Love, Healing & Happiness; Spiritual Wisdom for Secular Times
by Larry Culliford.
Having been an RN for 30 years, it is particularly gratifying to read a physician’s words about the spiritual needs for healing in our times. Only recently have the medical schools of the U.S. embraced any realm beyond the physical and emotional. Now with the incoming wave of Mind, Body, Spirit connective-ness, comes the information that we have long sought. Our spiritual lives do count! The healing of inner, as well as outer being is much needed.
Dr. Culliford is a practicing psychiatrist as well as a course instructor at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School in Sussex, England. The stories he shares are particularly enjoyable & edifying. Not only stories about some of his patients, but also lore from times long ago. I was totally caught up in the symbols and life lessons.
There are times when have allowed ourselves to forget the sacredness of spiritual love. This book is the clarion call to ‘wake up’ & remember.
The author speaks, “It is good to remind ourselves from time to time that love has a sacred dimension. In serving to mend broken relationships, heal emotional pain and allow us to grow and mature as human beings, love improves our prospects of happiness.”
Each chapter is followed by a shaded ‘Reflections’ column, which asks meaningful questions, encouraging you to apply the lessons learned. They are very thought provoking & I found myself journaling my answers as I went along.
I appreciated Dr Culliford’s definition of spirituality vs. religious. “Spirituality is not in itself the same as holding a particular religious belief, being religiously observant, or belonging to an established faith tradition. You can experience the spiritual dimension without any of these, and such experience tends robustly to be both inclusive and unifying.”
The book describes the ‘levels of need’ that we have as human beings, from the basic survival (food & shelter), to occupation & relationships, to things we desire beyond the basics, to finally the need for meaning & motivation... or the spiritual need.
I recommend this book to our readers who are looking for an in-depth study of the human condition & how it is made better through Love. From love springs the healing and happiness for all our tomorrows. It makes us brave enough to ask the big questions, and opens our minds up to receive the answers.
This book can be purchased online for $19.95 at:
Happy Reading!
Rev Dr Sandra Gaskin