Love and the World

by Robert Sardello

Book Overview

Drawing on images of the Grail legend and myths of Sophia--she who is called the Soul of the World--Sardello develops approaches to intelligence of the heart, the world significance of grieving, the transformative power of radical receptivity, re-enlivening the senses, the creative power of dreaming, and a new basis for relationships.

Based on a synthesis of C.G. Jung's writings on the nature of soul, James Hillman on the work of soul making,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0970109741
• ISBN13: 9780970109743
• Release Date: April 2001
• Publisher: Lindisfarne Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Draws the definitions for a new type of psychology

Love And The World: A Guide To Conscious Soul Practice draws the definitions for a new type of psychology: spiritual psychology, "an active practice that develops embodied, conscious soul life to make that life open and receptive to spiritual realms. This is done as an act of love toward ourselves, others and the world." Author Robert Sardello takes the theories of psychology to another level, recreating psychology based on the anthroposophical writings of Rudolf Steiner. Love And The World presents the ultimate goal of spiritual psychology through the many types of love, including love as friendship, love as grieving from loss, love as knowing a soulmate. The result is an insightful, profound book on the hidden depths of the human mind's interaction with the heart and soul.

Primer on Love

Suppose that soul is not yours or mine, but rather a quality in the world that we enter into? What if soul has a connection with the current of the future that has been largely overlooked, and each human individual is the living,loving connection between soul and the future of the world?What is felt in the new millennium as an emerging, urgent turning toward soul is, Sardello contends, a calling for us to realize our capacities as creators in the world. In order to do this, we must discover what it means to love (not "I love myself" or "I love you" but simply "I love," and what self knowledge is. Goethe ssaid, "Man knows but himself insofar as he knows the world, for he sees the world but in himself, and himself in it alone." Sardello observes that one knows another only insofar as one knows the world, and our relationship with the world is rightly characterized by a never-ending curiosity for truth and the ability to observe the world through a heart that thinks.Robert Sardello's fourth book, "Love and the World," addresses the necessity of the individual "I" and its relationship not just to the world but to world soul. Along the way, he debunks popular notions of soul (he has been known to say, "It is not a pet that we care for.") He carefully dismantles pervasive, romantic notions of spiritual love and leads the reader into a new way of imagining individual nature and soulful relationships.For more about Sardello's work, see sheridanhill.com

one of today's most original thinkers

(c) 2001 Sheridan Hill--- To follow Robert Sardello's writing and to attend his workshops is to participate in the ongoing creation of one of today's most original thinkers. I have not found another author who so eloquently steps out of the accepted structure of spiritual clichés, synthesizes ancient wisdom and writes so intelligently from the heart of the future, and possesses true understanding of spiritual worlds and depth psychology. He throws absolutely nothing out while maintaining that to live, to love, and to not know is the real work of the day. Sardello's fourth book, "Love and the World," addresses the necessity of the individual "I" and its relationship not just to the world but to the soul of the world. Along the way, he debunks today's popular notions of soul (he has been known to say, "It is not a pet that we care for.") He carefully dismantles pervasive, romantic notions of spiritual love and leads the reader into a new realm of thinking about individual nature and soulful relationships.This new idea of intimacy involves a rich feeling life, one that includes but transcends personal feeling and returns us to a way of living and loving that includes soul as a quality already present in the world.To understand Sardello, all that is required is an open heart and the ability to imagine ourselves, the world, and soul in a way that we have never seen before.If you only read one more book on love, or relationships, or "finding" yourself, make it this one.

A wonderful un-ordinary book

Love and the World showed me a deeply felt and considered view of the world and how to approach it authentically. Chapters on dreams, relationships, grief, the World Soul and more were thoughtful, and eye and heart opening. This is the first book I have read by Mr. Sardello and I look forward to reading more of his work! Highly recommended!

THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOK IN THE FIELD OF PSYCHOLOGY EVER!

well, maybe not, but without a doubt "Love and the World" is an immensely significant work in the field of depth psychology. Originally titled "Love and the Soul", Sardello's book takes an experiential look at the connection between the individual and the world. By staying within the realm of experience, Sardello allows the reader to begin the process of psychological research for him or herself. Sardello honors the original direction which Freud and then Jung trailblazed but points to the danger inherent in any exploration of soul which leaves out the world. Yet Sardello's experience of 'World' and his methodology which leads to it is what is truly groundbreaking about this work. In "Love and the World" the world is not maintained to exist 'out there' independent of the individual, and yet, Sardello avoids any hints of suggesting the relativistic/constructivst conception which denies the possibility of talking objectively about realms such as Truth, Beauty and Goodness. Sardello maintains that to truly speak objectively about soul and the world, we must enter into the creative processes which they are. It is in the creative process that we can find, through sensing the creating activity of our own 'I', the link between ourself and the world. Sardello shows how spiritual psychology demands a distinction between the ego and the 'I'. This distinction has never been articulated in depth psychology and it is for this reason that the world has always been left out. And so after we identify the 'I' as distinct, not separate, from the ego, we can then experience the 'I' as the creative, non personal, yet completely individual, activity through which the world individuates itself and from which fully conscious, world oriented love is born.How refreshing to read a sophisticated work in the field of psychology that earns that distinction by leaving theories, abstractions and in-bred language systems at the door. Like any truly improvisational art, Sardello is not content to present a system of finished concepts that can be repeated and systemized, but rather, he enters the active images of experience and from there performs language which can deepen the readers own explorations and questions. This is reflected in the poetic style which imbues each sentence of "Love and the World".So much more could be said. And that's the point. This book does not attempt to finish anything. It's sole objective is to begin creating a new foundation for psychology which is based in active practice and which leads towards capacities for experiencing the creative, soul-filled and spiritual activities which are the world.ps...my only frustration comes from what was left out of the new edition. In general not much is changed and in fact, some things are tightened up in a helpful manner. However the "Getting Started" section has been rewritten and while the new pages are a wonderful and, I believe, needed introduction to the book, the original "Getting Started" was