Sacred America: The Emerging Spirit of the People - Softcover

Housden, Roger

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1451683693 ISBN 13: 9781451683691

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2011

Synopsis

Sacred America, in lucid and poetic prose, is the story of ordinary people who have dared to follow and trust the voices of their own souls in the midst of everyday life in the United States. It is also the story of another America, one not seen on the nightly news. What Roger Housden finds on his journey across the country suggests to him that, contrary to popular belief, the United States is among the most creative and spiritually vibrant cultures on earth. Sacred America is his proof.

Just as Alexis de Tocqueville set out across our country in search of democracy, so too did Housden, an Englishman, travel throughout the United States in the waning years of the twentieth century in search of this country's heart. He discovered that, despite or perhaps due to the moral turpitude of Wall Street and Capitol Hill, the spirit of the American people is flourishing. Americans are continually redefining what it means to be human, what they want from democracy, and, most important, how a democratic society is an expression of the sacred.

As an outsider, Housden was both surprised and impressed by what he found -- the extent to which the aspirations, genius, actions, wisdom, and compassion of people in all walks of life are woven into the social and cultural fabric of America. For Housden, this presence of Being in the midst of everyday life, rather than in formal places of worship (though he found it there too), is reinventing what a sense of the sacred means for the American individual at the turn of the millennium.

Sacred America acknowledges that a spiritual materialism prospers here to an extent that would stagger any European mind; spiritual techniques and teachings have become major product lines along with everything else. Yet Housden also finds a genuine human spirit flourishing, found in small-town Wyoming, on a bus ride to Manhattan, on a remote Indian reservation, in an artist's cave in New Mexico, in the life of a letter carrier in California, and even in Hollywood. Further, he finds groups of people coming together to share their various faiths in a truly open spirit: at Wellesley College in Massachusetts; among the politicians of Washington, D.C.; at Habitat for Humanity; at a retreat center for ex-cons in North Carolina; as well as in churches, at an Islamic conference, in Buddhist meditation centers, and in the traditional Hispanic faith in northern New Mexico.

What is significant, Housden discovers, is that no one is in charge of this emergence of the human spirit. No one is doing it. This other America -- so different from the image that much of the world holds of this country -- is not a cause that you fight for or a movement orchestrated by any religious or spiritual denomination. It is something at work, Housden suggests, in the collective psyche. It is something we participate in, rather than direct or control. A broader intelligence is at work not as some external force acting on us but from within us as a collective. It is changing the way Americans feel about themselves, restoring a sense of meaning and moral authority to the wellspring of individual conscience -- Housden calls it the intelligence of the knowing heart. Sacred America is emerging, Housden concludes, as that growing community of individuals who are interconnected not by the external dictate of creed or culture but by the prompting of the heart's intelligence.

About this title

About the Author:

Roger Housden is a writer, explorer of sacred traditions, and leader of contemplative journeys in the Sahara, India, and the United States. He gives inspirational talks on the theme of Sacred America and also public recitals of ecstatic poetry from the world's spiritual traditions. Sacred America is his eighth book. For information on his books, journeys, talks, and recitals, visit his Web site at http://www.sacredamerica.com, or e-mail rogerhous@aol.com.

Review:

Wayne Muller author of "Sabbath: Restoring the Sacred Rhythm of Rest" In "Sacred America, " Roger Housden uncovers a groundswell of ordinary seekers who astound, delight, and inspire us with their simple wisdom and everyday faith. In illuminating the seeds of spirituality that are growing throughout the land, Housden gathers us into a deepening, sacred family.

Peter Coyote actor and author of "Sleeping Where I Fall" Roger Housden's wonderful book is the perfect antidote for those falling into depression about the condition of our national spirit. Far from the Beltway and the centers of media, he has found honest, natural spirituality blooming vigorously among the people, despite the toxins of our public life. Turn off your radio and TV, put the paper in the cat box where it belongs, and tune into "Sacred America" for a real spiritual education and a shampoo for your soul.

Jeremiah Abrams author of "The Shadow in America Sacred America" is one of the finest books I have read in years. Roger Housden, an Englishman, uncovers the inner lives of ordinary Americans who inspire us not only to follow the call of our own deepest loves and longings but to have faith in our common future. This is storytelling of the very best kind.

Larry Dossey author of "Prayer Is Good Medicine" Amid the chaos and materialism of contemporary culture, a spiritual renaissance is emerging. Roger Housden, like de Tocqueville in the nineteenth century, chronicles how these changes can be found in every niche of our society. This book is good medicine -- a powerful antidote to the doom-and-gloom scenarios that abound at the turn of the millennium.

Coleman Barks author of "The Essential Rumi" Roger Housden wanders far and listens deeply to sound the spiritual depths of our culture. Beautifully written, with a keen European sensibility, this important book honors the uniqueness of the American spirit in a way that perhaps only an outsider could do. There are stories here to read over and over.

Marianne Williamson author of "Healing the Soul of America Sacred America" is an inspiration from start to finish. In stunning, visual prose, with the lives of ordinary individuals and communities as his material, Housden brings to light the intelligence of the heart that lives in us all. This is authentic, democratic spirituality for the twenty-first century.

Jean Houston author of "The Passion of the Possible" Roger Housden's exhilarating journey deep into the heart of the new America of Spirit demonstrates an extraordinary fact: The spiritual center of the world is now in the collective soul of America. Housden is a prophet of what will become, in the next ten years, so huge a growth in spiritual awareness as to precipitate an ontological shift in human consciousness. "Sacred America" is a truly splendid achievement.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1451683693
• ISBN 13: 9781451683691
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272