Soul: An Archaeology- Readings from Socrates to Ray Charles

Author: Phil Cousineau

Edition: 1st

Number Of Pages: 249

Details: From Booklist Collecting writings about the soul has been a hobby of sorts for editor Cousineau, whose earlier projects include a book on Joseph Campbell. Here he has gathered his favorite passages, drawing upon rich and eclectic sources that include Egyptian, Mesoamerican, Arabian, Celtic, and Hawaiian myths, Jewish legends, and African folktales, as well as the work of philosophers, theologians, psychologists, poets, and artists. Cousineau explains his approach to fathoming the soul in a prologue that swings boldly from esoteric musings to memories of his childhood in Detroit and his love of soul music, a manifestation of this awesome power if ever there was one. This all-inclusive outlook granted Cousineau the freedom to select a group of strange bookfellows, to coin a term, including Plato, Thomas Aquinas, Hildegard of Bingen, George Santayana, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Carl Jung, Walt Whitman, Milan Kundera, May Sarton, Wassily Kandinsky, Black Elk, Eldridge Cleaver, Raymond Carver, Ansel Adams, Alice Walker, and Ray Charles. Donna Seaman Product Description What does soul mean? Is it, as in Aristotle's classic definition, the "life-giving principle"? Is it the shiver up your spine when Aretha Franklin sings the blues? Or is it the simple, breathtaking beauty of a Pablo Neruda poem?Soul defies definition, yet it surrounds us, permeating every aspect of our lives and culture - from art, music, and literature to religion, society, and identity. Long fascinated by the conundrum of the soul, author Phil Cousineau set out to follow its elusive trail by collecting the voices of those who have, since ancient times, sought their own understanding of the "inner universe."Scanning "history's long bookshelf," Cousineau harvested a rich collection of writings that trace the evolving definition of soul, from an ancient Sufi master's eternal question to a reflection on soul food, which somehow makes you feel "that all's right with the world." A captivating "soul reader," Soul offers a spectacular range of stories, essays, poems, myths, and songs that sample the ways in which soul has been expressed through the ages and explores its myriad dimensions - philosophical, spiritual, theological, and even alchemical.Arranged in seven sections mirroring the "spiraling path of the soul," Soul traces The Fall of the Soul into Time, The Seat of the Soul, Heart and Soul, Soul Crisis, Soul Work, The World Soul, and Soul and Destiny.Selections include writings from such literary and historical luminaries as Carl Jung, James Joyce, Willa Cather, Thomas Aquinas, Susan Griffin, Tracy Kidder, St. Teresa of Avila, Raymond Carver, Jack Kerouac, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Alice Walker, Milan Kundera, Albert Schweitzer, T. S. Eliot, Wassily Kandinsky, Thomas Moore, and many, many more.

EAN: 9780062502391

Release Date: 01-02-1994

Package Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.6 x 1.0 inches

Languages: English