Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Loving, Humble, and Intelligent Masterpiece that's also BELIEVABLE!, January 13, 2008
This is a marvelous book that's written with profound eloquence, beauty, love and wisdom. As a person who's recently been awakened, or reawakened, to the quest for spiritual communion, this book has been--both literally and figuratively--a "Godsend" to me! The author meticulously builds a foundation of credibility throughout the earlier parts of the book. This is done through an eloquent and courageous disclosure of intimate details of her personal life. Her three major communions with God are magnificently interwoven into the tapestry of her life's story. The wisdom that follows is then easily recognized as truth, and it's written with both love and intelligence. Thus, there are several things that make this book truly special: its credibility; its courageous and humble autobiographical component; its beautiful description of mystical encounters; and its wisdom, which is expressed with such profound love and intelligence--both.
The credibility of this book is perhaps its most singularly outstanding attribute. There's quite a bit of talk and banter about "spirituality" these days, and many people seem to be getting into the act. I am a diagnostic surgical pathologist and cytopathologist, and the default tendency toward skepticism is a strongly entrenched product of my training as a physician. I've also been in the "real world" workplace for over 13 years, and this has primarily served to reinforce that academically instilled skepticism on a practical level. So I was rather shocked when, having chosen this book because it seemed to be exactly what I was yearning for, I looked at the "About the Author" section and saw that Nancy Clark is a cytotechnologist! For those who don't know, it should be pointed out that cytotechnology is field that requires INTENSE concentration over prolonged periods of time with immensely important medical decisions riding on the cytotechnologist's diagnostic accuracy and ability to sometimes find a needle in a haystack. It is truly a mentally demanding profession and not a hospitable realm for flighty nut cases. I hold this group of people in extremely high regard! I didn't know she was one until AFTER I opened the book.
More important than any professional affiliation is the author's OBVIOUS honesty, which can be gleaned by any reader with even the most meager bit of common sense. There are several passages that point towards an unmistakable veracity of the narrative. For example, when describing her first mystical encounter, which was a short near death experience, if she were lying but trying to "make us believe" her, she would NOT have disclosed that her medical records failed to document the resuscitation effort and her having been discovered alive after removing the body sheet from her face, and then passing out. Instead, she would have omitted, glossed over, or even lied about the failure of medical documentation. If she were just trying to sell a story, it is also unlikely that she would disclose that her own family had, at least initially, not believed her story about the mystical encounter she had with The Light of God during the eulogy she gave, but disclose she did. If she were dishonest, or even if she were just exaggerating, is it likely that she'd point out that, due to failing vision, she had occasionally mourned for tire treads on the roadside that she had initially mistaken for dead animals? Um.....I don't think so!
The author also makes it abundantly clear that for much of her adult life, her thinking was primarily left-brained and quite firmly grounded in the physical "reality." For example, when she sits alone out in the countryside pondering words for her deceased friend's eulogy, she feels his presence, yet like most of us when faced with such an intuitive knowing, has the urge to dismiss it. She writes,
"A feeling of John's spiritual presence beside me startled me. My visual perception did not observe any shape or form of John. Yet I knew beyond my discerning intellect that what I was sensing deep within my inner self was true. My analytical brain was always trying to steer me away from my true feelings within with scolding words like, 'This can't be. John is dead. There has to be an explanation for this.' I reasoned that my mind was playing tricks on me, yet at the same time, I knew that I was experiencing something very real! When I acknowledged my friend's presence I felt totally relaxed and at peace. Only when my intellect and analytical side dominated by attempting to judge that moment, did I feel confused and startled."
In chapter 12, she states that,
"I have an analytical mind that often times questions whether I am indeed receiving Divine Inspiration, or am simply being guided by my ego-driven self. If I am skeptical, my impulse is to dismiss the information."
From the perspective of someone less spiritually aware (me), these acknowledgements of left brained, analytical orientation are rather comforting. Near the beginning of the book, the author asks us to read from our heart, not our head. That's a beautiful sentiment and sage advice. Still, it's refreshing to know that, with this book about spirituality, we don't have to park our brains at the door!
The telling of her personal life engages the reader with its poignant beauty, humility and, and unmistakable resonance of truthfulness. As a child, raised in a strict Ukrainian Catholic tradition, she communicated with God during long church services and one day even heard his voice. Her dreadful encounters with the authoritarian priest in the context of her marrying a non-Catholic are compellingly told. Her subsequent descent into spiritual limbo and the loss of her close friend, which was intimated to her in a prophetic dream, are heartbreaking, but somehow they fit into a grander plan. The plan included her mystical encounter with the Light of God during the eulogy, with the knowledge and wisdom gained from that communion.
It is this wisdom that is conveyed so eloquently, with such love and intelligence, that is the most profound part of this magnificent book. This is presented in great detail, yet with manifest empathy and compassion. It's so beautifully written that it's possible for the reader to miss some of the main points, which are sprinkled liberally throughout the book. But even that's not a problem, because there's a concise synopsis of the main points at the end of the book. The message of unconditional love and acceptance from the Creator near the end of the book is one of this book's many highlights. What makes it even sweeter is the unmistakable conclusion that this book is a work of NON-fiction.
William W. Hoover, M.D.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Book of Love, July 14, 2005
HEAR HIS VOICE is one woman's compelling account of her mystical encounter with God and of the many blessings that accrued therefrom.Author Nancy Clark has distilled in 178 pages all the loving wisdom and teachings of a great minister in a lifetime of sermons.This book is about one thing - LOVE.God is Love.We are created in His image -that is- we are spiritual beings created by Love as loving beings manifested into the physical realm.Our purpose in this life is to learn to love unconditionally so we can advance the human spiritual condition and quicken humanity's collective journey back to it's source - the Love and Light of God.Nancy focuses on the much neglected Third Person of the Holy Trinity - The Holy Spirit - God's Voice within.She reminds us that we are never alone.His Voice is always within to show us The Way,if only we would lift the veil(the ego)which deafens us to that wisdom.Nancy explains that we were created as beings of love who are meant to co-create with God by manifesting His love in this world if only we would HEAR HIS VOICE.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderfully nourishing ... Superb storytelling, January 26, 2007
I've read many books on the near-death experience, and I'll keep Hear His Voice on the shelf with them although it offers so much more! The author tells about her NDE in the 1960s then goes on to describe in fascinating detail a separate, mystical, out-of-body experience in 1979 during which she was alive, awake, and completely healthy, and during which she encountered God.
In the beginning, this book reads like a page-turning novel while simultaneously being absolutely believable as reality. Laying the groundwork, Mrs. Clark gives us the sweetest story about a child's (her) relationship with God that I have ever heard. Then we are given a heartbreaking account of her experience as a young adult when a religious leader told her she was unloved by God, creating a crisis in her life.
Then begins the third, and most fascinating story, the one about her 1979 encounter with God, and she tells it beautifully and meticulously. My book has 17 pages with corners turned down, and much of the text is underlined. This sweet Child of God has much to offer those of us who are always looking for the next, and then the next bit of truth.
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