Monday, September 17, 2007

Beautiful Soul Friend

Beauty does not linger, it only visits.




Yet beauty's visitation affects us and invites us into its rhythm,




it calls us to feel, think, and act beautifully in the world:




to create and live a life that awakens the Beautiful.


Because of Simple Abundance, I met Anam Cara. John O'Donahue is someone with such depth and integrity of language, I reserve him for special times. My first encounter with this deeply spiritual author was his masterpiece, Anam Cara. Last year I did a self-assigned class through the first chapters of this book. And now, this morning, I discover a new book on a theme I've decided to adopt: beautiful. Not the superficial beauty, per se, although it is definitely something to strive to achieve as I putter and eliminate and arrange things in my surroundings to achieve a beauty for the eye... but a beautiful spirit and soul. Yep. It's in there. I think we all have that beauty of soul, but at times (like yesterday as I barged through the day in a blustery pity party of sorts, fighting with my son and gritting my teeth at my mom) we aren't close to it. Payday is Thursday (praises be!) and I am ordering this book. Have a beautiful Monday.

The description says this: "Beauty is a gentle but urgent call to awaken. Bestselling author John O'Donohue opens our eyes, hearts, and minds to the wonder of our own relationship with beauty by exposing the infinity and mystery of its breadth. His words return us to the dignity of silence, profundity of stillness, power of thought and perception, and the eternal grace and generosity of beauty's presence. In this masterful and revelatory work, O'Donohue encourages our greater intimacy with beauty and celebrates it for what it really is: a homecoming of the human spirit. As he focuses on the classical, medieval, and Celtic traditions of art, music, literature, nature, and language, O'Donohue reveals how beauty's invisible embrace invites us toward new heights of passion and creativity even in these uncertain times of global conflict and crisis." ------ how could that be anything but healing?

5 comments:

Terri Steffes said...

Wow, that is some deep reading! I hope you will share what you learn through the book.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the book recommendation - it looks interesting. I'll check it out on Amazon when I have a moment.

Manuela

Sweet Cottage Dreams said...

Books like these are food for the soul. Thank you for the insight.
Becky

Sweet Cottage Dreams said...

PS: Love Enya, too!

Patsy said...

John O'Donohue is an amazing writer. Dare I say Anan Cara is my favorite book. I read it over and over. If you haven't read any John O'Donohue books, this is the place to start. Your soul will be fed the finest!