Yearnings: Embracing the Sacred Messiness of Life

by Irwin Kula and Linda Loewenthal

Book Overview

Winner of the Books for a Better Life Award Chosen as one of "The 10 Best Spiritual Books of 2006" by Spirituality and Health magazine Rabbi Irwin Kula explores desire in spiritual life. Rather than leading us astray, our longings are gateways to self discovery. Our yearnings, once understood, can lead us to discover an expansive vision of God or a wider reality. And when we embrace even our most painful or taboo desires, we can love more deeply...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1401309135
• ISBN13: 9781401309138
• Release Date: September 2007
• Publisher: Hachette Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.71 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 7.6"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A Voice for Everyone

Rabbi Kula is a special breed of spiritual leader whose voice transcends the boundaries between religions. His book reveals a gift of communicating in a different way than typically comes down from the pulpit. In spreading his perspective of "wisdom", he is not afraid to challenge conventional wisdom and traditional interpretations; in fact he is at his best when looks inside these axioms that most of us take for granted. His willingness to share his personal experiences and his own transgressions lend credibility and humility to his stories and observations. This book serves as encouragement to look inside ourselves without judgment and look outward with a healthier perspective.

Yearnings: Embracing the Sacred Messiness of Life

I love this volume. I bought both the book and the audio version. Rabbi's voice and words are so soothing and he has the ability to impart so much truth and meaning into a few words. I recommend this work to anyone seeking wisdom. You will be richly rewarded by both the book and the audio cd!!!

Stunning revelations for the agnostic!

With journalistic skepticism and scientific training carefully guarding any religious conclusions, I nonetheless am drawn to seek better understanding of spirituality, as experienced world-wide throughout the ages, taking wisdom wherever I find it, as long as it applies broadly. This book takes the stories that shaped our civilization as well as touches on others civilizations also, to help us understand where we came from. It suggests what we can take from those stories to live better, richer lives, regardless of whether or not the stories are precisely true. It explains how rituals developed and what they mean, and how they can be relevant today. Although Kula is a Jewish Rabbi, his insights are relevant to all beliefs. As a non-Jewish person myself, I never for a moment felt the book was written for Jewish people; on the contrary, I think his goal was to include everyone in a common understanding . . . an understanding of the differences of mankind.

Wisdom insights

I found this book to be very helpful to me in tying together my core "yearnings" to the insights to a wisdom tradition that Irwin Kula makes alive and relevant. There is no claim to a "right" or "wrong" - rather it is how to tap into centuries-old teachings to make some sense of this crazy human experience. Almost everyone can relate to the stories that are told. There is truly something for everyone here.

Life is easier when you appreciate its complications

Irwin Kula takes us past our longing that a single truth applied everywhere will give us fulfillment. Instead he shows that in every problem is an opportunity--that what initially seems confusing and complicated doesn't need to be feared but appreciated. As I read his book, I felt optomistic without feeling naive or simplistic.