“. . . combines spiritual and philosophical insights with peace and social justice issues. The readings are simple and down-to-earth as well as profound.”
– Louis Richard Batzler, Spiritual Frontier Fellowship
Contains nearly a hundred short meditations, grouped into ten chapters
Contents
1. Dried-Up Human Hearts
2. Falling in Love With the Idea of Love
3. Secret Tragedies
4. Comfort that Money Cannot Buy
5. Restless Hearts
6. Letting Others Love Us
7. Living by Grace
8. Never the Same Again
9. Imaginative Caring
10. Defending the Accused
Excerpts:
"There is a different kind of loneliness for which the usual remedies will not work. This is an aloneness that cannot be overcome simply by being with others or by making friends. It is an ultimate loneliness from which none of can escape, even though all of us try. It is the loneliness of guilt, the loneliness of death, and the loneliness of trying to find meaning for our lives" (49).
"We do not truly know someone until we agonize over their tragedies and cherish their magnificence. One of life's great aims is to feel more keenly both its tragedy and its beauty" (78).
"The extent to which envy pervades our lives is probably a good deal larger than we suspect, and the intensity of our envy is probably sharper than we are aware. We have a strong impulse to be better than others in some way. If we could concede the truth about ourselves, we would have to admit that we want to be the best in the world" (114).
"Faith is both passion and work" (142).
Spiritual Adventure
At times during our lives, we want to go on adventures, do something new and different and get a little excitement. We become tired of doing the same old things and feel the need for some kind of adventure to rejuvenate a tired and worn-out life. To be sure, we need discipline, habit, and regular patterns, but we need freshness as well.
What are some of the features of adventures? Newness is one and so is excitement. Risk is another, for often in an adventure we do not know exactly what we are getting ourselves into, and danger may be present. Creativity is also a characteristic of adventure, for we must create the newness or it will not seem like our adventure.
Adventure brings renewal and invigoration, a sense that everything is new, and a certain brightness to our emotions. Some of our old patterns may be upset, or they may become tolerable again or obtain new meaning.
Why not spiritual adventure as well? Living spiritually does, indeed, involve discipline, habits, and regular patterns, but these may become mechanical, as any habit can, and we may find ourselves in a tired rut, in the "habit of piety," as Graham Greene put it in The Power and the Glory.
Spiritual adventure involves the same features that everyday adventure involves: newness and excitement, risk, creativity, and sometimes danger. The results are the same as well: our spirituality becomes fresh, we acquire a brightness in our faith, and our habits spring from an overflowing spontaneity.
Most of our everyday activities can be turned into adventures: simple love of a friend or love of someone who is ugly or unlovable in some way or who is difficult to get along with. Regarding these as adventures instead of as duties will turn ourselves into something new.
The greatest adventures take place inside us.
From With All that We Have, Why Aren't We Satisfied? (Sorin Books, 2001), pp. 130-131. Copyright 2001 by Clifford Williams. Used with permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.
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© 2008 Clifford Williams
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