Seascapes Of A Soul Wholeness And The Sense Of Self

The search for self-knowledge and identity is a common theme in autobiographies these days. So also is the search for a spirituality other than that of the conventional religions. Both are found in Seascapes of a Soul: Wholeness and the Sense of Self. This book is an account of a unique spirit on an often solitary journey. With clear argumentation and transparent honesty, this author presents a story that reaches towards individuation, gained partly through discovering C.G. Jung’s ideas about the psyche. Several themes recur: the onset of old age, Jungian individuation, solitude and aloneness, mood swings, a rejection of orthodox religion, a love for the natural world, an interest in gnosticism, the inner sense of the Divine. Her relationship with her twin sister is also prominent. There is light and dark here: the ups and downs of living with a twin. In rejecting the Christianity she grew up with she followed an innate urge to a spirituality that ultimately arose from the strong sense of self she had had from an early age. If this has a name it would be ‘gnostic’ because it is a perception of inner divinity, the God within. This is a woman’s story with a difference. Although, unlike so many, she did not have to struggle through a life of disadvantage and deprivation, she did have to wrestle with a powerful self that sometimes wandered up blind alleys into ego. But she learned to accept mistakes and incorporate them into what Einstein called a ‘calm and modest life’. Images of the sea, symbols of the unconscious, run through the book. The ‘seascapes’ at the head of each chapter function in the story as a leitmotif for the modes and moods of the spirit.

"[This is] a book about art (and writing about art), about emptiness, breathing, ordinary language, mysticism, the body, the sexes, childhood, parenting, impersonality, God, theory, exchange, change, tact, forms of inattention, belief, scepticism ..." Adam Phillips, from the new introduction.

This is a book about wilderness spirituality. It is not a manual about how to worship in the woods or find salvation through nature. It is a book about a certain kind of belief and faith that can transform the wilderness of life from arenas of confusion and fear into places of emancipation and hope. It is a book for all of us, because we all share a piece of the same wilderness. - RRR Idaho Sawtooth Mountains Rod was the greatest of the great gifts given to me, and we had an extraordinary life together. I will forever love him for the beauty of his spirit and open-hearted faith that he shared with such loving-kindness - always. I will always treasure the calmness of Rod’s last days with me by his side, with no intrusion or extreme measures - dressed by me, his very dearest, in his comfy jammies and a very simple burial. Rod cherished the final wilderness, his own death, and approached it with sublime gratitude and absolute peace. In death I have grown to know Rod in new ways, through the union of our spirits that is everlasting. Beverly Romney

Critical Theory Today is the essential introduction to contemporary criticial theory. It provides clear, simple explanations and concrete examples of complex concepts, making a wide variety of commonly used critical theories accessible to novices without sacrificing any theoretical rigor or thoroughness. This new edition provides in-depth coverage of the most common approaches to literary analysis today: feminism, psychoanalysis, Marxism, reader-response theory, new criticism, structuralism and semiotics, deconstruction, new historicism, cultural criticism, lesbian/gay/queer theory, African American criticism, and postcolonial criticism. The chapters provide an extended explanation of each theory, using examples from everyday life, popular culture, and literary texts; a list of specific questions critics who use that theory ask about literary texts; an interpretation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby through the lens of each theory; a list of questions for further practice to guide readers in applying each theory to different literary works; and a bibliography of primary and secondary works for further reading.

The definitive career retrospective of this revered and provocative UK artist. Explores Steadman's signature ink-splattered style, features a diverse body of work that includes satirical political illustrations and includes art from award-winning children's books such as Alice in Wonderland

Published to accompany the exhibition Jackson Pollock held the Museum of Modern Art, New York, from 1 November 1998 to 2 February 1999.