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Toshihiko Izutsu Sufism And Taoism P0 Preface Introduction

Toshihiko Izutsu

Sufism And Taoism
Comparative Study of Key Philosophical Concepts

"Professor Izutsu's work is a pioneering attempt to bring into focus the
shareable philosophical concerns of two seemingly unrelated landmarks
in religious thought. His method is suggestive, interpretation new and
bold, and material used important for further research. His book is
useful to students of comparative religion, philosophy of religion, cul-
tural anthropology, Asian thought and religion, and Islamic and Taoist
studies."

— Tu Wei-ming

"[This book] carries out a comparison in depth between Islamic and
Chinese thought for the first time in modern scholarship. . . .Since this
book appeared it has influenced every work on Ibn Arab! and meta-
physical Sufism . . . [and] any cursory study of Sufism during the last
fifteen years will reveal the extent of Izutsu's influence.
— Seyyed Hossein Nasr

SUFISM AND TAOISM:

A Comparative Study of Key Philosophical Concepts
by Toshihiko Izutsu 1983

First published 1983 by Iwanami Shoten, Publishers, Tokyo
This edition is published by The University of California Press, 1984,
Rev. ed. of: A comparative study of the key philosophical concepts in Sufism and Taoism. 1966-67.

=====

Contents

Preface by T. Izutsu

Introduction

Part I - Ibn 'Arabi

1 Dream and Reality

II The Absolute in its Absoluteness

III The Self-knowledge of Man

IV Metaphysical Unification and Phenomenal Dispersion

V Metaphysical Perplexity

VI The Shadow of the Absolute

VII The Divine Nam es

VIII Allah and the Lord

IX Ontological Mercy

X The Water of Life

XI The Self-manifestation of the Absolute

XII Permanent Archetypes

XIII Creation

XIV Man as Microcosm

XV The Perfect Man as an Individual

XVI Apostle, Prophet, and Saint

XVII The Magical Power of the Perfect Man

Part II - Lao-Tzii & Chuang-Tzu

I Lao-Tzu and Chuang-Tzu

II From Mythopoiesis to Metaphysics

III Dream and Reality

IV Beyond This and That

V The Birth of a New Ego

VI Against Essentialism

VII The Way

VIII The Gateway of Myriad Wonders

IX Determinism and Freedom

X Absolute Reversai of Values

XI The Perfect Man

XII Homo Politicus

Part III - A Comparative Reftection

I Methodological Preliminaries

II The Inner Transformation of Man

III The Multistratified Structure of Reality

IV Essence and Existence

V The Self-evolvement of Existence

===

Preface

This is originally a book which I wrote more than fifteen years ago,

when I was teaching Islamic philosophy at the Institute of Islamic

Studies, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

At that time I was becoming conscious of myself gradually getting

into a new phase of my intellectual life, groping my way towards a

new type of Oriental philosophy based on a series of rigorously

philological, comparative studies of the key terms of various

philosophical traditions in the Near, Middle, and Far East. The

present work was the very first product of my endeavour in this

direction.

The book was subsequently published in Japan in two separate

volumes in 1966-1967, under the title A Comparative Study of Key

Philosophical Concepts in Sufism and Taoism (with the subtitle 'Ibn

'Arabi and Lao-tzu - Chuang-tzu') as a publication of the Institute

of Cultural and Linguistic Studies, Keio University, Tokyo, under

the directorship of the late Professor Nobuhiro Matsumoto.

A growing demand for a new, revised edition made me decide to

republish the book while I was in Iran. Printed in England, it had

been scheduled to come out in Tehran towards the end of the year

1978, when the sudden outbreak of the Khomeini 'revolution'

rendered its publication impossible. Thus it was that, by a strange

working of fate, the book - completely revised, but still in the form

of galley proofs - came back with its author once again to Japan, the

place where it had first seen the light of day.

In the process of revising the book in its entirety, I did my best to

eliminate ail the defects and imperfections that had come to my

notice in the meantime. But, of course, there are natural limits to

such work of correction and amendment.

