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Books by Carol Lee Flinders
"Nobody navigates the intersection of the spiritual and political like Carol Lee Flinders."
– Sue Monk Kidd
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At the Root of This Longing
Reconciling a Spiritual Hunger and a Feminist Thirst
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New York, NY: HarperOne, 1998
Paperback: 369 pages
ISBN: 006251315X
AMAZON PAPERBACK EDITION
Can you be a feminist and lead a spiritually fulfilling life in today's world? Does your yearning for spiritual connection often feel caught in a tug-of-war with your desire to be independent and equally valued? What does spirituality look like when it coexists with feminism’s sharp critical faculties? And what does feminism do when it is steeped in spiritual perspectives?
At the Root of This Longing is Carol's memoir of her journey to understand these apparently irreconcilable questions. She identifies and explores four key points at which the path of spirituality and feminism appear to collide:
- Vowing Silence vs. Finding Voice – How does one reconcile the spiritual practice of being silent and stilling the mind with the feminist practice of finding a voice and making oneself heard in the halls of oppressive institutions?
- Relinquishing Ego vs. Establishing Self – How does one reconcile the spiritual discipline of putting oneself last and unseating the ego with the feminist call to "know who you are" and establish and live up to one’s authentic identity?
- Resisting Desire vs. Reclaiming the Body – How does one reconcile the spiritual practice of re-channeling one’s desires and disidentifying with one’s senses with the feminist insistence on reclaiming the body and its desires from all those who objectify and demean it?
- Enclosure vs. Freedom – How is one to reconcile the discipline of turning inward and disentangling oneself from external and public activity with the feminist discipline of moving freely and "taking back the streets"?
Carol explores the apparent tensions between feminism and spirituality in her personal and often poignant journey that finally unveils her discovery that a life of meaning, self-knowledge, and freedom absolutely depends on the full realization that feminism and spirituality are more than just compatible -- they are mutually necessary.
Reviews
"An eloquent meditation on spirituality. When Flinders convinces us that spirituality and feminism are part of the same truth, the book takes on unbelievable power. Give yourself time to absorb the many complexities of this morning. Been awake the profoundly life altering conclusions you take away."
San Francisco Chronicle
"At the Root of This Longing is a passionate personal memoir as well as a guide for the perplexed."
Parabola
"Carol Lee Flinders provides the rationale, the means, and the inspiration to create a balanced, essential life -- one which responds to the urgings for a strong social voice that matters, and the contemplative solitude that lasts. She is the perfect witness and a wonderful writer."
Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D, , author of Women Who Run With Wolves.
"Absorbingly written and very revealing ...many women for whom patriarchal religion remains central will be touched and intrigued by Flinders' intellectual struggle."
Booklist
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