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Light In The Wilderness: Explorations In The Spiritual Life (2003)

by M. Catherine Thomas(Favorite Author)

4.59 of 5 Votes: 2

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Amalphi Publishing

review 1: A gift from a friend, this book sat on the shelf for far too long before I picked it up. Once I started reading, I regretted having waited so long. It's rare for me to read so slowly a book that I'm enjoying, but this is definitely a book to savor and contemplate. I underlined passages throughout the book that I look forward to reviewing. The text is an incredibly interesting amalgamation of quotes from the likes of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Deepak Chopra, Kierkegaard, Joseph Campbell, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and William Blake, peppered among Thomas' own insights. I'll include here a few of the many quotes that I enjoyed:"Language is two edged--it reveals and conceals. For all its usefulness in putting thought into communicable form, we have experienced that gospel... more language can with much use and reuse tend toward thinness. Even at best it can never fully express a concept, especially one that originates in Unseen realms. Words are pointers only, always shadows only, of the thing they represent. They can through familiarity actually reduce our awareness of that which lies beyond our senses."Quoting Jacques Lusseyran, a Frenchman blinded at the age of 7 and later imprisoned in a Nazi prison camp: "One should not try to console either those who lost their eyes, or those who have suffered other losses--of money, health, or a loved one. It is necessary instead to show them what their loss brings them, to show them the gifts they receive in place of what they have lost. Because there are always gifts. God wills it so. Order is restored; nothing ever disappears completely.""Dark and Light, Dark and Light in this world of high impact tutorials--but He's always there. He's always doing something with us, and He always knows what He is doing.""We may realize after awhile that we've had it backwards if we look to another person to see if he provokes love in us. Waiting to be provoked into love, or its opposite, is not the way of the Spiritual Mind. No, we must first choose a way of being that affects our behavior to all, allowing each person to be as he or she is, since we find we have no power or authority to change another.""To the Natural Mind this relationship of the complete subordination of one being's will to another is incomprehensible and smacks of authoritarianism and disempowerment. The Natural Man cannot comprehend a thoroughly benevolent and empowering Theocracy. He thinks he finds security in his individual identity and in his own will, even though he is often swayed by the opinions and fashions of others and has less freedom than he imagines."
review 2: Catherine Thomas narrates Latter-Day Saint doctrines with personal experiences, scripture and quotes from prophets, authors and poets. It's not a "light read." In each chapter there is bound to be some phrase or expression that stays with the reader; helping to personalize each one's relationship with the Lord.One of my favorites is in Chapter 6 where the author talks about the divine role of nature. "Nature's role is to arrest Man's attention so he can hear that Voice from Heaven...Attention to Nature's message then can open the Spiritual Mind, where not only the truth about Nature is revealed, but also our own true nature is stirred into wakening...The inarticulate but vivid impressions lead us to peace and awareness of an attentive Creator and to a desire to love all creations, including Man. But we find that if we live too superficially, too speedily, and too negatively we will not uncover the treasures. All things testify of Him, but we must become aware." (p. 119)Instinctively, I believe, every man feels the divine in nature but can't always articulate it as Ms. Thomas does. less

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