I think this man's books are among the very best on spirituality.
Addiction and Grace is an excellent treatment of how the destructive power of addiction works in our lives to destroy our deepest, truest desires, and how grace can redeem us from this negative spindown.
Will and Spirit is a great discussion on contemplative psychology, with reference to all the world religions. We used it as a text for the course on spiritual direction I taught in Wichita years ago.
Care of Mind, Care of Spirit is May's examination of the relationship between psychiatry and spiritual direction. As he is proficient in both areas, he shows how they are alike, different, and where they can support each other.
Just a little side note here...lol...I ordered that book, The Awakened Heart. Ahem..my husband prays that you haven't opened another doorway for me to get completely, totally carried through by the author so that I think I simply MUST own each book.
Posts: 609 | Location: Oklahoma | Registered: 27 April 2002
Thanks a lot for introducing Gerald May. I haven't read any of his books, but now that you mention what he writes about, it is going to be difficult to get that name out of my mind. I may not find the time to read his books for some time, so a detailed review of his books would be greatly appreciated. Terri can write up what she reads to save you the trouble.
Thanks a million!
What about Ken Wilber? Isn't he considered the Einstein of psychology? Has anyone read his 'Grit and Grace'? A truly great read!
I agree that Ken Wilber is worth a separate thread. However I have never written a book review before, therefore it is going to take me ages to do it. The day I find the time to dig up my copy of Ken Wilber's book, 'Mut und Gnade', the German translation of 'Grace and Grit' (now packed and put away in a storage along with other books that I don't consider myself as needing to read urgently!) and write a proper review will be the read I can read Gerald May!
OK, maybe that's my cue to mention that a book review need not be a literary treatise, or follow any set guidelines. It can be as simple as two or three sentences on what you like or don't like about a book.
Thanks Phil for setting a realistic goal for me. I will write what I can remember, without having to go through the book.
Okay, the book is a summary of his insights into psychology woven around his personal life. It is a very moving account in which he and his wife talk about their love, her struggles in dealing with breast cancer, his struggles in coping with it, and finally her death. He has decribed his vulnerability as a human being in the same heart-rending honest way that Gandhi has in his autobiography.
Can you imagine that the Einstein of psychology needed therapy to cope with his problems in the relationship?
As far as his spiritual views are concerned, he talks primarily as a Tibetan Buddhist. But there is much any Christian can learn, although as a Christian we may not agree with everything he says.
The Einstein of psychology seemed to me a bit naive sometimes. What I remember particulary was his mention of a gift they gave to the director of the Klinik in Germany where his wife went for treatment. It was some small instrument (to check blood glucose I think) that his wife had used. Imagine to give that to a director of a huge Klinik in Germany and imagine that it was a special gift!
The other thing that as a Christian one has problems dealing with (perhaps if I had been a traditional Catholic totally into saint worship, I might have less problems with it) is the worship status that his wife has been given after her death although I can fully understand his personal grief and dedication to the memory of their love.
Now the next step would be for you to copy what you wrote about that book by Wilber (I don't remember the title), then start a new thread on "Books by Ken Wilber" or something like that. Use the New Topic button at the top of this page to do so. If we leave it in this thread on books by Gerald May, it might get lost.
