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In Praise of the Useless Life

Author: Paul Quenon

Publisher: Ave Maria Press

Published: 2018-04-13

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 1594717605

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Monastic life and its counter-cultural wisdom come alive in the stories and lessons of Br. Paul Quenon, O.C.S.O., during his more than five decades as a Trappist at the Abbey of Gethsemani. He served as a novice under Thomas Merton and he also welcomed some of the monastery's more well-known visitors, including Sr. Helen Prejean and Seamus Heaney, to Merton's hermitage. In Praise of the Useless Life includes Quenon's quiet reflections on what it means to live each day with careful attentiveness. The humble peace and simplicity of the monastery and of Quenon's daily life are beautifully portrayed in this memoir. Whether it be through the daily routine of the monastery, his love of the outdoors no matter the season, or his lively and interesting conversations with visitors (reciting Emily Dickinson with Pico Iyer, discussing Merton and poetry with Czeslaw Milosz), Quenon's gentle musings display his love for the beauty in his vocation and the people he’s encountered along the way. Inspired by his novice master Merton, the poet and photographer’s stories remind us that the beauty of life can best be seen in the "uselessness" of daily life—having a quiet chat with a friend, spending time in contemplation—in our vocations, and in the memories we make along the way.

Book Synopsis In Praise of the Useless Life by : Paul Quenon

Download or read book In Praise of the Useless Life written by Paul Quenon and published by Ave Maria Press. This book was released on 2018-04-13 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Monastic life and its counter-cultural wisdom come alive in the stories and lessons of Br. Paul Quenon, O.C.S.O., during his more than five decades as a Trappist at the Abbey of Gethsemani. He served as a novice under Thomas Merton and he also welcomed some of the monastery's more well-known visitors, including Sr. Helen Prejean and Seamus Heaney, to Merton's hermitage. In Praise of the Useless Life includes Quenon's quiet reflections on what it means to live each day with careful attentiveness. The humble peace and simplicity of the monastery and of Quenon's daily life are beautifully portrayed in this memoir. Whether it be through the daily routine of the monastery, his love of the outdoors no matter the season, or his lively and interesting conversations with visitors (reciting Emily Dickinson with Pico Iyer, discussing Merton and poetry with Czeslaw Milosz), Quenon's gentle musings display his love for the beauty in his vocation and the people he’s encountered along the way. Inspired by his novice master Merton, the poet and photographer’s stories remind us that the beauty of life can best be seen in the "uselessness" of daily life—having a quiet chat with a friend, spending time in contemplation—in our vocations, and in the memories we make along the way.

How to Be

Author: Judith Valente

Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 1642970344

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The spiritual seeker's guide to living with authenticity and integrity in troubled times. This book is a dialogue between two spiritual seekers--one a Trappist monk and the other a married professional woman. It is two people "stuttering to articulate life's universal questions from diverse contexts and perspectives." Brother Paul writes as one steeped in silence and the daily rhythms of the ancient prayer practices of monasticism. Judith Valente writes as a professional woman attempting to bring a sense of prayer and contemplation to a scattered life in the secular world. Valente uses the story of Brother Paul's interview for a PBS documentary as a jumping-off point: When asked the purpose of the Trappist life in the modern world, he said that it is "to show you don't need a purpose." The purpose of life, he said, is life. "You're to live your life." How to Be offers a window into two people living their lives on purpose (or not) and struggling to come to terms with the big issues everyone faces: faith, mortality, mystery, prayer, work. It is a book that provides insight and inspiration for those walking the spiritual path--particularly for those interested in the contemplative path.

Book Synopsis How to Be by : Judith Valente

Download or read book How to Be written by Judith Valente and published by Red Wheel/Weiser. This book was released on 2021 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The spiritual seeker's guide to living with authenticity and integrity in troubled times. This book is a dialogue between two spiritual seekers--one a Trappist monk and the other a married professional woman. It is two people "stuttering to articulate life's universal questions from diverse contexts and perspectives." Brother Paul writes as one steeped in silence and the daily rhythms of the ancient prayer practices of monasticism. Judith Valente writes as a professional woman attempting to bring a sense of prayer and contemplation to a scattered life in the secular world. Valente uses the story of Brother Paul's interview for a PBS documentary as a jumping-off point: When asked the purpose of the Trappist life in the modern world, he said that it is "to show you don't need a purpose." The purpose of life, he said, is life. "You're to live your life." How to Be offers a window into two people living their lives on purpose (or not) and struggling to come to terms with the big issues everyone faces: faith, mortality, mystery, prayer, work. It is a book that provides insight and inspiration for those walking the spiritual path--particularly for those interested in the contemplative path.

