| 1. Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place by Terry Tempest Williams This book is a classic of its type. Williams combines a naturalist’s view of the story of the changing water levels in the Great Salt Lake with a feminist treatment of Mormon spirituality and with the personal story of her own grieving for her mother, who was dying of breast cancer at the time. The book has an unusual structure, moving back and forth between basic information about environmental issues and more lyrical passages about Williams’ experience with her mother. I use it a lot when I teach. | |
| 2. Keeping Faith: A Skeptic’s Journey by Fenton Johnson Fenton Johnson grew up in New Haven, Kentucky and is a professor in the creative writing program at the University of Arizona. He has written a couple of novels and two memoirs. The memoir that is more overtly about spirituality is Keeping Faith. Johnson was raised Catholic in a town a few miles from the Abbey of Gethsemani, but couldn’t accept many of the tenets of Catholicism. Johnson spent time in various Catholic and Buddhist monasteries on both east and west coasts of the U.S., and in this book, he compares the two monastic ways of life. In addition, Johnson is very honest and authentic about his spiritual search. It’s a really well written account. | |
| 3. The Journals of Thomas Merton (7 volumes) by Thomas Merton These journals begin with Merton’s life as a worldly young man. Born in France in 1915, raised in England, schooled there and at Columbia University, Merton left his life of youthful indulgence in New York in 1941 to enter the Abbey of Gethsemani in central Kentucky, wehre he lived until his death in 1968. Seven volumes of his journals have been published, as well as one “best of” volume that distills his life in selected journal passages. His writing is at once lyrical and analytical. Reading the journals gives you a good view of the cultural history of that period (Merton was deeply interested in human rights issues and literature), but the real heart of the journals is his spirituality, which you can watch develop as he writes. Merton has been a spiritual guide to me and to so many others because most people can identify with his themes. Merton was concerned with achieving balance — for example, between the desire to be in the world and among people, and the monastic calling to contemplate and reflect in isolation. His journals are a great entree to thinking about these things in our own lives. | |
| 4. The Seven Mountains of Thomas Merton by Michael Mott I grew up Catholic and attended Catholic schools, but somehow never learned about Thomas Merton until I was an adult. When I finally read his journals, I immediately wanted to know more. I was a journalist at the time, so I offered to do a story on the Abbey of Gethsemani’s retreat house. I stayed there overnight, and it’s hard to explain, but something happened that made me feel there was more there that I needed to learn about. I began to read about the mystical tradition of Catholicism. It became almost an obsession, which resulted in me researching and writing an updated history of Gethsemani. My favorite biography of Merton is The Seven Mountains of Thomas Merton by Michael Mott. One thing that makes it an interesting read is that you read about all the people Merton interacted with, his connections with so many writers and artists. It’s a very thorough book. I strongly recommend it if you’re interested in spirituality and also into biographies. | |
| 5. The Long Loneliness by Dorothy Day This book has been really important to me. Dorothy Day, the author, was the founder of the Catholic Worker movement, and this is her memoir, a classic spiritual biography. The memoir covers Dorothy’s own conversion to Catholicism as well as her lifelong commitment to human rights reforms. | |
| 6. The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama by Pico Iyer The Open Road deals with the spirituality of Buddhism in a very thorough way, but it is also the most complete portrait of the man, the Dalai Lama, that I’ve ever read. Iyer has known the Dalai Lama since he was a little boy. You can tell as you read the book that Iyer respects and admires the Dalai Lama, but also sees the contradictions in the life he leads — that of an exiled Buddhist monk, a solitary, who by necessity spends much of his time meeting with celebrities and world leaders around the globe. This book is a very balanced portrait of a key figure in today’s world. | |
| 7. Sun After Dark by Pico Iyer There’s something very spiritual about the places Pico Iyer chooses to explore as well as the way he writes about them. They tend to be marginal places, countries that are poor in terms of material wealth but rich in culture and lore. Iyer started writing this collection of essays right after 9/11, which may be why he writes about traveling as an often risky process that can have profound effects on both the traveler and those he meets along the way. Iyer always finds the essence of a place in spots where other people wouldn’t think to look. To me, that’s what spirituality is all about: finding the hidden truth. I’m also very interested in silence, which Iyer writes about beautifully; he’s very good at uncovering the peaceful heart of a place that might otherwise seem boisterous and active. | |
| 8. Solitude: A Return to the Self by Anthony Storr Storr is a Jungian psychologist and this book is a seminal work on the subject of solitude and its necessity for creativity. I read it just about the time I first encountered the work of Thomas Merton, and I am sure it helped to lead me to him. |
| Find Dianne Aprile’s book at Amazon.com: |
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I love anything and everything related to food (growing food, eating food, learning about food)....I think you would LOVE my sister's book (1st place winner of 2012 Gourmand Magazine award in the Fund Raising, Charity and Community division for a USA
If you keep rereading the last chapter, you will never get to the next one..get on with your life.
Do not hide your light so that others won't feel insecure around you. And as you let your light shine, you unconsciously give others the right to do the same.
Organic coconut oil. I was introduced to it by a VN sister a while back. It makes my skin SO smooth and it is great for my thick, curly hair! It has a hundred uses (just look it up online) and it costs so little.
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