The Woman Awake: Feminine Wisdom for Spiritual Life

Embracing spiritual teachers from among an eclectic group of women, Ryan looks into both the past and present as she strives to portray ways in which women can awaken into a new life, enlightened and knowing the Divine Mother. Ryan explores the different paths that the Divine Mother uses to call forth such life in women: solitude and prayer, surrender, power, motherhood and compassion. She selects a variety of writings from different teachers--e.g., Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama, Simone Weil, Hildegard of Bingen--to illustrate the number of paths available to those seeking to follow the path of the Divine Mother and become a ""woman awake."" Ryan also indicates the difficulties of taking this path to enlightenment: ""A woman awake...a woman with a fierce and awesome commitment...is a fearsome confrontation of our mediocrity and casualness inspiration is a cheap substitute for life! If we want the goods, we're going to have to pay a price...that's why the path is hard."" Ryan, a former Roman Catholic nun, is now a member of the Bauls of Bengal, India, an ecstatic sect of singers. (June)