How, Then, Shall We Live

""It is not the act but the awareness, the vitality, and the kindness we bring to our work that allows it to become sacred,"" proclaims Muller (Legacy of the Heart, 1992), the therapist who founded Bread for the Journey, a charitable organization in New Mexico. In this gentle work, Muller assures us that pain and sorrow need not leave us broken but, instead, can break us open to a deeply felt life. He asks four basic questions: ""Who am I?""; ""What do I love?""; ""How shall I live, knowing I will die?""; ""What is my gift to the family of the Earth?"" His answers unfold through advice illustrated with numerous stories of people finding joy and peace in simple pleasures and human companionship. One man at the end of a terminal illness stumbles outside to feel the sun on his face; his ecstasy reminds Muller of how ""quickly... beautiful things become commonplace"" if we don't honor both ""our sorrow and our joy,"" as the man apparently did. Someone buys a cookie for a stranger; another cooks a meal for a friend. Gifts need not be ostentatious, Muller shows, to embody a fruitful spirituality. In this wise and comforting book, Muller, by delving beyond jargon and theory, offers a glimpse into the heart of living well. (July)