Stories of Men, Meaning, and Prayer: The Reconciliation of Heart and Soul in Modern Manhood - Softcover

Duvall, Jeffrey

9780971142305: Stories of Men, Meaning, and Prayer: The Reconciliation of Heart and Soul in Modern Manhood

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0971142300 ISBN 13: 9780971142305

Publisher: Four Directions PR, 2001

This is a book especially directed to men. It is a book about how a man's life may be enriched by many different soulful activities, as well as by reflecting on the words of diverse men and women. This is also a book proving to be of great interest to women as they journey through life alongside their fathers, brothers, husbands, sons, and friends. It is a book of many different stories and tales, told by men and women as they seek to live lives in touch with their hearts and souls. It is a book in a field sometimes called "men's work" or "men's studies," carrying an endorsement by poet and author Robert Bly, a leader in this area. "Stories of Men, Meaning and Prayer" is an uplifting and inspiring book that encourages a man's development and empowerment as a thinking and feeling human being. It is a thoughtful romp through life topics that can make all the difference in personal happiness, as well as harmony in the family or within communities and nations.

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From the Author:

Seven years ago I began taking notes and collecting provocative poetry and stories of men, their questions, about the purpose and meaning of their lives. After fifteen years of hearing thousands of men's stories a consistent theme emerged: men desire to be soulfully engaged in their lives, to live in passionate spiritual and heartful service to something larger, something that connects them to the essence of human nature.

It became apparent that many of us moderns felt a profound emptiness in our lives that could not be filled by more possessions, but could only be soothed by a certain kind of meaning. So often, under all of the discomfort, the inner and outer voices competing for attention, arose a simple age-old yearning to love and serve the world in some heartful way. This book, more than anything, is an attempt, to show some of the ways ordinary men have looked for and found meaning in their lives.

Writing this book has been a step along my own path to meaning, and has been served by the kindness of my friends and family. Four years ago James Churches came to me at a retreat and said he knew I was working on a book about men, their heart and soul lives. He offered his services to help get the book out into the world, himself being a dedicated writer and editor.

James became the mid-wife that helped this book be born, bringing the loose ends together into a manuscript that blended our styles. His soul life and mine are entwined in these pages, and in the lives of the beautiful men whose stories have been told.

About the Author:

Jeffrey Duvall is co-founder and co-director of The Men's Council Project, which has been offering soul-based men's leadership training for fourteen years. He also guides men's Spirit and Soul gatherings around the country as an inquiry into the blossoming of heart, personal mythology, creative expression and healing. He is on staff at the School of Lost Borders, a wilderness rites-of-passage training organization in eastern California, and works with the Institute for Social and Emotional Learning, which offers youth-acknowledgement programs. He is a wilderness rites-of-passage guide for adults, and assists individuals and groups in creating community rituals and blessing ways. He is a massage therapist, a retired waiter, house painter, gardener, coach and juvenile detention home counselor. Jeffery lives in Eldora, Colorado, with his wife Mary and their son Luke.

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