100 Journeys for the Spirit: Sacred * Inspiring * Mysterious * Enlightening

Description

At dawn I wake up to bells . . . red-tailed hawks above the golden pampas grass and the great, still blue plate of the Pacific far below . . . Many places offer you beauty, grandeur, spaciousness; none but Big Sur, in my experience, tells you so powerfully that all those blessings lie within. -Pico Iyer on Big Sur, California Some places move us at a profound level-with a kind of inner beauty that puts us in direct touch with the spirit. It might be a temple, a church, a monument, a wayside shrine, or a landscape feature that is saturated in the ambience of ancient sacred traditions. Such places are worth taking the trouble to visit. They add meaning to our lives, awakening a sense of beauty, tranquility or awe. From the prehistoric megaliths of Carnac in Brittany to the Buddhist temple complex of Borobodur in Java, from the giant medicine wheel at Bighorn, Wyoming in the USA to the Confucian Temple of Heaven in Beijing, this book will guide you on a journey to 100 of the world's most spiritually uplifting sites. Accompanying the superb photographs are evocative descriptions of each place, many from esteemed writers who share their personal responses in their own inimitable style. Read Joseph Williams III on Pipestone in Minnesota, Jan Morris on Croagh Patrick in County Mayo, Michael Ondaatje on the Arankale Forest Monastery in Sri Lanka, and more. And if you wish to seek out these places for yourself, there is a helpful gazetteer at the back of the book giving key facts for visitors. By immersing ourselves in those special places where landscape, art, and spirit meet in a radiant intersection, we enlarge our perspective on life. This book gives us the inspiration and knowledge to do so.

Pico Iyer is a respected travel writer, close confidant of the Dalai Lama, and author of more than ten books, including Video Night in Kathmandu, Cuba and the Night, and The Open Road. Michael Ondaatje is a renowned novelist, memoirist, and poet. His five works of fiction include The English Patient and Anil's Ghost. Joseph Marshall III is an influential Native American historian, writer, teacher, and actor. He is the author of 14 books, including The Lakota Way- Stories and Lessons for Living. Paul Theroux is an acclaimed travel writer and novelist. He is the author of more than 45 books, including Picture Palace, The Mosquito Coast, and Dark Star Safari. Andrew Motion is a celebrated poet, novelist, and biographer. He was Poet Laureate of the UK from 1999 to 2009. In addition to almost 20 collections of poetry, his books include Philip Larkin- A Writer's Life and the memoir In the Blood. Jan Morris is one of the world's most admired travel writers. She has written more than 30 books, including the Pax Brittanica trilogy and portraits of Venice, Oxford, Manhattan, Sydney, Hong Kong, Spain, and Wales. Mark Tully is a prolific journalist based in India, where he was the BBC Correspondent for 22 years. He is the author of more than ten books, including India in Slow Motion and No Full Stops in India. Alexander McCall Smith is a bestselling author of more than 60 books, including The No 1. Ladies' Detective Agency series.