I only hope that this old book of mine in a new form, despite many

mistakes and shortcomings that must still be there, might at least

make a modest contribution towards the development of 'meta-

historical dialogues' among representatives of the various

philosophical traditions in the East and West, a special kind of

philosophical dialogue of which the world today seems to be in

urgent need.

lt is my pleasant duty to express my deep gratitude to the Iwanami

Shoten, Publishers, for having undertaken the publication of this

book. My thanks go in particular to Mr Atsushi Aiba (of the same

publishing bouse) who has spared no effort in smoothing the way for

the realization of this project. 1 take this occasion to thank also the

authorities of my alma mater, Keio University, from whom, as 1

recall now, 1 derived inestimable encouragement while 1 was

engaged in writing this book in its original form.

T.Izutsu

October 4, 1981

Kamakura, Japan

===

Introduction

As indicated by the title and the subtitle, the main purpose of the

present work in its entirety is to attempt

a structural comparison between the world-view of Sufism as represented by Ibn' Arabi and
the world-view of Taoism as represented by Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu.

I am aware of the fact that this kind of study has a number of

pitfalls. A comparison made in a casual way between two thought-

systems which have no historical connection may become superfi-

cial observations of resemblances and differences lacking in

scientific rigor. In order to avoid falling into this error, an effort will

· be made to lay bare the fundamental structure of each of the two

world-views independently and as rigorously as possible before

proceeding to any comparative considerations.

With this in view, the First Part will be entirely devoted to an

attempt at isolating and analyzing the major ontological concepts

which underlie the philosophical world-view of Ibn 'Arabi, while in

the second part exactly the same kind of analytic study will be made

concerning the world-view of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, in such a way

that both parts may constitute two entirely independent studies, one

of Ibn' Arabi and the other of ancient Taoism.

Only in the third part

will an attempt be made to compare, and co-ordinate, the key-

concepts of these two world-views which have been previously

analyzed without any regard to similarities and differences between

them.

However this may be, the dominant motive running through the

entire work is the desire to open a new vista in the domain of

comparative philosophy and mysticism. A good starting point for

such a comparison is provided by the fact that both world-views are

based on two pivots, the Absolute and the Perfect Man, 1 a whole

system of ontological thought being developed in each case between

these two poles.

It is to be noted that as an ontological structure this is nothing

peculiar to Sufism and Taoism. The opposition of the Absolute and

the Perfect Man in various forms as the two pivots of a world-view is

a basic pattern common to many types of mysticism that have

developed in the world in widely different places and ages. And a

comparative consideration of a number of systems sharing the same

broad pattern and differing from each other in details both of origin

and historical circumstance would seem to prove very fruitful in

preparing the ground for that which Professor Henry Corbin has

aptly called 'un dialogue dans la métahistoire', meta-historical or

transhistorical dialogue, ['a dialogue in metahistory', meta-historical or transhistorical dialogue,] and which is so urgently needed in the

present situation of the world.

Referring to the fact that Ibn 'Arabi has evoked so much discus-

sion and controversy, unprecedented in the history of Islamic

thought, and attributing this fact to the nature of Islam itself which

combines two Truths: IJ,aqïqah 'the truth based on Intellection' and

sharï'ah 'the truth based on Revelation', Dr Osman Yahya makes

the following interesting remark2 :

le cas d'Ibn 'Arabi ne se poserait

pas avec autant d'acuité dans une tradition de pure métaphysique

comme le taoism ou le védanta où la personalité du Maître ... eut

pu s'épanouir librement, ni non plus dans une tradition de pure loi

positive où son cas n'eut même pas pu être posé puisqu'il eut été

refusé par la communauté tout entière, irrémédiablement. Mais le

destin a voulu placer Ibn 'Arabi à la croisée des chemins pour

dégager, en sa personne, la véritable vocation de l'Islam.

[the case of Ibn 'Arabi would not arise with such acuity in a tradition of pure metaphysics like Taoism or Vedanta where the personality of the Master ... could have blossomed freely,

nor in a tradition of pure positive law where his case could not even have been posed since it would have been irremediably refused by the entire community.

But fate wanted to place Ibn 'Arabi at a crossroads to bring out, in his person, the true vocation of Islam.]

There can be no _denying that Lao-tzü's metaphysics of Tao

presents in its abysmal depth of thought a number of striking

similarities to Ibn' Arabï's conception of Being. This is the more

interesting because, as 1 shall indicate in the Second Part, Lao-tzü

and represent a culmination point of a spiritual tradition

which 's historically quite different from Sufism.

