The Art of Amazement

I want to tell you about a book that just came to my attention. It's called The Art of Amazement (isn't that a wonderful title?) and it's about meditation from a Jewish point of view. Here's a description:

Have you ever stopped to look at a breathtaking sunset and felt tremendous joy, calmness, or even timelessness? Has your entire body ever responded to something with awe? The Art of Amazement helps us to identify the source of that wonder, and to cultivate it and experience it daily - even hourly and minute by minute.

Rabbi Seinfeld's powerful book outlines the ancient Jewish spiritual arts in clear terms for any spiritual seeker. The art of amazement is practical and accessible to anyone, and does not demand a radical lifestyle change. Each chapter in the book offers a lesson paired with exercises to help make small changes in routine to ultimately achieve a larger shift in perspective.

Judaism is a profound and complex spirituality. Now The Art of Amazement brings this wisdom within reach of us all, and we can learn how to take joy and pleasure in even the smallest of everyday occurrences.

About the Author: Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld received a B.A. in Classics and an M.A. in anthropology. He lived and studied in yeshivas with some of the most renowned Jewish mystics of our times. Currently he conducts Art of Amazement seminars around the world, and lives with his family in Baltimore, where he is working toward a Ph.D. in ancient Jewish texts.

Here's what one reader says:

I'm not exaggerating - there's something about this book that speaks to me more than others in the genre. I've read a lot of books on "spirituality", "meditation", "Jewish meditation", "Kabbalah", and so on, and this is the first one that really inspired me to become a better person. The reason may be Rabbi Seinfeld's philosophical clarity - the way he explains the philosophical way to understand "God" (which he calls "The Infinite"), really works for me. He then brilliantly spplies this framework to a number of basic Jewish customs. For the first time, I feel like I understand what the rabbi was always trying to do in Temple, but I think even he didn't understand. It's like the fog has lifted and I see not only Judaism but my whole life dfferently now.

I haven't read this book but I think I'd like to. I think I'd learn a lot.