Sophia's Web : Understanding the Unity and Diversity of Religion, Science, and Ourselves [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

~ Burl B. Hall (Author) "We are a tapestry woven into the tapestry of the universe..." (more)
Key Phrases: hidden totality, veiling power, formless state, New York, Joseph Campbell, Barbara Walkers (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The universe is akin to a multi-dimensional cube. Each point in this cube mirrors and reveals itself as every other point. In the language of chaos theory, Nature repeats Herself. It is in capturing this mirroring function of Nature that I wrote "Sophia's Web." As the book will show, when we listen to a favorite myth, the story being told tells us something about ourselves. It mirrors our lives. Furthermore, the book shows that the various religions, in all their wonderful diversities, mirror one another.

This repeating, or mirroring, action of Nature is also evident in our metaphors. For example, it is often common for us to say, "I conceived this idea," or "This idea is my baby," in linking the creative process of mind to the feminine function of giving birth. In other words, the power and beauty of metaphor is to capture the repeating functions of Nature. What happens in the mind happens in our bodies and in our love lives. Nature repeats Herself.

In reading "Sophia's Web," it is hoped the reader will begin to link her, or his, self to the cosmos as a whole. Towards this end, the book is aligned with the verb definition of "religion," "to connect again." In other words, the book is designed to help the reader obtain a sense of his or her wholeness.

From the Author

The universe is akin to a multi-dimensional cube. Each point in this cube mirrors every other point. Enveloped within this mind-set, I wrote my book; Sophia's Web: Understanding the Unity and Diversity of Religion, Science and Ourselves.

This is a book where science, Christianity, Judaism, Atheism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Native Spirituality become various faces of one Divinity. "Sophia (Wisdom) is multi-faced," the Bible's Book of Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) says. There is unity in diversity and diversity in unity.

This "multi-dimensional cube" model of the world reflects more than the unity of all the diverse religions. It encompasses all. This includes us. We are mirrors of the universe. Our sexuality, in turn, mirrors universal processes. Who we are as women and men reflect the female and male powers of the Godhead. For example, when we make a metaphorical statement such as "your words are food for thought," we are saying your words serve a fertilizing function to the Psyche. Words are seminal to the generation of new ideas. What is above mirrors what is below. Our sexuality mirrors our cognition and, in turn, mirrors Nature as a whole.

The beauty of all this is that we are the process. Our individual lives are a facet of the multi-dimensional cube that is a unity. To illustrate this, I will use personal experiences to show how my life fits into ancient spirituality and modern day quantum physics.

In reading my book, I hope you will re-awaken to what you have known all along. You do not live in a cold universe where your human characteristics exit as aliens. As a child looks like his mommy and daddy, you mirror the Godhead.

There is a beautiful Pagan myth where the Goddess sees Herself in a mirror and falls in love with Herself. She then waltzes over to the mirror and kisses Her mirror image. The image then bats Her eyelids, and flutters away from the great Goddess. Eventually the mirror image becomes the created world and forgets Her true Nature. She forgets who She is.

This is not a story about a strange Goddess who falls in love with Herself. This same idea is illustrated by Christian mystic, Meister Eckhart, who once quirked, "God loves creatures not as creatures but as God." This means the mirror image is each one of us.

I sincerely hope that in reading my book, you will re-discover the original kiss given by your Mother. As I will show, it happens always and now. Who else could the mirror image be other than you. This is the message to my book. Read and discover how.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 135 pages
• Publisher: 1st Books Library; illustrated edition edition (November 24, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585003336
• ISBN-13: 978-1585003334
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,012,943 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Have waited a long time for this book, February 12, 2000

By	"angoluv" (USA) - See all my reviews

In my search for my own spiritual philosophy, one that I can live with successfully and comfortably, I have read avidly many different authors over the years.Then there comes a book that leaves you with a very big, "Aha, this is a piece of my puzzle!" That is how this wonderful book effected me.It is a very important piece of that puzzle. I would enthusiastically recommend this book to anyone with an open and inquiring mind.It challenges our belief system in a dramatic way.It will offer any reader with similiar inquiries regarding our world a host of thought provoking and stimulating possibilities, and many questions that will long to be answered.Just as it should.I will anxiously be waiting for another work from this author.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging, informative, challenging, revelatory reading., September 6, 2000

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

In Sophia's Web: Understanding The Unity And Diversity Of Religion, Science And Ourselves, Burl Hall cuts across philosophical, religious, and cultural boundaries to reveal patterns between the various religions of the world and western science. Like the ancient philosophers and mystics, Hall views wisdom as female (known in the cultures of antiquity as Sophia), and shows how contemporary science reinforces the perception of the universe as an integrated whole, with each part affecting and affected by other aspects of the natural world and our essential humanness. Hall persuasively presents evidence drawn from the world's major religious traditions that Sophia (Goddess of Wisdom) guides us and in her persona of Nature, relates to us individual as part of her wholeness. Each chapter is an engaging, informative, challenging, and revelatory essay that will fascinate both the academic community and the non-specialist general reader with an interest in metaphysical studies.