Besprekingen
The Doctor Within door Hal Zina Bennett
There are some interesting ideas about the Jungian concept of animus/anima.
Bennett's matter-of-fact acceptance of his own spirit guides is combined with a tolerant understanding that not everyone will find it comfortable working and communicating with non-corporeal beings. He makes allowance for this and, in a gentle non-aggressive way, supports his theories by recounting the views of other like-minded people including the great Carl Jung and Emanuel Swedenborg.
I had come across some of what was written about in this text in other books by this author, but there was sufficient new material to hold my interest and to offer me profound insights into the nature of spirit guides.
The final chapter "Choices on the Spiritual Path" is perhaps the most important in this slim volume. Dealing with the significance of the choices we make in our life, this chapter discusses how our higher spirit guides can help us make choices that allow us to recognize and define our unique individuality, while still recognizing and respecting our connection to all that is.
This is a little book (113 pages) that packs a big punch.
Hal Zina Bennett gently leads the reader through an exploration of both solitude and creativity. While he acknowledges the need for technical expertise, Bennett always focuses on the connection between a writer’s creativity and the Divine Source that inspires the creative work. With examples that ground the spiritual explorations in a practical reality, Bennett shows how this Divine connection links a writer’s consciousness with that of reader’s and ultimately transforms them both.
Bennett reminds authors of an important facet of writing too often forgotten in a world where modern technology makes writing a book almost too easy: writing a book is not about fame, fortune and technical perfection. Yes, he says, those are fortunate benefits writers secretly dream of…but, Bennett constantly reminds us, a truly creative writer is the one who taps into the soul and writes from deep within that mysterious source.
In equal parts easy to read and inspiring, this writing guide is one every writer, no matter where they are on their writing path, should read. Writers who follow these guidelines are sure to produce stories that touch readers where it counts: in the heart.
While this book is intensely geared for non-fiction spiritual writers, there is much to be gained for spiritual fiction writers too.
The practical guidance on how to approach writing a book is easy to read and digest, well set out and highly informative. Any writer, no matter what your genre or level of writing skills, will find something of practical use between these pages.
However, where Bennett comes into his own, is in the spiritual nuggets tucked away amongst the facts and figures of how to write spiritual fiction that editors will publish and readers will buy.
My personal favourite is his description of the act of writing as a spiritual experience: “Writing takes us deeper into ourselves, into a place that is beyond the demands and constraints of our egos. At its best, language can produce what the ancient Celts called “thin places,” that is, places or moments in life when the curtain between physical and spiritual worlds is swept aside, allowing us to peer out, past everyday reality, and catch a glimpse of the Divine. It’s here that we feel the full impact of our spiritual identity.”
This reminds me of the trance dances of the San shamans: writing can be a doorway to the other world beyond the real and it is there we will find our inner self.
With his unpretentious and friendly style, wide knowledge and his willingness to share what he knows with others, Hal Zina Bennett has created a book that should guide and sustain many an author on their personal incredible journey of writing.
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