The Spirituality of Imperfection: Storytelling and the Search for MeaningLearn how to embrace your faults and vulnerabilities to experience true spiritual growth with this hopeful and motivational guide. “Inspiring . . . offering comfort . . . to those who want to stop striving for perfection and start living.”—Publishers Weekly “I am not perfect” is a simple statement of profound truth, the first step toward understanding the human condition—for to deny your essential imperfection is to deny your own humanity. By seeking to understand our limitations and accept the inevitably of failure and pain, we being to ease the hurt and move toward a greater sense of serenity and self-awareness. This illuminating book brings together the wisdom and stories of many traditions and faiths, from Hebrew prophets to Buddhist sages and Christian teachers, and from ancient Greeks to the modern insights of Alcoholics Anonymous. Through thoughtful commentary and more than one hundred vividly told tales, The Spirituality of Imperfection enables us to accept the inevitability of pain and failure so that we can ease the hurt and move toward serenity and wholeness. It speaks to anyone who yearns to find meaning—and even joy—within suffering. |
Contents
THE STORY OF SPIRITUALITY | 1 |
THE ROOTS OF WISDOM | 11 |
THE FRAGRANCE OF A ROSE | 15 |
Copyright | |
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The Spirituality of Imperfection: Storytelling and the Search for Meaning Ernest Kurtz,Katherine Ketcham No preview available - 1992 |
Common terms and phrases
A.A. members Abraham Twerski acceptance addiction Alcoholics Anonymous ancient answer Anthony de Mello asked Baal Shem Tov become begin Bill W Bill Wilson Buber Carl Jung Chapter Christian Codependency Desert Fathers disciple discover discovery drinking earliest members Ernest Kurtz Evagrius experience feeling forgiveness gift gratitude happened healing heart holy honesty human be-ing humility insight involves kind let go listen live look magic Margaret Miles master means meeting members of Alcoholics miracle modern monk one's ourselves Oxford Group Parabola paradox perfect perhaps pilgrimage Poemen prayer Press quotation Rabbi reality release religion religious replied Reprinted by permission Retold saints sense shared sober soul spirituality of imperfection spirituality's story storytelling Sufi suggests T. S. Eliot tell therapy things thought tion told tolerance tradition truth Tugwell Twelve Steps understand vision whole William James wisdom words York