cover image Searching for Your Soul: Writers of Many Faiths Share Their Personal Stories of Spiritual Discovery

Searching for Your Soul: Writers of Many Faiths Share Their Personal Stories of Spiritual Discovery

. Schocken Books Inc, $15 (512pp) ISBN 978-0-8052-1111-5

In this remarkable collection, Kurs, who teaches religious studies at the New School of Social Research, has gathered a rich variety of autobiographical writings on spiritual matters. Writers both contemporary and historical--ranging from Augustine, Thomas Merton and Mohandas Gandhi to Dan Wakefield, Dennis Covington and Kathleen Norris--reflect upon such questions as: ""Who or what is God, or the holy, for me?""; ""Who are my spiritual ancestors?""; ""When did I begin to lose my sense of connection to the holy and to the world around me and how do I regain it?"" In the section on ""Flesh and Spirit,"" for example, Gandhi recounts how his struggle with lust led to his vow of celibacy, and contemporary poet Kim Barnes (In the Wilderness) recalls the conflict between her desire for holiness and her desire for boys that she felt as an adolescent. In the section on ""Suffering and Mortality,"" San Quentin death-row inmate Jarvis Jay Masters (Finding Freedom: Writings from Death Row) uses Buddhist meditation to contemplate his past life and to enact the Eightfold Path of noble living as he faces the remaining days of his life. Finally, in the section on ""Exploration and Encounter,"" Diana Eck (From Bozeman to Benares) vividly describes how her encounter with Hinduism forced her to more fully examine her own Methodist religious roots. Every piece in Kurs's collection pulsates with life, inspiring readers in their own spiritual paths. (Sept.)