We must as I have remarked above, guard ourselves against

making too easy comparisons, but we must also admit, I believe,

that a comparative study of this kind, if conducted carefully, will at

least furnish us with a common ground upon which an intercultural

dialogue may fruitfully be opened.

In accordance with the general plan above outlined, the first half

of the present book will be concerned exclusively with an analytic

study of the key-concepts which constitute the ontological basis of

Ibn 'Arabï's world-view. This world-view, as 1 have said, turns

round two pivots, the Absolute and the Perfect Man, in the form of

an ontological Descent and Ascent. In describing this cosmic pro-

cess Ibn 'Arabi develops at every stage a number of concepts of

decisive importance.

It is these concepts that the present work

intends to analyze. It purports to analyze methodically the ontologi-

cal aspect of Ibn 'Arabï's mystical philosophy regarding it as a

system of key-concepts that relate to 'being' and existence'.

Ontology, we must admit, is but one aspect of the thought of this

extraordinary man. It has other no less important aspects such as

psychology, epistemology, symbolism, etc., which, together, consti-

tute an original and profound world-view.

But the concept of Being, as we shall see, is the very basis of his philosophical thinking, and his theory of Being is doubtless of such originality and of such a far-

reaching historical importance that it calls for separate treatment.

At the very outset 1 would like to make it clear that this is not a

philologically exhaustive study of Ibn 'Arabi. On the contrary, the

present study is based, as far as concerns Ibn' Arabi himself, almost

exclusively on only one of his works: 'The Bezels of Wisdom' or

al-lf ikam. It is essentially an analysis of the major ontological

concepts which Ibn' Arabi develops in this celebrated book that has

often been described as his opus magnum, and has been studied and

commented upon by so many people throughout the centuries.3 So

on the material side, the present work does not daim to offer

anything new.

From the beginning it was not my intention to be exhaustive. My

intention was rather to penetrate the 'life-breath' itself, the vivify-

ing spirit and the very existential source of the philosophizing drive

of this great thinker, and to pursue from that depth the formation of

the whole ontological system step by step as he himself develops it.

In order to understand the thought of a man like Ibn 'Arabi, one

must grasp the very spirit which pervades and vivifies the whole

structure; otherwise everything will be lost. All considerations from

outside are sure to go wide of the mark. Even on an intellectual and

philosophical level, one must try to understand the thought from

inside and reconstruct it in one's self by what might be called an

existential empathy. For such a purpose, to be exhaustive, though of

course desirable, is not the first requirement.

Ibn 'Arabi was not merely a profound thinker; he was an unusu-

ally prolific writer, too. The authorities differ among themselves on

the exact number. Al-Sha'râni, to give an example, notes that the

Master wrote about 400 works.4 The répertoire général of the

above-mentioned bibliographical work by Dr Osman Yahya lists as

many as 856 works, although the number includes doubtful works

and those that are evidently spurious.

In a situation like this, and for purposes like ours, it is not only

irrelevant but, even more, positively dangerous to try to note every-

thing the author has said and written on each subject over a period

of many years, For one might easily drown oneself in the vast ocean

of concepts, images and symbols that are scattered about in utter

disorder throughout the hundreds of his works, and lose sight of the

main line or lines of thought and the guiding spirit that underlies

the whole structure. For the purpose of isolating the latter from the

disorderly (as it looks at first sight) mass of symbols and images, it

will be more wise and perhaps, more profitable to concentrate on a

work in which he presents bis thought in its maturest form. 5

In any case, the present work consists exclusively of an analysis of

the 'Bezels of Wisdom' except in a few places where 1 shall refer to

one of bis smaller works for elucidation of some of the important

points. 6 As remarked above, FWiW/ al-lfikam bas been studied in

the past by many people in many different forms. And yet 1 hope

that my own analysis of the same book bas something to contribute

toward a better understanding of the great Master who bas been

considered by many people one of the profoundest, but at the same

time, obscurest thinkers Islam bas ever produced.

Notes

1. In Ibn 'Arabi's system, the Absolute is called haqq (Truth or Reality) and the

Perfect Man is called insân kâmil meaning literally 'perfect man'.

