Sparks of the Divine: Finding Inspiration in Our Everyday World

By Drew Leder

Book Overview

The notion that the world is filled with holy sparks is shared by religious traditions around the world. Learn to uncover this sacred dimension and you will begin to both hallow the world and be... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1893732819
• ISBN13: 9781893732810
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Sorin Books
• Length: 253 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 0.8" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

GREAT for reading when you need a pick-me-up!

The author does an outstanding job of taking everyday things we find around us and placing them in a spiritual perspective. This book, while not meant to read cover to cover in that order, is wonderful to have around when needing a bit of inspiration. Be sure to read the "how to use this book" so you will understand how the table of contents will lead you to what you should read for what you are feeling. It is also a GREAT book for those who do public speaking and need a little "spark" to make your story stand out. GREAT BOOK!!!

Excellent Service!

The book was everything that I hoped for and it was even shrink wrapped!

Excellent daily inspirations from everyday life

SPARKS OF THE DIVINE BY DREW LEDER , FINDING INSPIRATION IN OUR EVERYDAY WORLD is a different kind of daily read and a wonderful way to start your day fully inspired to be all you can be and enjoy your everyday events and encounters as inspirations. Leder takes his inspirations from nature, as do many mystics, but he also finds just as deep inspirations from daily chores or mechanical objects within his environment. Although a flower, rain, or a beautiful sunset are deep and meaningful experiences that place us in a state of wonder, most of us are so accustomed to seeing these daily gifts as commonplace events, and we don't notice them any more. Leder teaches us to open to every experience and every sight as if we are babies, or an alien from another planet seeing these things or events for the very first time. To practice this is something familiar to Zen Buddhists but not so easy for the average person in a busy work-a-day world. However, no one could be busier than the author, who is a full professor of Western and Eastern Philosophy at Loyola University and also has an M.D. from Yale University School of Medicine. He leads workshops, works extensively with prisoners, and has authored many books, and is in demand as a public speaker and for think-tanks. In this wonderful book he'll teach you how to turn dish-washing, football, pens and pencils, merry-go-rounds, smells, whispers, and sex into mystical whisperings of your soul to which you'll learn to pay attention and be present, enhancing all of your daily routines and finding peace and joy throughout your life. An EXCELLENT book! Other reviews are on http://www.realtraveladventures.com/booksandaudio

...breath of fresh air

"Sparks of the Divine: Finding Inspiration in Our Everyday World" is a breathe of fresh air. In my role as pastoral associate, I often find myself in conversation with those who are seeking to deepen their relationship with God and asking for ways to establish a deeper prayer life. I readily recommended this book to a friend who claimed to be having difficulty finding God in the everydayness of his workaday world. Leder's very welcome volume points students of prayer of all ages toward finding God in the seemingly insignificant of things, events, places, and situations of life. It is said that St. Francis "became prayer" because his profound relationship with God caused him to see God in all peoples, events, and things. Francis would have loved this book of reflections. Who, for example, would have considered ducks, frogs, windshield wipers, pajamas, throwing things away and speed bumps to be a source for mediation and reflection? Drew Leder has done this in a most appealing and attractive way, leaving the reader asking "Why didn't I see God goodness and presence there before?" In a world where over stimulation of our senses often times leaves us deaf, dumb, and blind to the signs of God's presence around us, this well written series of reflections makes us pause to reconnect with the traces of God's goodness and presence all around us. In this regard, Leder quotes Paul Tournier in The Adventure of Living: "In the biblical perspective there are not two distinct worlds, the profane and sacred. Everything is sacred." Each of the one hundred reflections is followed by a series of questions which make it easy for the reader to enter even more deeply into the art of "seeing" God in all that is Each of these meditations help the reader personalize the meditation. As Leder says: "We don't need to go to Tibet to find a sacred space and saintly guru. The teachings we need are right here and now if we but know how to see." The reflection are also punctuated by fifteen "shape shifts", guided meditations, which assist the reader to enter into the heart of another being by calling us to movement or a different reflective position. Each is designed to help us to enter more deeply into a oneness with our environment and what it tells us about God by involvement of more than one of the senses. I am finding that learning how to remove the "mind-rain" that impedes our life journey with my "spiritual windshield wipers" is a wonderful exercise to remove the feelings, sensations and things that life rains on us. What a creative insight! Also helpful are the wonderful quotations from various faith traditions which offer valuable insights into the God-directed life. They punctuate the format of the book and are little fountains of spiritual insight from Islamic, Jewish, and Christian authors of all ages. This book is a gem! Pastoral Associate, St. Matthew Cathedral