from Oxford University Press
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Pat's poem, Barry Moser's illustration. Proceeds to AWA outreach. For the text of the poem, click here.
To hear Pat read the poem, click here.
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The Press Release from Oxford
HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN
WRITING AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
By Pat Schneider
When I begin to write, I open myself and wait. And when I turn toward an inner spiritual awareness, I open myself and wait. With that insight, Pat Schneider invites readers to contemplate their lives and deepest questions through writing. In seventeen concise thematic chapters that include meditations on topics such as memories, relationships, fear, joy, freedom, aging and death. How the Light Gets In gracefully guides readers through the artistic and spiritual questions that life offers to everyone.
Praised as a “fuse lighter” by author Julia Cameron and “the wisest teacher of writing I know” by the celebrated writing guru Peter Elbow, Pat Schneider has lived a life of writing and teaching, passion and compassion. With How the Light Gets In, she delves beyond the typical “how-to’s” of writing to offer an extended rumination on two inner paths, and how they can run as one. Schneider’s book is distinct from the many others in the popular spirituality and creative writing genre by virtue of its approach, using one’s lived experience—including the experience of writing—as a springboard for expressing the often ineffable events that define everyday life. Her belief that writing about one’s own life leads to greater consciousness, satisfaction, and wisdom energizes the book and carries the reader elegantly through difficult topics.
As Schneider writes, “All of us live in relation to mystery, and becoming conscious of that relationship can be a beginning point for a spiritual practice—whether we experience mystery in nature, in ecstatic love, in the eyes of our children, our friends, the animals we love, or in more strange experiences of intuition, synchronicity, or prescience.”
Features
- Through story, experience, and example, offers a model for writing as a spiritual practice
- Authored by renowned teacher of writing
- Provides clear-cut guidance for seekers and writers wanting to deepen their own spiritual paths and deal with life’s challenges such as fear, memories, relationships, aging, and death.
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7 Responses to The Latest Book
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Amherst Writers & Artists (AWA) is the organization that is carrying on the work Pat established and carried on for more than 30 years. To discover how you can write with an AWA Method Group, or become trained as an AWA facilitator, please click this link.
I have been reading this book on my Kindle, and each chapter is a gift of inspiration and presence for the writing that continues to fuel my own spiritual journey. I just ordered a hard copy, so that I can hold it in my hands while I write. These days, it takes a special book to live both in my electronic and physical library, and this is one of those books. Thank you, Pat, for bringing yourself and your experience of divine presence to every page. What an amazing gift.
Peace,
Sarah
Hi Sarah —
Thanks for responding on my book’s website — I am such a Neanderthal in cyberspace, I didn’t know there were messages there until my webmaster suggested I look at them. What a treat! Thank you for your generous comments — I know that buying a hardcover copy is a true act of heroism!! And I do understand doing it — the books I really love have notes all through them, which makes them doubly precious.
I send my best wishes for your writing, and for your own spiritual explorations.
Pat
I couldnt agree more Sarah…well said!
Dear Pat, I am in the process of having a family memoir published (am sure one day that it is good, in doubt the next that it might not be) and “How The Light Gets In” gave me confidence that I am on the right track. I know that my writing was more than just laying down the stories of my family, that it was also a spiritual practice for me. As I read your book I was grateful on many a night for the comfort and wisdom you shared. Thank you, Catherine Sevenau
To Catherine Sevenau
Thank you for letting me know that “Light” has been helpful to you in your own memoir writing. It is such a good feeling to be in companionship with others doing similar work. I send you my best wishes for your memoir, and for your own spirit’s journey.
Pat
Dear Pat,
I’m deep in the mountains of New Mexico, spending two weeks in retreat with my writing, with the intention to translate my memoir-stories into stage performances. I am beginning to weave together song, verse, story and movement. On my way out of town, I couldn’t resist stopping at a garage sale and your book caught my eye like a little ray of “Light”. The book is lovingly inscribed to a woman from a dear friend. I am now deep into the “Light”, and my own underlines, exclamation points and notes to self in pencil are keeping up with those of it’s previous owner – this makes me feel like a part of a lineage. You are a beautiful soul, Pat, and a great writer and poet. Thank you for the comfort, clarity and inspiration. A new desire is growing in me to teach what I have learned and am learning about the relationship between healing and writing. *Cyber hug*
Dear Pat,
Your book is like holding a prayer in my hands
A supplication to the mysteries of life
Unanswered thoughts, questions and feelings
A guide through the woods at night
Words woven comforting me in ways
Mom could not
She knew I would write my way out of the darkness to light
Those words came to me as I was reading “How the Light Gets In” on January 9, 2014. Thank you with all my heart, Myrna DeAgostino