In Taoism, the Absolute is tao and the Perfect Man is shêng jên (성인 Sacred Man or Saint), chên jên (전인 True Man), etc. 1 have dealt with the relationship between the Absolute and the Perfect Man in Taoism in particular in my Eranos lecture for 1967: 'The Absolute and the Perfect Man in Taoism', Eranos-Jahrbuch, XXXVI, Zürich, 1968.

2. Histoire et classification de /' œuvre d' Ibn 'Arabi, 2 vols. 1964, Damas, avant-

propos, pp. 18-19.

3. Dr Osman Yahya lists more than 100 commentaries on al-}fikam, cf. op.

cit., 1, p. 17, pp. 241-257.

4. al-Sha'râni, al-Yawâqït wa-al-Jawâhir, Cairo, 1305 A.H., vol. 1., p. 10.

5. Ibn 'Arabi (born in Spain in 1165 A.D.) died in Damascus in al-lfikam was written in 1229, ten years before his death. As regards his life ancNtis

works the best introduction, to my knowledge, is found in Seyyed Hossein Nasr's

Three Muslim Sages, Cambridge, Mass., 1964, pp. 84-121.

6. As a concrete illustration of the oft-repeated attempt at bringing philosophical

coherence and order into the world-view of the Master, 1 shall in most cases give

al-Qâshâni's comments side by side with Ibn 'Arabi's words. 'Abd al-Razzâq al-

Qâshâni ( d. 1330) is one of the greatest figures in the school of Ibn 'Arabi. The

edition used in the present book is Sharh al-Qâshânï 'alà al-/:likam, Cairo,

1321 A.H. For the interpretation of difficult passages of the text 1 have also used

and Jâmi.

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Burned-out after years of doing development work around the world, William Powers spent a season in a 12-foot-by-12-foot cabin off the grid in North Carolina, as recounted in his award-winning memoir Twelve by Twelve. Could he live a similarly minimalist life in the heart of New York City? To find out, Powers and his wife jettisoned 80 percent of their stuff, left their 2,000-square-foot Queens townhouse, and moved into a 350-square-foot “micro-apartment” in Greenwich Village. Downshifting to a two-day workweek, Powers explores the viability of Slow Food and Slow Money, technology fasts and urban sanctuaries. Discovering a colorful cast of New Yorkers attempting to resist the culture of Total Work, Powers offers an inspiring exploration for anyone trying to make urban life more people- and planet-friendly.

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Book Review: The Future We Choose by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac | Earth.Org - Past | Present | Future

Book Review: The Future We Choose by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac
BY GEORGE RICHARDS AFRICA AMERICAS ASIA EUROPE GLOBAL COMMONS OCEANIADEC 4TH 20205 MINS

There might be no two people better positioned to write about the reasons to hold onto hope in the face of the climate crisis than Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac. As the UN’s Executive Secretary and Chief Political Strategist respectively, the two played central roles in the historic Paris Agreement of 2015, widely recognised as the most substantial step towards staving off runaway climate change since talks began. Entering a space of decided hopelessness, they banded together to create what they call a ‘contagious frame of mind that led to collective wisdom’. It is this frame of mind that takes central focus in their new book The Future We Choose.

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The Future We Choose a guidebook for climate activism and active participation. It also functions, in a way, as a kind of climate self-help book for the many who feel crushed under the ‘fatal knowledge’ of everything to come. In this way, their book fills a large but closing gap in the climate narrative, where hopelessness and incapacitating nihilism have the monopoly. Yet it is to the authors’ credit that the story of optimism and hope that they tell is not a whitewashed or reductive one. The book does not turn a blind eye to the true, horrifying depths of the crisis. They instead show that a gritty, grounded optimism is always available to us, even as we look at the crisis dead-on.

In one of the best sections of The Future We Choose, the authors present two contrasting narrative styles: one chapter fearful and alarmist, the next hopeful. The friction between these two chapters works well to underline a key point that we are still—though barely—inside the window of time in which we have relative agency over our climate.

