A New Harmony

“To listen for the heartbeat of God is to listen both within the vastness of the universe and within the intimacy of our own hearts.” writes John Philip Newell.

In his book, “A New Harmony: The Spirit, The Earth, and The Human Soul” Newell uses the lens of Celtic Christianity to probe the fragmentation of God’s world, and to suggest a new / old path of healing and unification.

In this book one encounters frequent enriching quotations from Carl Jung and Christian mystics Hildegard of Bingen; Meister Eckhart, Teilhard de Chardin, and Thomas Merton. I read the text, stopping many times to reflect. There is a richness here. The book could be “chunked” into a series of reflective exercises. Racing through the book would be like running through a patch of roses, missing the fragrances and subtle beauty of petal shapes, while gaining nothing but scratches.

What is it that will save us, Newell asks. What is the cost of love?

Newell has shared with us a light that will help us travel through the nighttime of individualism and disconnection toward the dawn of consciousness of an inter-connected world of Spirit, Earth and the Human Soul.

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