Beauty is a gentle but urgent call to awaken. Bestselling author John O'Donohueopens our eyes, hearts, and minds to the wonder of our own relationshipwith beauty by exposing the infinity and mystery of its breadth. His wordsreturn us to the dignity of silence, profundity of stillness, power of thought andperception, and the eternal grace and generosity of beauty's presence. In this masterfuland revelatory work, O'Donohue encourages our greater intimacy with beauty andcelebrates it for what it really is: a homecoming of the human spirit.As he focuses on the classical, medieval, and Celtic traditions of art, music, literature,nature, and language, O'Donohue reveals how beauty's invisible embraceinvites us toward new heights of passion and creativity even in these uncertain timesof global conflict and crisis.
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Book Description
Beauty does not linger, it only visits.Yet beauty's visitation affects us and invites us into its rhythm,it calls us to feel, think, and act beautifully in the world:to create and live a life that awakens the Beautiful.
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From Publishers Weekly
The author of the bestselling Anam Cara hits a lyrical mark again with this book that boldly takes up an eternal verity and ideal—beauty. O'Donohue's premise is urgent and sweeping: "Politics, religion, and economics and the institutions of family and community all have become abruptly unsure. At first, it sounds completely naive to suggest that now might be the time to awaken and invoke beauty. Yet this is exactly the claim that this book explores." And so the author, who has a background in philosophy and has written about Hegel, seeks "intimations" and manifestations of beauty, finding it in music, color and movement, as well as some less likely locations—imperfection and death. Beauty is sensuous and present, but it is also always pointing to the transcendent. Its trail leads to the recognition of God, with O'Donohue quoting the novelist Dostoyevski—"Perhaps it is beauty that will save us in the end"—as well as medieval Christian mystic Meister Eckhart, whose thought he weaves through the book. O'Donohue writes like the poet he is ("Memory is the place where our vanished days secretly gather"), and he generously quotes from other poets across cultures and times. He also liberally draws into his circle of imagination the great philosophers of beauty, from Plato and Aquinas to contemporary German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer. The resulting book is a lively and informed discussion among great minds—a digest of provocative views on an inexhaustible and compelling topic. This refreshing book falls like rain on the parched plain of contemporary discourse.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
"'A thinker who seamlessly weaves philosophy and theology, O'Donohue stops us in our tracks, reminding us that we might be alive for reasons other than productivity or consumption'" Sunday Times
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
My review of this book can be summed up with a single word: Wow! When I grabbed a copy of /Beauty/, I was expecting a preachy book about some glorified ideal of beauty that us mere mortals cannot attain. I'm happy to report I was proven quite wrong in that expectation.
/Beauty/ is a hard book to classify - it's not a philosophy book, it's not a religion book, it just... is. It's like hopping on a tourist bus and cruising down the road of the beautiful, with John O'Donohue pointing out the sights along the way. "To your left, you will see the beauty of light dancing across the sky at twilight. And to your right, the misty beams of sun's fading glory illuminating every crevice and boulder on the mountainside..." You're not outright told what beauty is, per se. You are simply guided through the process of understanding beauty as not merely a characteristic, but as a force. O'Donohue illuminates what beauty *does* and where you might find it.
This is a magical, wonderful book. It is written in a relaxed and almost lyrical style - as a book on the beautiful should be. True beauty cannot be described by the mere words of men, but John O'Donohue does an admirable job of opening us up to "the eternal grace and generosity of beauty's presence." That, in a nutshell, is what this book is all about.
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I bought this as a gift because I have enjoyed it so much.
The loss of the late John O'Donohue has left a void. He was a very inspirational writing and speaker.
The loss of the late John O'Donohue has left a void. He was a very inspirational writing and speaker.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By ReadingGirl
Format:Hardcover
Once again, O'Donahue delivers a treatise on the beauty of life, the beauty of living fully and the beauty of belief. This book is really a marvelous experience. The author challenges the reader to choose being awake, aware and available. I loved it.
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4.8 out of 5 stars
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Beauty the heart of the soul
John O'Donohue stirs the spirit. I read, digest, reread and feel comforted that there was someone who saw what I see everyday. Read more
Published on Jan 15 2010 by Samtom
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beauty: The Invisible Embrace
The balance of the title "Rediscovering The True Sources of Compassion, Serenity, And Hope" provides a brief and accurate description of the contents of this book. Read more
Published on Sep 23 2009 by J. A. Berry
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