Amounting to Nothing

Author: Paul Quenon

Publisher: Paraclete Poetry

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781640602014

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After 60 years at Gethsemani Abbey, Br. Paul follows up his recent memoir, In Praise of the Useless Life, with a poetic collection that shows how to do just that - by writing poetry. Amounting to Nothing is both practical and metaphysical, a puzzling over the ultimate things of life, and a descending on the Benedictine ladder of humility to the earthly creatures surrounding a Kentucky monastery. This is less an exploration in self-knowledge than a forgetting of self in the wonders of everything. Quenon treads bare footed on the margins of mortality and immortality, with wit, thought, and hope.

Book Synopsis Amounting to Nothing by : Paul Quenon

Download or read book Amounting to Nothing written by Paul Quenon and published by Paraclete Poetry. This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After 60 years at Gethsemani Abbey, Br. Paul follows up his recent memoir, In Praise of the Useless Life, with a poetic collection that shows how to do just that - by writing poetry. Amounting to Nothing is both practical and metaphysical, a puzzling over the ultimate things of life, and a descending on the Benedictine ladder of humility to the earthly creatures surrounding a Kentucky monastery. This is less an exploration in self-knowledge than a forgetting of self in the wonders of everything. Quenon treads bare footed on the margins of mortality and immortality, with wit, thought, and hope.

Journeys of Simplicity

Author: Philip Harnden

Publisher: Turner Publishing Company

Published: 2011-01-06

Total Pages: 137

ISBN-13: 1594733627

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Where do our journeys take us? What do we leave behind? What do we carry with us? How do we find our way? You are invited to consider a more graceful way of traveling through life. With arresting clarity, Journeys of Simplicity offers vignettes of forty travelers and the few, ordinary things they carried with them—from place to place, from day to day, from birth to death. Edward Abbey Nellie Bly Raymond Carver Dorothy Day Marcel Duchamp Dolores Garcia /Emma “Grandma” Gatewood Mohandas Gandhi Peter Matthiessen William Least Heat Moon John Muir Robert Pirsig Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton Henry David Thoreau Father Zossima and others

Book Synopsis Journeys of Simplicity by : Philip Harnden

Download or read book Journeys of Simplicity written by Philip Harnden and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2011-01-06 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Where do our journeys take us? What do we leave behind? What do we carry with us? How do we find our way? You are invited to consider a more graceful way of traveling through life. With arresting clarity, Journeys of Simplicity offers vignettes of forty travelers and the few, ordinary things they carried with them—from place to place, from day to day, from birth to death. Edward Abbey Nellie Bly Raymond Carver Dorothy Day Marcel Duchamp Dolores Garcia /Emma “Grandma” Gatewood Mohandas Gandhi Peter Matthiessen William Least Heat Moon John Muir Robert Pirsig Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton Henry David Thoreau Father Zossima and others

The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge

Author: Abraham Flexner

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2017-02-21

Total Pages: 104

ISBN-13: 0691174768

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A short, provocative book about why "useless" science often leads to humanity's greatest technological breakthroughs A forty-year tightening of funding for scientific research has meant that resources are increasingly directed toward applied or practical outcomes, with the intent of creating products of immediate value. In such a scenario, it makes sense to focus on the most identifiable and urgent problems, right? Actually, it doesn't. In his classic essay "The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge," Abraham Flexner, the founding director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and the man who helped bring Albert Einstein to the United States, describes a great paradox of scientific research. The search for answers to deep questions, motivated solely by curiosity and without concern for applications, often leads not only to the greatest scientific discoveries but also to the most revolutionary technological breakthroughs. In short, no quantum mechanics, no computer chips. This brief book includes Flexner's timeless 1939 essay alongside a new companion essay by Robbert Dijkgraaf, the Institute's current director, in which he shows that Flexner's defense of the value of "the unobstructed pursuit of useless knowledge" may be even more relevant today than it was in the early twentieth century. Dijkgraaf describes how basic research has led to major transformations in the past century and explains why it is an essential precondition of innovation and the first step in social and cultural change. He makes the case that society can achieve deeper understanding and practical progress today and tomorrow only by truly valuing and substantially funding the curiosity-driven "pursuit of useless knowledge" in both the sciences and the humanities.

