Love and the Soul: Creating a Future for Earth (Paperback)

~ (Author) "The field of depth psychology, now about one hundred years old, seems to be entering more and more into the public imagination..." (more)
Key Phrases: conscious soul life, individual soul life, soul logic, Rudolf Steiner, Round Table, Chartres Cathedral (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Whatever Sardello touches breaks open with startling new meaning. Now he enters the great arena of our cultural disorders so that we can suddenly see them afresh. I have thieved privately from his mind for fifteen years. At last his work is out, available to anyone recognizing the need to reimagine the soul’s plight in a world astray.”
—James Hillman, founder of archetypal psychology and author of The New York Times best seller The Soul’s Code: In Search of Character and Calling --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Description

Expanding on the ideas in Thomas Moore's Care of the Soul, his longtime colleague and the author of Facing the World with Soul discusses the relationship of the individual to the soul of the world and how awareness of this relationship helps ensure our future.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 236 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (January 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060926988
• ISBN-13: 978-0060926984
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #998,482 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy 100 and read each one!, December 10, 2002

By	Roo Ruf Neck - See all my reviews

well, maybe not, but without a doubt "Love and the World" is an immensely significant work in the field of depth psychology. Originally titled "Love and the Soul", Sardello's book takes an experiential look at the connection between the individual and the world. By staying within the realm of experience, Sardello allows the reader to begin the process of psychological research for him or herself. Sardello honors the original direction which Freud and then Jung trailblazed but points to the danger inherent in any exploration of soul which leaves out the world. Yet Sardello's experience of 'World' and his methodology which leads to it is what is truly groundbreaking about this work.

In "Love and the World" the world is not maintained to exist 'out there' independent of the individual, and yet, Sardello avoids any hints of suggesting the relativistic/constructivst conception which denies the possibility of talking objectively about realms such as Truth, Beauty and Goodness. Sardello maintains that to truly speak objectively about soul and the world, we must enter into the creative processes which they are. It is in the creative process that we can find, through sensing the creating activity of our own 'I', the link between ourself and the world. Sardello shows how spiritual psychology demands a distinction between the ego and the 'I'. This distinction has never been articulated in depth psychology and it is for this reason that the world has always been left out. And so after we identify the 'I' as distinct, not separate, from the ego, we can then experience the 'I' as the creative, non personal, yet completely individual, activity through which the world individuates itself and from which fully conscious, world oriented love is born.

How refreshing to read a sophisticated work in the field of psychology that earns that distinction by leaving theories, abstractions and in-bred language systems at the door. Like any truly improvisational art, Sardello is not content to present a system of finished concepts that can be repeated and systemized, but rather, he enters the active images of experience and from there performs language which can deepen the readers own explorations and questions. This is reflected in the poetic style which imbues each sentence of "Love and the World".

So much more could be said. And that's the point. This book does not attempt to finish anything. It's sole objective is to begin creating a new foundation for psychology which is based in active practice and which leads towards capacities for experiencing the creative, soul-filled and spiritual activities which are the world.

ps...my only frustration comes from what was left out of the new edition. In general not much is changed and in fact, some things are tightened up in a helpful manner. However the "Getting Started" section has been rewritten and while the new pages are a wonderful and, I believe, needed introduction to the book, the original "Getting Started" was a masterpiece. In the four or five pages of the original, Sardello wove together in a creativly condensed form all the images which live in the book as a whole. The orignial "Getting Started" also contains a few brilliant paragraphs on 'soul logic' which desribe the necessity for a new methodological approach to psychology. For these reason I would urge anyone who is still hungry after reading "Love and the World" to order the out of print original "Love and the Soul" from bibliofind.com. I hope that someday both pieces can work together in this most outstanding and potentially life changing book. Perhaps, Sardello will post the original words on his websight.

5.0 out of 5 stars Be anazed, June 14, 2009

By	Ger Agrey-thatcher - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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This review is from: Love and the Soul: Creating a Future for Earth (Hardcover)

Robert Sardello is never who you expect. This parent of LOVE AND THE WORLD is no exception. He prefers ecstasy to analysis, the imaginal and magic to logic. So if you would enjoy a conversation between Rudolf Steiner and Carl Jung, you will love this book. Shine.

5.0 out of 5 stars Sardello just gets better. Buy 200 and give them away., May 27, 2009

By	J. Brunner (Spain) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Love and the Soul: Creating a Future for Earth (Paperback)

Like his buddy in crime Joseph Chiltern Pierce, Robert Sardello pushes the envelope again, getting better the older he gets. More material is added to old material of previous editions and titles to give the old new significance and to make a new bumber Sardello reader with up to the minute fresh appeal. You read this book with your body and not your intellect. Like a Federer... moving with deft pace, economy and immaculate ball timing and surprising dazzling turns of phrase that leave your soul and body gasping, time again, as he lands extraordinary visions and insights right on the line. My soul felt powerfully healed, empathised with just reading the extraordinary "Getting Started" fully revised from "Love and the World". Here is Sardello's genius at its most concise and swift. RS keeps my soul alive in traumatic times. Thank you universe. Thank you
He only possibly misses one beat. Is not the current wide-spread phenomena of "manifestation" a sign of the presence of soul emerging as as a force of love in the world? Or is it not? Either way I didn't see it get a mention.
Don't miss this titanic book.