Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life

With the clarity and spiritual depth characteristic of the great spiritual classics, this religious bestseller lays out for today's Christian a perceptive and insightful plan for living the spiritual life and achieving the ultimate goal of that life: union with God.

Nowen views our spiritual "ascent" as evolving in three movements. The first, from loneliness to solitude, focuses on the spiritual life as it relates to the experience of our own selves. The second, from hostility to hospitality, deals with our spiritual life as a life for others. The third and final movement, from illusion to prayer, offers penetrating thoughts on the most mysterious relationship of all: our relationship to God. Throughout, the author's thesis is that the more we understand (and not simply bypass) our inner struggles, pains, and hostilities, the more fully and sensitively will we be able to embrace a prayerful, genuine spiritual life that is open as well to the needs of others.