The Heart of Hope: Contemplating Life, Awakening Love

by Michael Downey

Book Overview

A physical journey turned into a deeply spiritual experience. As he and a former student traveled through Vietnam, Dr. Michael Downey encountered the "heart of hope." The exotic flowers, the spicy... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0819833886
• ISBN13: 9780819833884
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: Pauline Books & Media
• Length: 173 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.1" x 7.6"

Customer Reviews

Full of Life

"The thing about life is that there is so much of it. Life pours forth." This quote from author Michael Downey in his latest book, The Heart of Hope, aptly describes the book itself...full of life. Downey's experiences of life...a profound visit to Vietnam, a memory of a teacher in first grade, an Irish dance teacher, an aging grandmother, a retreat experience at a monastery and many, many more...give rise to a changing heart and a heart of hope for Downey and for the reader who is readily engaged in this masterful and inspiring work. Reading each section of this book became a daily meditation and reflection on how each movement and encounter in life, no matter how large or small, has the potential to change one's perspective and the way one views self and the world. At the heart of this book is a call to a contemplative stance toward all of life. Standing in that place of contemplation we rightly see with the heart and know that God is in all of life and we are God's own. The Heart of Hope, an excellent book with the power to change the readers heart and life.

New images, perspective.

For most Americans, like me, Vietnam probably conjures-up images of war. My mind's eye sees jungles, soldiers, guns, granades, fighter planes, napalm, destruction, death, dispair. How sad that a nation, a people, should live with such a stigma! Thus, a book that sheds new light on the beautiful people of Vietnam is long overdue. Although Michael Downey's, The Heart of Hope, provides the reader with exquisite new imagery of Vietnam in elegant detail, the book pursues an even greater endeavor, which is to send the reader home with perspective. Mission accomplished! Riding across the countryside, images come to life of bridges that cross rivers and connect people who share a common burden much deeper than a stigma. This burden, I feel, is a sort-of life-long living in a state of hardship. Yet, in spite of such circumstances, the Vietnamese are living-hoping; as close to the heart as they are to the earth. Indeed the earth literally shelters, beds, nourishes. The book introduces us to people who become part of our hearts, and new images of tradition, family, welcoming, celebrating life and hope come to replace old images of war and destruction. Turning to my life in the USA, to the things that concern me - like traffic jams, cell phones, and bank accounts - a new perspective on what is important has been gained from The Heart of Hope. Magnificent!

Thay Tam- Teacher of the Heart

"It is only with the heart that one sees rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye."- Antoine de St-Exupery More than a book on how to change your life, this is the story of a man whose life and heart were changed, inadvertently, forever. Michael Downey, in an utmost readable way, brings us to the hearth, and thus the soul of a people who have suffered immensely, and through that suffering and pain, have learned about what Exupery wrote of. This beautiful book speaks to the core of any person about a higher understanding of the Infinite who lives in each one of us. And like a gentle, patient teacher, Downey guides us through the steps necessary towards attaining that understanding. While in Vietnam, Downey won the affection of the people with whom he interacted, and consequently, the title "Thay Tam": roughly translated, "Teacher of the Heart." No title could be more apt, as Downey successfuly demonstrates through his writings in this book: "the more I see, the more I love, the more I love, the more I see." Like a walk with a spiritual guide, you will finish the book feeling like your heart has been refreshed and awoken. I highly recommend this beautiful book that speaks the universal heart-language!