Spirituality: The Power of Now

Spirituality is about our deep longing and searching for meaning, for peace, and for a sense of our personal call in life. It is also about the various moral, political, or religious activities through which we endeavour to answer our call and to live out our commitments from day to day. For some people the word ‘spirituality’ suggests activities that are very inward-looking. Their deepest heart’s desire is to achieve personal mindfulness and serenity. Others tend more to look outward. Their spirituality and their deepest heart’s desire is about ensuring that the human rights of people all over the world are respected, and that social justice and care for the environment take a central place in the way our world is organised. In this book Donal Dorr brings together these different aspects of spirituality. Starting from a survey of a variety of everyday spiritual experiences, he moves on to offer a Christian interpretation of the mystery of life and of the personal call of each individual. In the second half of the book he links these personal spiritual experiences with the major moral issues of ecology, justice and globalisation. The result is a synthesis which he hopes will find an echo in the reader’s heart. Table of Contents

Introduction 7

PART I: SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES AND MORAL VALUES

1: Interpersonal Spiritual Experiences 16

2: Personal Spiritual Experiences 25

3: Experience Of Mystery 31

4: A Christian Approach to the Mystery 35

5: Gods’ Spirit and God’s Word 44

6: Reading the Signs of the Times 50

PART II: PERSONAL CALL: IN THE BIBLE AND IN OUR OWN LIVES

7: The Call of Abraham and Our Call 58

8: The Calls of Moses, Esther, and Judith 67

9: The Call of Jesus 74

10: The Call of Mary 82

PART III: SPIRITUALITY AND MORALITY

11: A Spirituality of Intimacy 90

12: Ecological Spirituality: Contemplative Aspect 98

13: Ecological Spirituality: Active Aspect 104

14: A Spirituality of Human Rights 116

15: A Sprituality of Social Justice 129

16: A Challenging Spirituality 136

17: A Spirituality of Liberation and Reconciliation 146

18: A Spirituality for Sellers and Buyers 152