The Thorn and the Rose: A Journey from Suffering to Love - Hardcover

Williams, Anthony

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0967771803 ISBN 13: 9780967771809

Publisher: Archive Pubns, 2000

Synopsis

This well researched book will help you face and overcome life’s pains and tragedies. Drawn from prominent authors from the cultural heritage of both East and West, and arranged as a progressive journey, it contains profound and practical advice on all aspects of suffering from physical pain to spiritual anguish, and shows how you can take your unavoidable sufferings and transform them into understanding and positive emotion.

About this title

From the Publisher:

All of us at one time or another come face to face with pain and unavoidable sufferings, either in the body or in our emotions and relationships. The natural tendency is always to run away and "put our heads in the sand" - pretend somehow that either it is not really happening, or that it is temporary and will soon go away. Our firm belief is that pain, illness, in fact most things that interfere with our aims are somehow abnormal and against the mainstream of life. Perhaps we think that nature is somehow well meaning and "on our side," even though we know that relentless death is every creature's end; and we take even more trouble to avoid thinking about that.

But when pain comes to stay, as in disability or terminal illness, we are forced to confront it directly and look deeper inside it. Why is life like this? Why is this happening to me? And, if one is the follower of a religion, how can God allow this?

It is this situation which our author addresses. And he lays out, in a steady progression of carefully chosen quotations both short and long, the journey that one might take in coming to grips with this aspect of life. And it is a journey with manageable steps, addressing the "why" by educating our understanding, moving to the "how" by describing practical methods, and then even further into the depths of the spirit that we do not usually associate with suffering and afflictions. And this is rounded out by some very thorough sections containing Notes, a Bibliography and an Index.

There are many books on suffering and how to overcome it. Many offer no real practical solutions but wrap themselves in theological or historical arguments that never address "my pain now." Others have practical but limited advice, from only a single viewpoint that may not be helpful to others with different life experiences and situations. But here, in one volume, we have the experience of people from all times, social levels and religions, gathered together and arranged in a helpful sequence.

As a publisher, having seen many books on this topic, I have to say that this is the one for the person who is serious about understanding his life and the role that suffering plays in it. Suffering does have a purpose, but that purpose includes our own experience of it and our strivings to understand its depths. And there is a way through it. And one is not alone.

From the Author:

Like many people, I too was overwhelmed when forced to confront the reality of unavoidable suffering, and experienced the desperation and panic that confronts one when there seems to be no way out. Luckily, and with help, I was able to turn this into a search for what other people had found on this subject, and the results of this are contained in this book.

These quotations come from people of all walks of life, and, surprisingly, they come to very similar conclusions. Their answers are both profound and practical. They tell us that traveling this road with one's eyes open can lead to a deeper understanding of life and an expanded feeling of kinship with our fellow humans. And even more is possible in the realm of love and the development of the human spirit. And this is not just for the saints and the virtuous, but for anyone who is willing to take that first step and turn around and face himself.

Even if your life is going along smoothly, I would recommend that you read this book or at least give the subject some thought. Life can quickly take unexpected turns, and then, suddenly, there one is looking at Nature's other side.

I hope that this little collection will be of help when this inevitably happens.

About this edition

• Publisher: Archive Pubns
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0967771803
• ISBN 13: 9780967771809
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 254