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First is a portrait of a 2050 world in which we have failed to halt global emissions. This means that we are on track for 3 or 4 degrees of warming beyond pre-industrial levels. In this world, ‘The first thing that hits you is the air.’ It is hot and heavy, and your ‘cough never seems to disappear.’ With the carbon sinks of the world utterly ravaged, ‘Tipping point after tipping point is being reached.’ Countries the world-over suffer ‘brutal infrastructure destructions.’ Every day, ‘some new part of the world must evacuate to higher ground’ due to rising seas. Some cities are on the verge of desertification. Mass migrations are everywhere to see since the equatorial band became largely uninhabitable. There is, everywhere, ‘a sense of bottomless loss, unbearable guilt and fierce resentment at previous generations who didn’t do what was necessary to ward off this unstoppable calamity.’

This first fearful chapter echoes the zeitgeist of climate storytelling today: stories of doom and portents of a world that science says we are bound for. And, of course, it is a story that bears repeating. But it is at this point that The Future We Choose makes a crucial manoeuvre, taking a speculative glance at a very different 2050. In the next chapter, we find a portrait of a world in which we all did what we had to do in order to stave off catastrophe. Here, the air is very different. It is ‘moist and fresh, even in cities.’ In many places, ‘it feels a lot like walking through a forest.’ This is due to drastic plunges in air pollution, massive rewilding projects and a ‘complete reimagining of cities.’ The chapter documents, in riveting detail, the ‘excitement and innovation of the new climate economy’ in which we no longer recklessly burn fossil fuels, and in which renewable energy has created millions of jobs and an abundance of energy. ‘The wide-ranging transition to renewable energy was at times uncomfortable,’ they say, ‘yet we finally saw that transition for what it was—the tantalising opportunity to reimagine the way we live on and interact with the planet. When alarm bells rang in 2020 … we realised that we suffered from too much consumption. But humanity was only ever as doomed as it believed itself to be. Vanquishing that belief was our true legacy.’

This key early sequence in the book underlines the value of holding both worlds in our hands; alarm and grief in one and hope and forward-thinkingness in the other. Indeed, the friction between these two visions of the future casts as wide a net as possible for readers. The story of alarm and horror reminds us of the urgent need for action, while the story of hope–an uplifting vision which is like a hook in the future–awakens the creativity and energy required for such transformational change. We should, Figueres and Rivett-Carnac say, take adequate time to grieve, but that heartbreak that we feel ‘should spur us onto greater action rather than sink us into a pit of blame [or] despair.’ Gearing our collective mindsets away from climate despair towards a more regenerative point of view will, the authors suggest, be the first crucial step towards meaningful change.

Figueres and Rivett-Carnac dub this philosophy ‘Stubborn Optimism.’ They define it as a gritty, realistic mindset that exists not because success is necessarily likely, but because failure is simply unthinkable. After 30 years of climate reporting, we all have learned responses of hopelessness. Yet it is possible to deliberately reprogramme ourselves.

We might believe, rather gravely, that it is too late to change course. But remember, the authors say, that ‘every fraction of warming makes a difference’ and that ‘any reduction lessens the burden on the future.’ We might feel that it is all just too depressing to look at. The authors say that we should remind ourselves that ‘mobilising for generational change can be thrilling,’ that we have ‘the outrageous fortune to be here on this planet at a moment of profound consequence,’ when we can still change course. Or we might be convinced of the impossibility of lightening society’s dependence on fossil fuels. But keep in mind, they say, that 50% of energy in the UK already comes from power sources other than fossil fuels, that Costa Rica is almost 100% renewable, that companies including Amazon have pledged carbon-neutrality by 2050, and that China, the world’s largest emitter, has pledged the same by before 2060. We might be firm in our belief that it is surely impossible to shift the tide of public indifference. However historically, only as little as 3.5% of a population has ever needed to mobilise non-violently to bring into effect transformative societal change, and polling shows that a majority of people now understand the climate crisis to be among the defining issues of our time.

Such is the exciting, regenerative attitude that Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac provide in The Future We Choose. It is a narrative of hope that is under appreciated in climate storytelling. Yet the book never allows for this optimism to eclipse the real, tragic losses of the Anthropocene, nor does it fail to tell this story without the required urgency. It is a book for anyone who wants to meaningfully engage with the largest crisis of our time without falling into the familiar pits of despair by the time they close the book, awakening instead the intense desire to participate in meaningful action.