Book Synopsis The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge by : Abraham Flexner

Download or read book The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge written by Abraham Flexner and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-02-21 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A short, provocative book about why "useless" science often leads to humanity's greatest technological breakthroughs A forty-year tightening of funding for scientific research has meant that resources are increasingly directed toward applied or practical outcomes, with the intent of creating products of immediate value. In such a scenario, it makes sense to focus on the most identifiable and urgent problems, right? Actually, it doesn't. In his classic essay "The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge," Abraham Flexner, the founding director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and the man who helped bring Albert Einstein to the United States, describes a great paradox of scientific research. The search for answers to deep questions, motivated solely by curiosity and without concern for applications, often leads not only to the greatest scientific discoveries but also to the most revolutionary technological breakthroughs. In short, no quantum mechanics, no computer chips. This brief book includes Flexner's timeless 1939 essay alongside a new companion essay by Robbert Dijkgraaf, the Institute's current director, in which he shows that Flexner's defense of the value of "the unobstructed pursuit of useless knowledge" may be even more relevant today than it was in the early twentieth century. Dijkgraaf describes how basic research has led to major transformations in the past century and explains why it is an essential precondition of innovation and the first step in social and cultural change. He makes the case that society can achieve deeper understanding and practical progress today and tomorrow only by truly valuing and substantially funding the curiosity-driven "pursuit of useless knowledge" in both the sciences and the humanities.

Man of Dialogue

Author: Gregory K. Hillis

Publisher: Liturgical Press

Published: 2021-11-15

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 0814684602

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How Catholic was Thomas Merton? Since his death in 1968, Merton’s Catholic identity has been regularly questioned, both by those who doubt the authenticity of his Catholicism given his commitment to ecumenical and interreligious dialogue and by those who admire Merton as a thinker but see him as an aberration who rebelled against his Catholicism to articulate ideas that went against the church. In this book, Gregory K. Hillis illustrates that Merton’s thought was intertwined with his identity as a Catholic priest and emerged out of a thorough immersion in the church’s liturgical, theological, and spiritual tradition. In addition to providing a substantive introduction to Merton’s life and thought, this book illustrates that Merton was fundamentally shaped by his identity as a Roman Catholic.

Book Synopsis Man of Dialogue by : Gregory K. Hillis

Download or read book Man of Dialogue written by Gregory K. Hillis and published by Liturgical Press. This book was released on 2021-11-15 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How Catholic was Thomas Merton? Since his death in 1968, Merton’s Catholic identity has been regularly questioned, both by those who doubt the authenticity of his Catholicism given his commitment to ecumenical and interreligious dialogue and by those who admire Merton as a thinker but see him as an aberration who rebelled against his Catholicism to articulate ideas that went against the church. In this book, Gregory K. Hillis illustrates that Merton’s thought was intertwined with his identity as a Catholic priest and emerged out of a thorough immersion in the church’s liturgical, theological, and spiritual tradition. In addition to providing a substantive introduction to Merton’s life and thought, this book illustrates that Merton was fundamentally shaped by his identity as a Roman Catholic.

A Useless Man

Author: Sait Faik Abasiyanik

Publisher: Archipelago

Published: 2015-02-24

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 0914671081

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With all the wit and brilliance of Chekhov, a distinctive collection of lyrical stories from Sait Faik Abasıyanık, “Turkey’s greatest short story writer” (The Guardian) Sait Faik Abasıyanık’s fiction traces the interior lives of strangers in his native Istanbul: ancient coffeehouse proprietors, priests, dream-addled fishermen, poets of the Princes’ Isles, lovers and wandering minstrels of another time. The stories in A Useless Man are shaped by Sait Faik’s political autobiography – his resistance to social convention, the relentless pace of westernization, and the ethnic cleansing of his city – as he conjures the varied textures of life in Istanbul and its surrounding islands. The calm surface of these stories might seem to signal deference to the new Republic’s restrictions on language and culture, but Abasıyanık’s prose is crafted deceptively, with dark, subversive undercurrents. “Reading these stories by Sait Faik feels like finding the secret doors inside of poems,” Rivka Galchen wrote. Beautifully translated by Maureen Freely and Alexander Dawe, A Useless Man is the most comprehensive collection of Sait Faik’s stories in English to date.

