From the author of The Jew in the Lotus comes a new book, Seeing into the Life of Things: Imagination and the Sacred Encounter.
During the historic dialogue between rabbis and the Dalai Lama, as told in his international bestseller The Jew in the Lotus, Rodger Kamenetz heard a penetrating question from His Holiness to the rabbis, “How does your spiritual practice purify afflictive emotions?”
To Kamenetz this seemed the most fundamental question to ask of any religion or philosophy of life. How do your practices help you with negative emotions like anxiety, envy, resentment and shame?
Taking the reader with him on an exhilarating intellectual and emotional journey, he finds a natural spiritual path in the imagination.
Kamenetz connects daily life to spiritual longing, from the musical rhythms of his beloved New Orleans to his tender bond with Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, visionary founder of Jewish Renewal and a central figure in the Dharamsala dialogue.
Embedded in a rich poetic narrative. Seeing into the Life of Things offers down-to-earth practices from “count your blessings,” to savoring perception, from dwelling on powerful memories, to the sacred encounters in dreams. Kamenetz shows how giving birth to our images restores us to an imagination of the sacred.
“To counter the effects of contemporary society’s breakneck pace, constant distractions, and loss of engagement with the natural world, the book urges slowing down, savoring the beauty of nature, and awakening to what it means to be fully alive. In support of its arguments, it turns to Tibetan Buddhist practices and the teachings of Hasidic Judaism, poetry, and dreamwork. The result is an immersive examination of the potential of the human mind, heart, and spirit.” —Foreword Reviews
“This book is a harvest of living wisdom, a ripening of the garden Rodger Kamenetz has been cultivating for decades.” —Mirabai Starr, author of God of Love and Ordinary Mysticism
“Amid the flood of works on spirituality and self-help, this new book from the unique and exceptional hand of Rodger Kamenetz really stands apart. It takes on a vital but often overlooked subject—the role of the imagination in our healing and opening to a deeper life. With his profound knowledge of poetry, and decades of experience in dreamwork, as well as Hasidic studies, Kamenetz offers not just a deep investigation of the power of images to open up a more connected and engaged life, but a path of practice to help reconnect us with our authentic self and the vivid life of the soul. I don’t know of a book that so richly brings together poetry, dreams, imagination and the spiritual life. It needed to be written, and needs to be read, now more than ever. A real gem.” —Henry Shukman, author of One Blade of Grass and Original Love
““With grace and poetic clarity, Rodger Kamenetz inspires us in Seeing into the Life of Things to use our imagination and our dreams—the great factory of personal imagery—to inhabit our world more fully and joyfully and gain access to other worlds that mystics, shamans, and creators have always wanted to visit.” —Robert Moss, bestselling author of Conscious Dreaming and Dreaming the Soul Back Home
Seeing into the Life of Things: Imagination and the Sacred Encounter
by Rodger Kamenetz
(Softcover, 9781958972915, US $24.99)
Out now! Click cover below to order.
