Writing - the Sacred Art

Rabbi Rami Shapiro a renowned teacher of spirituality across faith traditions and a noted theologian, is a popular speaker on the topics of Judaism, theology and spirituality. He is author of the award-winning The Sacred Art of Lovingkindness, Preparing to Practice, Recovery - The Sacred Art, The Twelve Steps as Spiritual Practice and Hasidic Tales.

"Beautiful…. The perfect combination of timeless wisdom, beautifully crafted language and practical, grounded exercises. A must-read for writers, spiritual seekers ... and all breathing human beings."—Rev. Susan Sparks, author, Laugh Your Way to Grace:Reclaiming the Spiritual Power of Humor; senior pastor, Madison Avenue Baptist Church“There is much more in this book than directives about writing. There's a spirituality, philosophy, psychology, cosmology and an amazingly creative array of writing prompts both playful and profound. Remarkable.”—Thomas Ryan, CSP, author, Soul Fire: Accessing Your Creativityand The Sacred Art of Fasting: Preparing to Practice“Invites you to plunge deeply into the excesses of life. [It] seduces you to write into 'the vivid, concrete details’ of the stuff you experience, to see what Jane Kenyon called ‘the luminous particular’—until it morphs into sacred art.”—Kent Ira Groff, retreat leader and founding mentor of Oasis Ministries; author,Writing Tides: Finding Grace and Growth through Writing“Ingenious…. Just when it’s starting to look like writing is going to be supplanted by tweeting, and the word spiritual is so overused that it almost has to be spelled with quotation marks, along comes [this book]. I’m surprised and delighted to say that with [its] guidance, it truly can be a spiritual practice.”—D. Genpo Merzel, author, Big Mind, Big Heart: Finding Your Way“Comfortable with the stories that define your life? Want to stay that way? Then do not read this book! Prefer to meet up with the Holy only in the safety of familiar rites? Do not follow these writing prompts! With the Shapiros as your chaperones, you might just find yourself in passionate embrace with the wild and contradictory nature of human existence. This is writing as an act of liberation from the cages of our own making.”—Margaret D. McGee, author, Sacred Attention: A Spiritual Practice for Finding God in the Momentand Haiku—The Sacred Art: A Spiritual Practice in Three Lines

• Rami's Preface ixAaron's Preface xiiiA Note on Collaboration xviiA Note on Structure: The Five Worlds and Writingas a Spiritual Practice xixIntroduction 11. Writing to Open the Body 9Projective Verse 12Soundings 14Dinggedicht 17Haiku 18Zang Tumb Tuuum 19Where Are You? 21Sing the Body Electric 22Who's Your Deity? 23Our Stories, Ourselves 26Sauntering 27Walking Around a Writer's Block 282. Writing to Open the Heart 31Jekyll and Hyde, or Despicable Me 33I'm Going to Kill You! 37Automatic Writing 39Dining with the Devil 44Dear Hated One 45Heart Lines 1 54Heart Lines 2: Rumi-nations 583. Writing to Open the Mind 61Who's In? Who's Out? 68The Power of Influence 70Bye-Bye Bias, Part 1 73Bye-Bye Bias, Part 2 75Definitions 78Writing Against Language: The Vorpal Blade 83I, Superhero 88Alter Ego 88Calling Dr. Freud, Calling Dr. Freud 89Sticks and Stones 90Who Am I? 95My Destiny 97The Name Game 98Narrowing the Narrow Mind 101The Three Garments of Self 1034. Writing to Open the Soul 105Lung 107Amazing Gazing 109Shoeless Moe, Part 1: Identifying Your Sandals 111Shoeless Moe, Part 2: Lech Lecha 112Against the Pathetic Fallacy 114Blackout Poems 115The Exquisite Corpse 116The Giving Tree Revisited 118Glimpsing the Bush 120A Day in the Wilderness 1215. Writing to Open the Spirit 123Resting in Soul 124Playing the Paradox, Part 1: Colorless Green Ideas 131Playing the Paradox, Part 2: Cut-up 134My Story, My Sage 1366. Turning the Spiral from Body to Spirit: Returning—by Way of Conclusion 141Homophonic "Translation" 143Turn and Return 145Acknowledgments 149Notes 151Suggestions for Further Reading 153