About the Book
In the tradition of Thomas Merton s spiritual classic "The Seven Storey Mountain" or Thomas Moore s "Care of the Soul, Waking Up to the Dark" is a deeply resonant and personal project a modern gospel that is an investigation of the relationship between darkness and the soul. The darkness Clark Strand is talking about here is literal: the darkness of the nighttime, of a world before electricity, when there was a rhythm to life that followed the sun s rising and setting. Strand here offers penetrating insight into the spiritual enrichment that can be found when we pull the plug on our billion-watt culture. He argues that the insomnia so many of us experience as the Hour of the Wolf is really the Hour of God a wellspring of rest and renewal, and an ancient reservoir of ancestral wisdom and inspiration. And in a powerful yet surprising turn, he shares with us an urgent message for the world, received through a mysterious young woman, about the changes we all know are coming. "Waking Up to the Dark" is a book for those of us who awaken in the night and don t know why we can t get back to sleep, and a book for those of us who have grown uncomfortable in real darkness which we so rarely experience these days, since our first impulse is always to turn on the light. Most of all, it is a book for those of us who wonder about our souls: When the lights are always on, when there is always noise around us, do our souls have the nourishment they need in which to grow? Praise for "Waking Up to the Dark" A celebration of the life-enriching indeed, indispensable properties of the night . . . Strand delivers a significant amount of experiential melding to existential thoughtfulness in this book about the sublime and elemental powers of the dark. . . . An exigent, affecting summons to rediscover the night. "Kirkus Reviews" This book is small in size and mighty in spirit. It is at once a clarion call and a meditation. Sonorous, deep, soul-stirring, and profoundly comforting, "Waking Up to the Dark" is a rare book that will be pressed from one hand to the next with the urgent, whispered words: "You mustread this." Dani Shapiro, author of "Devotion" In a modern world flooded with artificial light, Clark Strand reminds us what we have left behind in the dark. This beautiful, haunting meditation is filled with surprises and lost knowledge. Read it by candlelight you will never forget it. Mitch Horowitz, author of "Occult America "and "One Simple Idea" In this exhilaratingly original work, Clark Strand shows us that the key to enlightenment lies where we don t want to look. It is hidden in plain sight, but we have to turn the lights off to find it. Mark Epstein, M.D., author of "Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart"and "The Trauma of Everyday Life" "" Breathtaking and revolutionary, a small masterpiece for a world that has grown uncomfortable with the darkness and a poignant plea to take back the dark as the Hour of God, as the great friend of faith, awakening, and soul nourishment. Gail Straub, co-founder of Empowerment Institute and author of "Returning to My Mother s House" "" Wonder, solitude, quiet, intimacy, the holy darkness holds these treasures and more. If we want to connect with God, argues Strand in this wise and compassionate book, we will awaken to the dark. Paul Bogard, author of "The End of Night" "From the Hardcover edition.""
About the Author :
Clark Strand, a former senior editor at "Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, " has been studying the world s spiritual traditions for more than thirty years. The author of "Waking the Buddha," "Meditation Without Gurus," "How to Believe in God," and "Seeds from a Birch Tree, " Strand has written for "The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, " and the" Washington Post/Newsweek" On Faith blog. He is the founder of Way of the Rose, a growing nonsectarian rosary fellowship open to people of any spiritual background, with members around the world. He lives on a dark road with no streetlights in the southern Catskill Mountains. Will Lytle (illustrator) grew up in the Catskill Mountains, where, after years abroad as a hitchhiking, train-hopping vagabond, he returned to build a small house with wood from his family s lumber mill. Lytle is the creator of the guerilla-style Thorneater Comics series. "From the Hardcover edition.""
Review :
A celebration of the life-enriching indeed, indispensable properties of the night . . . [Clark] Strand delivers a significant amount of experiential melding to existential thoughtfulness in this book about the sublime and elemental powers of the dark. . . . An exigent, affecting summons to rediscover the night. "Kirkus Reviews" This book is small in size and mighty in spirit. It is at once a clarion call and a meditation. Sonorous, deep, soul-stirring, and profoundly comforting, "Waking Up to the Dark" is a rare book that will be pressed from one hand to the next with the urgent, whispered words: "You mustread this." Dani Shapiro, author of "Devotion" In a modern world flooded with artificial light, Clark Strand reminds us what we have left behind in the dark. This beautiful, haunting meditation is filled with surprises and lost knowledge. Read it by candlelight you will never forget it. Mitch Horowitz, author of "Occult America "and "One Simple Idea" In this exhilaratingly original work, Clark Strand shows us that the key to enlightenment lies where we don t want to look. It is hidden in plain sight, but we have to turn the lights off to find it. Mark Epstein, M.D., author of "Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart"and "The Trauma of Everyday Life" "" Breathtaking and revolutionary, a small masterpiece for a world that has grown uncomfortable with the darkness and a poignant plea to take back the dark as the Hour of God, as the great friend of faith, awakening, and soul nourishment. Gail Straub, co-founder of Empowerment Institute and author of "Returning to My Mother s House" "" Wonder, solitude, quiet, intimacy, the holy darkness holds these treasures and more. If we want to connect with God, argues Strand in this wise and compassionate book, we will awaken to the dark. Paul Bogard, author of "The End of Night" A wonderfully reassuring antidote to the punishing electronic churn of the digital mega-machine, "Waking Up to the Dark" offers a brave, lyrical, and singular challenge to the techno-narcissism that rules the day. James Howard Kunstler, author of "The Long Emergency" and the World Made by Hand novels This wondrous book reminds us of a forgotten place, a place obliterated by our screens and shining surfaces that catch the glancing light and hide the depths from us. Strand proposes a Dark Revolt. Join him as you read this revolutionary book! Joan Halifax Roshi, abbot of Upaya Zen Center and author of "Being with Dying" "" Clark Strand has written a powerful book, an insightful testament that reminds us what it means to be human. It enables us to revision and reclaim the dark as an ally in our need to rediscover wholeness for our world and for ourselves. David Spangler, author of "Apprenticed to Spirit" and "Igniting Earth" "From the Hardcover edition.""
