Dancing Naked Under the Moon Uncovering the Wisdom Within

By Mary Bea Sullivan

Book Overview

A sacred, sassy quest for the Divine... Mary Sullivan was a typical suburban housewife until the death of her best friend led her to question her religious roots, marriage, and values. This compelling... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0981546072
• ISBN13: 9780981546070
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: Sophia House Press
• Length: 188 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Sister in Spirit

What a fantastic book..I have read it twice...I had the opportunity to meet Mary Bea..she is as honest and open in person as in her book..I connected with her as a "sister in spirit" while reading..I laughted and cried and thought she is on the same journey as I only different roads..I hope Mary Bea writes more as she has been blessed to help others through her talent of writing...

My Kind of Woman

Having practiced tonglen for ten years as well as having tired of conventional Christianity, I connected quickly with Mary Bea Sullivan and her new book, Dancing Naked Under the Moon, Uncovering the Wisdom Within. Mary's real middle name must be "Perseverance" - she works diligently on her issues, especially with forgiveness, and she is Pema Chodron-like in her willingness to face and embrace emotional pain. Mary's words echo in me, "It's about slowing down so my soul can catch up with itself." "It's not what we do that matters but how we do what we do." If your path is also dissolving barriers by opening your heart, you may also appreciate Mary Sullivan's life and memoir.

Wisdom we can all use

This book changed the way I look at interpersonal relationships; particularly those that whose problems tend to repeat themselves again and again. Mary Bea Sullivan's suggestion to look at an old problem with the perspective of compassion one would have upon meeting a stranger and hearing their story was truly life-changing for me. It allowed me to step away from age-old relationship issues and view them with compassion and interest, lighting a new path I'd been unable to notice from my previously dark approach. It is these simple, yet profound glimpses of wisom that she has gained through some of the toughest experiences that propelled me through this book. In her deep yet digestable wisdom, Sullivan offers hope and insight through coommon human experiences. I bought copies for my friends and family-- her story is laden with wisdom we can all use.

Courage: 1 Suffering: less than 1

It is very difficult to transcend and universalize one's personal grief, but that is what Mary Bea Sullivan has done in her beautiful book, Dancing Naked Under the Moon. She has looked personal tragedy in the eye without blinking and from that rare and courageous stance, learned that wisdom can come from suffering. Neither Mary Bea nor this reviewer would suggest that tragedy is "good" or noble, but Ms. Sullivan's book does inspire us to seek the courage with which to accept sorrow, recognize it as an unavoidable part of the human condition, and use that sorrow to find both compassion for all beings who suffer and a strength with which to continue one's journey through this universe, using a broken heart as a gateway to growth and love, rather than an excuse to recoil from heartbreak, surround oneself with emotional armor, and refuse to engage in relationship, that from which all spiritual growth is fostered. Mary lost her closest friend to cancer and her marriage to the ways of the world, but in this poignant and remarkably candid book tells us how she found the strength (through her ever-evolving, but by no means simple faith) to go on, to grow an even more honest life, somehow intuiting the gist of Goethe's meaning when he wrote (to paraphrase him) that "in boldness there is genius and magic, we need only to begin." For those (like me) who dread trite tales of fundamentalist come-to-Jesus salvation, rest assured that Mary Bea's Jesus is neither a wimp nor the stiff nonsense of doctrinal fundamentalism. Her thoughts on Christ bring to mind C.S. Lewis's line about Aslan being a good, but not tame lion. Nor is her spiritual journey categorical, but quite ecumenical, as you will find in this book the wisdom of not only learned and evolved Christians, but the insights of many enlightened beings, including Buddhist monks. In the spirit of full disclosure, I "found" this book when I walked into a store and almost ran into Mary Bea, who quickly struck up a conversation in her inimitably gracious style. I knew instantly that I must read a book written by so open and warm a person and was richly rewarded. Dancing Naked Under the Moon is a smoothly written and inviting memoir about one woman's journey, or should I say pilgrimage, from devastation to hope. If you seek solace, encouragement, insight, humor and a downright good read, this book will not disappoint.

A moving story of a search for personal faith

I have never read a story of personal search for faith that I felt was more open and more honest than Mary Bea Sullivan's "Dancing Naked Under the Moon." Through strong, clear writing, she takes you through her compelling journey of self discovery. As I entered into Mary's story, I found myself re-visiting my own faith experiences. In sharing her life so thoroughly, Mary has joined hands with that countless number of individuals who discover that the religion of their childhood does not easily transition into an authentic adult faith. This is a book you will want to recommend to friends. Harry Durham