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"An honest, compelling, surprising, and vastly reassuring book about the spiritual life of women . . . This landmark book is spiritual precisely because it is authentic."--Joan Borysenko, Ph.D., author of Minding the Body, Mending the Mind

With a foreword by Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D.

For many contemporary women, the old patriarchal models of religion are no longer relevant, forming a need to look beyond the male-oriented past to a wider, more fulfilling spiritual horizon. In this fascinating and thought-provoking book, Sherry Anderson and Patricia Hopkins show how many women have redefined traditional beliefs and rediscovered their own unique spiritual heritage--The Feminine Face of God. Anderson and Hopkins guide you through the sacred garden of:

- Childhood--seedbed of life's sacred passage
- Leaving home--finding your own inner authority
- Relationships--new perspectives on intimacy
- Spiritual practice--the importance of guidance and discipline
- Sexuality--a wild card constantly cracking open the heart
- And much more

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Sherry Ruth Anderson

Sherry Ruth Anderson, Ph.D. is a writer and speaker who started delving into the matter of growing old by the time she turned fifty. Born in Philadelphia and raised in Atlantic City, New Jersey, she was a curious kid, staggering home from the library with towers of books in her arms. Wanting to discover other worlds. By thirty-five, working as a research psychologist and raising a family in Toronto, she was looking not so much for escape but for penetrating questions. In her forties, settled in Northern California, she was writing about questions that wouldn't go away. First, there was the best selling The Feminine Face of God: The Unfolding of the Sacred in Women (Bantam, 1991), with Patricia Hopkins, and then category best seller The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People are Changing the World (Harmony/Random House, 2000), with Paul H. Ray. Her latest book, also with questions at the core, is Ripening Time: Inside Stories for Aging with Grace (Changemakers Books, 2013). And there's a short film A Woman's Descent to the Sacred available through You Tube. Since 2000, she has also been a teacher of inner work that is, as you might have guessed, devoted to asking deep questions (the Diamond Approach to Spiritual Development®). You can find more on Sherry's website http://www.sherryruthanderson.com

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===

The Feminine Face of God: The Unfolding of the Sacred in Women

by Sherry Ruth Anderson (Goodreads Author), Patricia Hopkins

really liked it 4.00 · Rating details · 674 ratings · 45 reviews

For many contemporary women, the old patriarchal models of religion are no longer relevant, forming a need to look beyond the male-oriented past to a wider, more fulfilling spiritual horizon. In this fascinating and thought-provoking book, Sherry Anderson and Patricia Hopkins show how many women have redefined spiritual beliefs and rediscovered their unique spiritual heritage - The Feminine Face of God.

Anderson and Hopkins guide you through the sacred garden of:

* Childhood - seedbed of life's sacred passage

* Leaving home - finding your own inner authority

* Relationships - new perspectives on intimacy

* Spiritual practice - the importance of guidance and discipline

* Sexuality - a wild card constantly cracking open the heart

* and much more. (less)

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Published July 1st 1992 by Bantam (first published 1991)

Original TitleThe Feminine Face of God: The Unfolding of the Sacred in Women

ISBN0553352660 (ISBN13: 9780553352665)

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Elizabeth

Nov 04, 2014Elizabeth rated it really liked it

This is an invaluable if dated resource for navigating complex spiritual landscapes from a place of vulnerability and intuition. It can be bio-essentialist (exclusive of trans people) and approaches femme spirituality from the perspectives of "women" and not "femmes", womyn, feminine of center people and/or a myriad of other identities that need to be included but aren't necessarily within the title "women". But as a source of wisdom, strength, affirmation, encouragement, challenging and guidance, the authors have created an excellent resource, particularly the imagery of tending an inner garden that's woven throughout the text, and the stories they collected of these womens' lives, that resonates as much now as I'm sure it did then. (less)

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Kar Schmidt Holloway

May 28, 2013Kar Schmidt Holloway rated it it was ok

Shelves: unfinished

Cisnormative, heteronormative, euro-centric. Includes the voices of people of color but seems to try to squeeze non-major religious traditions (like Native American traditions) into the authors' personal theories of a universal feminine spiritual experience. Sort of appropriative, but really more speaking over and attempting to speak for all women in all cultures and religious traditions. (less)

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Rae

May 29, 2011Rae rated it really liked it

Shelves: feminism

This was a very enlightening book for me in college. Near the end of the book, the authors talk about women who have remained in their marriages versus those who have left to be alone or a few with women. My boyfriend now husband had broken up with me, and I remember thinking about this. An all female commune was starting to sound good...Also, this book is not a hard core male bashing read, which was a relief from the other feminist literature I was reading at the time.

