Romance At Its Best
Reviewed by:
Timothy E. McMahon, M.S.
Principal Web Developer
The McMahon Group
Linda Sedesky's first book titled "Gathering Our Divinity" is an intensely personal journey into the author's inner self. The author's journey into her own healing provides deep insight into the process of personal exploration and spiritual growth available to each of us. Sedesky employs the Socratic method to lead her readers to a space where the dark questions that lie just under the surface in each one of us are percolated up to bright sunlight. As these types of journeys will do, Sedesky's travels bring forth a broad range of questions that arose in her being as she traveled down her road to healing and self-understanding. When posed to the receptive reader, these questions can open a pathway to our own self-understanding and acceptance.
Sedesky's story is told through three books - though perhaps these would be better titled as meditations. One might compare this work to some of the team building exercises we have all heard about in various management and self-help seminars. These are the exercises where the individual grows from trust solely in the self, to trust in the team. Here though, the author leads the reader on a journey to see the inner divinity inherent in each one of us. From there she teaches us the value and strength of joining the human experience.
Book One looks at the author's inner struggles and turmoil, and like Rene Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy, Sedesky peels back the layers of self doubt, anxiety and pain to reveal the pristine truths that lie beneath. For this reader, the core of Book One was the section titled "Facing the Truth of Life." This section states the unambiguous truth that "Life is what you make of it. [It] is not a burden to be endured. It is an awakening of the spirit. It is the uncovering of you" (24). This passage is simple, plain spoken and irrefutable.
Book Two speaks to the power of sight and love and letting go of things like guilt and shame. It also articulates the profound energy that comes from our ability to experience the value of the choices we make. Here the author makes a conscious choice for transubstantiation from a purely self-centered oneness to a being at peace both with its self as well as with the whole of human experience.
The final book in this work brings us to a threshold where Sedesky stands on a "new foundation." Here she is willing to accept the truths she has uncovered in the long and fruitful journey she has undertaken. From this new place of understanding and choice, Sedesky offers her hand in an unmistakable gesture of leadership and assistance. Having worked her way through her own healing journey, she now turns those energies to us, offering a roadmap to our own self-discovery. The only question unanswered is whether we will accept Sedesky's healing hand.