman" (Algoma, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: What Matters: Spiritual Nourishment for Head and Heart (Hardcover)

_This is one of those rare recent books that you can say is truly medicine for the soul- without being trite. This is a powerful spiritual book, yet it is not without humor, tolerance of other traditions, and guts. The guts come in with the liberal criticism of modern greed, materialism, nihilism and the status quo. Franck especially has no patience for what he calls pseudo-spirituality, which can be recognised by sentimentality, proselytising, fanaticism, holier-than-thou delusions, spiritual tourism, and unconcern for the suffering and injustice inflicted on the great majority of other people in the world.

_Franck points out that true spirituality is based on first hand experience. This means that it is equally valid whether it is approached from Christian, Taoist, Buddhist, Jewish, or Sufi perspectives. This is not not spiritual tourism , it is recognising the Transcendent in all true paths. This is the basis of a vital, transcultural, transreligious spirituality.

_The author served as a doctor with Albert Schweitzer's staff in Africa- and it truly shows.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Little Compendium on That Which Matters, January 12, 2006

By 

Will Bueche (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What Matters: Spiritual Nourishment for Head and Heart (Hardcover)

This appears to be a reissue of a book of reflections previously titled "A Little Compendium on That Which Matters". Over the years I've given away many copies of this book to friends; you may be similarly moved to do so as well.

5.0 out of 5 stars frederick franck, December 6, 2011

By 

Mary A. Phelps "painter woman" (Towson, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: What Matters: Spiritual Nourishment for Head and Heart (Hardcover)

books arrived on time in great condition, thank you,: the subject matter is most thought provoking and welcome to ponder.