Synopses & Reviews
The twelve virtues have been part of Western spirituality for centuries. We develop these inner gifts to create truer ways of relating to people and the world. They keep us in touch with the world and the spiritual needs of others. We today are in dire need of them.
Robert Sardello is a major figure in America's rediscovery of soul, reacquainting thousands with its importance and vitality. Thomas Moore hails him as one of our most creative and original thinkers, while James Hillman praises him for breaking open startling new realms of meaning. Sardello's probing, provocative books and his seminars and "soul retreats" through his School of Spiritual Psychology, have earned him widespread respect and attention.
In The Power of Soul, he shows us how to educate the emotions, refine the soul, and develop inner character. He explains how to locate the soul and gain a sense of how our soul wants to act in the world. In warm, thoughtful prose, Sardello gives us a new, Western way to lead an authentic spiritual life and gain an inner feeling for each virtue.
He says, "Once we enter into the task of developing virtue, we enter into an alchemical process of transforming our soul life into capacities for helping others gracefully, and with subtlety and nuance."
Synopsis
Robert Sardello begins The Power of Soul with a gentle but firm reminder: the true purpose of spiritual practice is not to develop psychic toys; the point is to develop our virtue, and turn that virtue into good works for the development of the world and community around us.
Sardello follows this reminder with a work of remarkable awareness and practical mysticism. The Power of Soul is a spiritual framework for understanding both the light (the virtues) and dark (their shadows) sides of human nature and seeking to reorient our egos to the center, between the dark and light. While it is loaded with suitable encouragement and advice for practitioners of any spiritual discipline, The Power of Soul is ideal for beginners as a map for educating and empowering the emotional life of the soul.
In devoting a full chapter to the development of each virtue -- as well as the effect each virtue will have in the world as we begin to exercise it -- Sardello weaves examples from his own practice as a psychotherapist with myth, alchemy, astrology, and the findings of Rudolph Steiner, Carl Jung, H. P. Blavatsky, and others.
-- A complete framework for understanding and practicing the twelve spiritual virtues:
-Devotion
-Compassion
-Truth
-Balance
-Courtesy
-Courage
-Faithfulness
-Equanimity
-Discernment
-Selflessness
-Patience
-Love
-- Suggests numerous practical exercises and meditations to help us work with the virtues in our lives