Four Sessions Exploring John O'Donohue's Concept of Beauty,
and the Novel Insights It Offers to Faith Leaders
“Beauty is a free spirit and will not be trapped within the grid of intentionality.”
The experience of Beauty includes and transcends organized religion, serving as portal to the Spirit. In our sessions we will read selected passages from Donahue’s Beauty: The Invisible Embrace, and discuss their meaning for everyday life. The publisher describes the book this way:
In Beauty: The Invisible Embrace, John O’Donohue, turns his attention to the subject of beauty―the divine beauty that calls the imagination and awakens all that is noble in the human heart―focusing on the classical, medieval and Celtic traditions, on art, music, literature, nature and language.
O’Donohue opens our eyes, hearts and minds to the wonder of our own relationship with beauty. Rather than “covering” this theme, he uncovers it, exposing the infinity and mystery of its breadth. His words return us home to the dignity of silence, the profundity of stillness, the power of thought and perception, and the eternal grace and generosity of beauty’s presence. In this masterful and revelatory work, O’Donohue encourages our greater intimacy with beauty, and celebrates it for what it really is: a homecoming of the human spirit.
Click here to purchase the text.
“The human soul is hungry for beauty; we seek it everywhere – in landscape, music, art, clothes, furniture, gardening, companionship, love, religion and in ourselves. No-one would desire not to be beautiful. When we experience the Beautiful, there is a sense of homecoming. Some of our most wonderful memories are of beautiful places where we felt immediately at home. We feel most alive in the presence of the Beautiful for it meets the needs of our soul.”
About the Facilitator
Jay McDaniel is one of the most influential scholars and active promoters of process-relational thought in the world. He is the Willis Holmes Professor of Religious Studies at Hendrix College in Arkansas, and offers daily reflections on a variety of topics on his website Open Horizons. Active in the development of process thought in China, he is a consultant to the China Project of the Center for Process Studies, a member of the advisory board of the Institute for Postmodern Development of China, and a board member of the Cobb Institute.
Co-sponsored by the Cobb Institute, the Center for Process Spirituality, and All Saints Episcopal Church in Russellville, Arkansas