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J.M.

Jul 08, 2009J.M. rated it liked it

Shelves: religious, nonfiction, feminist

Read this in college. It was a real eye-opener to me, who was raised Catholic and unfamiliar with the feminine in religion, particularly feminine aspects of the Deity which retain sexuality (as opposed to being sexless or celibate). Very interesting read. I'd recommend it for any woman looking to find a sacredness she can better identify with in conventional religions. (less)

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Isis Isis

Mar 02, 2013Isis Isis rated it did not like it

About the worst introduction to sacred feminine concepts. Written with a strong judaistic influence. There is almost a worshipful wishful devotion to the dominant male perspective throughout this book. As if the author was desperately seeking approval from ancient male bible characters. One of the most disappointing reads in feminine spiritual literature to date.

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Athena Macmillan

Nov 24, 2020Athena Macmillan rated it liked it

Shelves: inspirational, spiritual, thought-provoking, for-and-about-women, earth-wisdom, cultural-issues, feminism, human-behavior, 2020-reads, relatable

This is a fantastic book for what it is, but you can really tell it was written in the 90s, being very heteronormative and trans exclusionary. It also would have been nice to see accounts from Islamic women and those following earth based traditions. That being said, many of the ideas and questions they raise are still very much relevant today, with the emphasis that everybody's spiritual journey is unique. (less)

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Melanie Beard

Dec 05, 2019Melanie Beard rated it it was amazing

Beautiful

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Doreen

Mar 25, 2022Doreen rated it it was amazing

I first read this book about 25 years ago when I was co-leading a woman's study group. It led me on a quest to more deeply explore my own spirituality. Now after relocating from the east coast to California, I once again needed a connection to my spiritual side and THE FEMININE FACE OF GOD gave me the jump start that I didn't even know I needed. Just like the women in the book, my spiritual journey was personal, private, and ingrained deep in my body and soul. Over the years, I have given away my copy of this book to several women who were exploring their own spirituality over the years. But since settling into my west coast home, I decided to get a copy of this book again - and this time I will keep my copy. I have suggested this title to a friend who is exploring her own spirituality after having read Mitch Albom's The Stranger in the Lifeboat, and she immediately purchased a copy. (less)

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Celía Burke

Jun 08, 2016Celía Burke rated it it was amazing

I picked up this book over a year ago in a used bookstore and I'm so glad I did. Though this book is older, the concepts it presents are timeless. Seeking divinity in what is feminine is ancient, and I am not alone in wanting to explore my spirituality with this point of view. What I love about this book is that it emphasizes that everyone's spiritual journey is different, and though it offers stories of different women's experiences, there's always a reminder of taking your own path, or "tending to your garden." In a world where people are so quick to take sides and believe that everything is black and white, I live in the gray. These women do too, even those who follow a specific religious path. I truly appreciate that and find it refreshing. Because of this, it holds up even after almost 3 decades. (less)

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Rae

Oct 20, 2009Rae rated it it was ok

Shelves: religiosity

I read this back in my early college days when I was much more interested in feminist issues. I found it useful to examine the spiritual side of women and this gave me a lot to think about. Nothing earth-shattering though.

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Joann

Jan 13, 2020Joann rated it really liked it

Twenty years ago when I read this book, my concerns were individual and much different than they are today. This time when I read the book, I was interested in spirituality, my own and that of my country. While it is true that changes have been made in the last twenty years, much remains the same. We have yet to elect a woman to the office of president or Vice President. Most CEOs are still male and only Title IX has succeeded in opening athletic doors for women. (Though sport is not specifically included in this Act, it has bled into the field of sport allowing women more support). Religion still has a stranglehold on people and policies. Most likely there would be a full scale riot if a temple honoring goddesses was erected and provided solace for some.

Do I have answers about spirituality, even after reading this book? Not really, but I will keep looking for myself and for this Planet.

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