Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life

by Gregg Levoy

Book Overview

"Stunning! Wonderful! Levoy writes like a poet. His material is both spiritual and practical. I don't know another book that deals with callings in quite the same way."???????? --Larry Dossey, M.D., author of Healing Words and Prayer Is Good Medicine How do we know if we're following our true callings? How do we sharpen our senses to cut through the distractions of everyday reality and hear the calls that are beckoning us? Callings is a passionate...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0517705699
• ISBN13: 9780517705698
• Release Date: September 1997
• Publisher: Harmony
• Length: 339 Pages
• Weight: 1.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Hearing a call...

Hearing a call is a very difficult discernment process. Sometimes the call is clear, but the path is not. Sometimes the path is clear, but the desire is not. Gregg Levoy has done an exceptional job at being an in-print spiritual director for those seeking an entrance into the process of finding a true calling and a more authentic life.What is right for me? and Where am I willing to be led? are the two essential questions -- Discernment requires that we ask these two questions continually and devotedly.As Levoy says, 'people won't pursue their callings until the fear of doing so is finally exceeded by the pain of not doing so.' I have found this to be very true. It took a very long time to discern my call to the priesthood, and yet more time to decide that it is something I must do at all costs (and the costs have been heavy). Yet, I cannot imagine myself doing anything differently and being in any way fulfilled.'The truest calls seem not only to keep coming back but also to make their way to us through many channels.'Levoy integrates so much material here, from spiritual masters and the scriptural traditions of many religious faiths to modern psychology and artistic/cultural experts. Perhaps the greatest chapter for me was that on 'Finding Clarity', in which Levoy says that 'there is such a thing as thinking too much about a calling.' As Emerson said, sometimes it is best to let the bird sing without trying to decipher the song. 'A calling is ultimately mysterious, and the process of discernment is always a bit of a guessing game.' Levoy's guidance, in cooperation with others in my community, helped me to see a change of mindset, a change of events, a change of personalities were all converging to tell me something that I had closed my mind to, or, more accurately, had closed my heart to. So, I began to pray, even if only subconsciously, and the path began to materialise before my eyes.'When I pray, coincidences start to happen. When I don't pray, they don't happen.' - William TempleIt also taught me that I couldn't wait for 'someday' -- how we spend our days is how we spend our lives, according to the apt observation of Annie Dillard. And finally, it made me face what it was to keep saying no. There is a cost, and eventually God will get you anyway -- Jonah (remember Jonah and the great fish?) said no, but eventually had follow his call anyway. I learned that one source of my fear: 'One of the frightening prospects of saying yes to a calling is that you may find out who really supports you and who doesn't.'Figuring out how to bring my call into being was the final task, and Levoy provided wisdom here as well. 'You cannot cross a chasm in two small jumps', he quoted Lloyd-George as saying; I was forced to create a response to my call, one that did not exist before. Thus, not too long after discovering this book, I became Father Kurt, and I owe much to this book for that. But please, don't assume that it will tempt or trap you into a ministerial r

This book is a calling!

This book is geared for anyone who is doing what life tells them to do..and still doesn't feel right. It reminds us to not ignore that subtle voice that will not leave us when we are not doing what the universe wants us to be doing. It reminds us that our intuition is there to help us find our path in life and that if we ignore the messages we will have a significant price to pay. Having been in the wrong career for 11 years, this book has inspired me to not only quit my job, but to follow that intuitive voice that has been hounding me for years. This book is perfect for anyone who "knows" that something needs to change in their life. I also will be throwing out a multitude of similar books that can't even touch the level of material in this book. Don't even hesitate to buy this one!! And no, I don't know the author and have never written a book review before.

Good advice that can come from within

I'll have to admit that I'm a fairly big reader of self-help books. Many of the "to-do" lists in self-help books are useful, I found this book an internal to-do list. Instead of outward activities that many books ask you to partitipate in to make progress, this author advises looking to your most inner thoughts, your dreams, your conscience, in order to find what you really want out of life. It works. Listen to your quiet moments, pay more attention to your third sense and record the things that occur in your dreams. There is a direct relationship between all of these thoughts and the things that will make you happiest. Interesting thought in the book ... "What did you want to do when you were seven?" Think about it and the level of satisfaction you are getting our of life now.

A beautifully written, compelling book!

I read this book a year ago and could not put it down. Reading it is like stepping into a dynamic conversation, with others who have struggled to find a genuine life, and with the deepest parts of oneself. It demands a response, a shift in focus. By the time I had finished, the margins of every page were filled with my own affirmations and exclamations of joy. I wrote a note in the front, sent it to a friend, and his experience was similar. Now he has written a note in the front, and has given it to the first of five friends waiting in line for it. I imagine this original volume in five years, tattered but brimming and alive with not just the voices that Levoy documents so lovingly, but also with the whispers, tears, and HALLELUJAHS of this widening circle of readers. Needless to say, I have sent new copies to countless others, and I'm here on line today to buy another copy for myself. It is a once-in-a-lifetime book.

An eloquent, entertaining discussion of our callings in life

Gregg Levoy is a master at telling stories, using creative--often very amusing--metaphors to discuss the spiritual, abstract world of life callings. Though I expected a more direct how-to type manual on finding one's path in life, I was not disappointed in this book; on the contrary, I immensely enjoyed this more picturesque, sensitive sojourn through others' experiences with taking risks and following their callings. It inspired me to dream and begin adventures of my own!