Echo of the Soul: The Sacredness of the Human Body

An enlightening meditation on our physical selves and how they enrich our experience of spirituality.   Throughout the years, many spiritual seekers have considered the human body to be a hindrance to Divine illumination, an enemy to be suppressed. Yet the most ancient texts actually challenge those assumptions about love, beauty, sexuality, creativity, learning, and power. By unifying the wisdom of the Old Testament, Jewish mysticism, and the Celtic spiritual tradition, Echo of the Soul delivers a refreshing reminder: created as we are in God's image, it's okay to be human.   A minister and poet, J. Philip Newell explores how the flesh-and-blood vessel of God can bring us closer to the spiritual by understanding how our heads, our hearts, our limbs, and our sexual organs are all linked to a greater enlightenment. In drawing not only on the Bible and Kabbalistic teachings, but also the insight of such inspirational writers as William Blake, Edwin Muir, and Bernard of Clairvaux, Newell bridges the body/spirit divide for any reader who wants to understand what it means to be human. "As Newell says, 'God has placed a holiness of desire within us,' and his book represents a significant effort toward reuniting us with that desire" (Library Journal).… (more)