In Search Of The Healing Spirit

The late Dr. Nass Cannon Jr. (MD) was a physician for the indigent poor for over forty years and an internationally renowned scholar of the theologian and monk, Thomas Merton. In Search of the Healing Spirit follows a narrative arc across several essays of Dr. Cannon’s analysis and reflections on life and Thomas Merton’s theological contributions. First articulated by Dr. Cannon at the outset of his journey to serve the poor, the guiding principle of the book is an exploration of what it means to be broken and called to heal each other, ourselves, and the world. As Dr. Cannon writes, “I am a physician who views his root identity as one called to heal. Yet, I experience myself as broken, as one admonished by the phrase, ‘Physician, heal thyself.’ Perhaps you, too . . . experience yourself as a broken healer. Let us together explore some notions regarding the healer as broken, examine the nature of healing, and consider the relationship of the healer to one healed.” From this position as a broken healer, which implicitly embodies Merton’s contemplative spirituality, Dr. Cannon’s meditations over the course of his life of service increasingly weave in Merton’s contributions in search of the true self on such pressing—and universal—topics as grief and loss, the eternal nature and healing power of love, and to do what we can for each other with the time we are given. Dr. Cannon’s writings engage a twenty-first-century audience with insights—drawn from fifty years of study—that can aid lay persons, clergy, and academics to better understand what it means to be a broken person and through that brokenness to heal themselves and the world.

Three women--Joslow, West-Barker, and Mills--traveled across the US to meet, learn from, and record the stories of 14 practicing healers. The result of their journey in words and pictures is a testament to the lives and work of remarkable men and women. BOTMC selection. Photos.

The Healing Spirit explores the idea that there is healing in dialogue. Using examples from Judaic, Christian and Buddhist philosophies and drawing on his personal and professional experiences, Dr. Perri explains how he believes the healing spirit emerges when two people unconditionally encounter each other. Introducing his concepts of the invisible matrix, archetypal language, and the naked essentials of relation he draws on the works of Martin Buber, Carl G. Jung and Abraham Joshua Heschel and their germinal contribution to the topic. The Healing Spirit can be a valuable guide to anyone in the healing or helping professions or anyone who simply wishes to help another. The Healing Spirit explores many of the personal encounters of people in the depths of sorrow, and how meaningful interpersonal dialogue generated the essence of spirit in their lives. Dr. Perri embraces the idea that spirit emerges both within and between us when spirit is beckoned. It is the spirit that heals. It is The Healing Spirit.

Recipient of six book awards, this title is filled with ageless wisdom and spiritual truths. It reveals a simple yet profound map to enlightenment that anyone can follow, to make his or her journey to healing and inner transformation easy and enjoyable. It is a roadmap to healing from pain of separation and finding the joy of our eternal Being.

Using the Benedictine practice of lectio divina, or holy reading, as a way of reading an illness, as a way to relate better to one's body and soul.