Rami's Preface ix
Aaron's Preface xiii
A Note on Collaboration xvii
A Note on Structure: The Five Worlds and Writing
as a Spiritual Practice xix
Introduction 1
1. Writing to Open the Body 9
Projective Verse 12
Soundings 14
Dinggedicht 17
Haiku 18
Zang Tumb Tuuum 19
Where Are You? 21
Sing the Body Electric 22
Who's Your Deity? 23
Our Stories, Ourselves 26
Sauntering 27
Walking Around a Writer's Block 28
2. Writing to Open the Heart 31
Jekyll and Hyde, or Despicable Me 33
I'm Going to Kill You! 37
Automatic Writing 39
Dining with the Devil 44
Dear Hated One 45
Heart Lines 1 54
Heart Lines 2: Rumi-nations 58
3. Writing to Open the Mind 61
Who's In? Who's Out? 68
The Power of Influence 70
Bye-Bye Bias, Part 1 73
Bye-Bye Bias, Part 2 75
Definitions 78
Writing Against Language: The Vorpal Blade 83
I, Superhero 88
Alter Ego 88
Calling Dr. Freud, Calling Dr. Freud 89
Sticks and Stones 90
Who Am I? 95
My Destiny 97
The Name Game 98
Narrowing the Narrow Mind 101
The Three Garments of Self 103
4. Writing to Open the Soul 105
Lung 107
Amazing Gazing 109
Shoeless Moe, Part 1: Identifying Your Sandals 111
Shoeless Moe, Part 2: Lech Lecha 112
Against the Pathetic Fallacy 114
Blackout Poems 115
The Exquisite Corpse 116
The Giving Tree Revisited 118
Glimpsing the Bush 120
A Day in the Wilderness 121
5. Writing to Open the Spirit 123
Resting in Soul 124
Playing the Paradox, Part 1: Colorless Green Ideas 131
Playing the Paradox, Part 2: Cut-up 134
My Story, My Sage 136
6. Turning the Spiral from Body to Spirit: Returning—by Way of
Conclusion 141
Homophonic "Translation" 143
Turn and Return 145
Acknowledgments 149
Notes 151
Suggestions for Further Reading 153
Rabbi Rami Shapiro a renowned teacher of spirituality across faith traditions and a noted theologian, is a popular speaker on the topics of Judaism, theology and spirituality. He is author of the award-winning The Sacred Art of Lovingkindness, Preparing to Practice, Recovery - The Sacred Art, The Twelve Steps as Spiritual Practice and Hasidic Tales.
"Beautiful…. The perfect combination of timeless wisdom,
beautifully crafted language and practical, grounded exercises. A
must-read for writers, spiritual seekers ... and all breathing
human beings."
—Rev. Susan Sparks, author, Laugh Your Way to Grace:
Reclaiming the Spiritual Power of Humor; senior pastor, Madison
Avenue Baptist Church
“There is much more in this book than directives about writing.
There's a spirituality, philosophy, psychology, cosmology and an
amazingly creative array of writing prompts both playful and
profound. Remarkable.”
—Thomas Ryan, CSP, author, Soul Fire: Accessing Your Creativity
and The Sacred Art of Fasting: Preparing to Practice
“Invites you to plunge deeply into the excesses of life. [It]
seduces you to write into 'the vivid, concrete details’ of the
stuff you experience, to see what Jane Kenyon called ‘the luminous
particular’—until it morphs into sacred art.”
—Kent Ira Groff, retreat leader and founding mentor of Oasis
Ministries; author,
Writing Tides: Finding Grace and Growth through Writing
“Ingenious…. Just when it’s starting to look like writing is going
to be supplanted by tweeting, and the word spiritual is so overused
that it almost has to be spelled with quotation marks, along comes
[this book]. I’m surprised and delighted to say that with [its]
guidance, it truly can be a spiritual practice.”
—D. Genpo Merzel, author, Big Mind, Big Heart: Finding Your Way
“Comfortable with the stories that define your life? Want to stay
that way? Then do not read this book! Prefer to meet up with the
Holy only in the safety of familiar rites? Do not follow these
writing prompts! With the Shapiros as your chaperones, you might
just find yourself in passionate embrace with the wild and
contradictory nature of human existence. This is writing as an act
of liberation from the cages of our own making.”
—Margaret D. McGee, author, Sacred Attention: A Spiritual Practice
for Finding God in the Moment
and Haiku—The Sacred Art: A Spiritual Practice in Three Lines
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