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Soul Prints

Name: Soul Prints
Author: Marc Gafni
ISBN: 9780743416993

by Marc Gafni

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Overview

A brilliant, charismatic American philosopher currently living in Jerusalem, Marc Gafni has become an important new voice on religion and spirituality. His weekly television program, which speaks powerfully to people from every background and walk of life, has become enormously popular in Israel. Offering creative and passionate insights into timeless Biblical and other wisdom traditions, spiritual teacher Gafni has become an inspirational force for unity and personal growth abroad; now, his universal message comes to America, fully realized, in his first book.

Marc Gafni follows in the tradition of M. Scott Peck and Ram Dass, bringing compassion and wisdom to everyday experience. Addressing our age-old desire to feel connected, he uses spiritual stories to teach us how to live fuller, happier lives. The secret is to "live your story," and we do this by identifying our true, unique selves -- what he calls our "soul prints." Only then can we connect on a far deeper level with the world and with those sharing it alongside us.

While based in the realm of spirituality and philosophy, Soul Prints speaks to all readers, regardless of religious beliefs or practices -- or lack thereof. Using the power of myth -- Biblical and folk -- and drawing on his own personal highs and lows, Gafni offers advice on how to form bonds based in truth and love, along with penetrating analyses of our obstacles. In an increasingly disconnected world, it is still possible to make the connections that matter most: those that will banish loneliness; those that bring us satisfaction, passion, and joy; those that begin with our true selves.

Live your story. Here, a dynamic new voice shows the way.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Just as fingerprints are unique, so, too, says Rabbi Gafni, are soul prints: each human soul has an individual mark that it leaves behind on everyone it touches. Gafni, dean of the Merlitz Public Culture Center in Israel, weaves together autobiographical reflections with tips and exercises designed to help readers discover their soul prints and find fulfillment. Gafni begins with the premise that everyone is lonely and many people look for cures in places where they will never find them, such as sexual encounters. Many of the exercises in this splendid book are designed to help readers confront, and then cure, that loneliness. Gafni suggests that readers share what they learn while reading this book with a lonely person they know. Readers are then asked to make a "Soul Print box" that contains the things that are most important to them, and then to show the contents of that box to one other person. Gafni advocates the practice of random acts of kindness: "Bring happiness to one person each week, for no apparent reason." His tremendous breadth distinguishes this volume from so many spiritualized self-help tomes. He draws on the fantasy novella Flatlands and the teachings of Talmudic rabbis, on psychologists and prophets. He tells his own stories and biblical stories. Though steeped in Jewish wisdom, this book will be accessible and helpful to readers of many faiths. Gafni occasionally states the obvious (as when he notes that if "after a long day of living your life, you feel as if you are on the verge of tears," something might be amiss). But those few banalities can't ruin this insightful book. (Mar.) Forecast: This book is being published in conjunction with a major PBS special by the same title, scheduled to air in early March; this should have a significant impact on book sales. Gafni will be doing a 10-city author tour later that month. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.