Book Synopsis A Useless Man by : Sait Faik Abasiyanik

Download or read book A Useless Man written by Sait Faik Abasiyanik and published by Archipelago. This book was released on 2015-02-24 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With all the wit and brilliance of Chekhov, a distinctive collection of lyrical stories from Sait Faik Abasıyanık, “Turkey’s greatest short story writer” (The Guardian) Sait Faik Abasıyanık’s fiction traces the interior lives of strangers in his native Istanbul: ancient coffeehouse proprietors, priests, dream-addled fishermen, poets of the Princes’ Isles, lovers and wandering minstrels of another time. The stories in A Useless Man are shaped by Sait Faik’s political autobiography – his resistance to social convention, the relentless pace of westernization, and the ethnic cleansing of his city – as he conjures the varied textures of life in Istanbul and its surrounding islands. The calm surface of these stories might seem to signal deference to the new Republic’s restrictions on language and culture, but Abasıyanık’s prose is crafted deceptively, with dark, subversive undercurrents. “Reading these stories by Sait Faik feels like finding the secret doors inside of poems,” Rivka Galchen wrote. Beautifully translated by Maureen Freely and Alexander Dawe, A Useless Man is the most comprehensive collection of Sait Faik’s stories in English to date.

The Little Monk

Author: Madeleine Delbrél

Publisher: Crossroad

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780824523107

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This delightful and humorous classic's simple reflections--offerings in short sentences with line drawings--are humorous insights into the spiritual light of people's lives.

Book Synopsis The Little Monk by : Madeleine Delbrél

Download or read book The Little Monk written by Madeleine Delbrél and published by Crossroad. This book was released on 2005 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This delightful and humorous classic's simple reflections--offerings in short sentences with line drawings--are humorous insights into the spiritual light of people's lives.

Barren, Wild, and Worthless

Author: Susan J. Tweit

Publisher: University of Arizona Press

Published: 2003-02-01

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 9780816523337

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Appearing barren and most definitely wild, the Chihuahuan Desert of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States may look worthless to some, but for Susan Tweit it is an inspiration. In this collection of seven elegant personal essays, she explores undiscovered facets of this seemingly hostile environment. With eloquence, passion, and insight, she describes and reflects on the relationship between the land, history, and people and makes this underappreciated region less barren for those who would share her journeys. "There's often little to this terrain, but to the author it's a beautiful landscape bursting with stories and wildlife, with big cities and small chunks of quietness found in few other places on earth. Tweit's essays have a pleasant style that combines history with personal discovery." —Book Talk "Sense of place is measured by one's awareness of the landscape and the extent to which it dictates thought and behavior. Barren, Wild, and Worthless dramatizes the aspirations, needs, and functional rhythms of life that are revealed and defined by this seventh sense." —Southwestern American Literature

Book Synopsis Barren, Wild, and Worthless by : Susan J. Tweit

Download or read book Barren, Wild, and Worthless written by Susan J. Tweit and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2003-02-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Appearing barren and most definitely wild, the Chihuahuan Desert of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States may look worthless to some, but for Susan Tweit it is an inspiration. In this collection of seven elegant personal essays, she explores undiscovered facets of this seemingly hostile environment. With eloquence, passion, and insight, she describes and reflects on the relationship between the land, history, and people and makes this underappreciated region less barren for those who would share her journeys. "There's often little to this terrain, but to the author it's a beautiful landscape bursting with stories and wildlife, with big cities and small chunks of quietness found in few other places on earth. Tweit's essays have a pleasant style that combines history with personal discovery." —Book Talk "Sense of place is measured by one's awareness of the landscape and the extent to which it dictates thought and behavior. Barren, Wild, and Worthless dramatizes the aspirations, needs, and functional rhythms of life that are revealed and defined by this seventh sense." —Southwestern American Literature