Signals of Transcendence: Listening to the Promptings of Life
Digital Verbum Edition
Overview
There must be something more to life.
The modern world is a place of great distraction, and it can be difficult to make sense of our human existence. But at some point in our lives, we may experience particular moments that prompt us to search for something deeper. Sociologist Peter Berger described these hints and clues as “signals of transcendence” that awaken us to unseen realities.
Os Guinness tells stories of people who experienced signals of transcendence and followed them to find new meaning and purpose in life. Notable figures such as Leo Tolstoy and C. S. Lewis as well as lesser-known individuals experienced a variety of promptings that signaled to them that life could not continue as they had thought. Through unsatisfied longings or disillusionments that yet yielded glimpses of beauty or joy, these moments drew people toward epiphanies of transformation. And the same can be true for us, should we have the courage to follow the signals wherever they may lead.
Listen for the signals. And discover what more awaits those with ears to hear.
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- Features stories of people who experienced signals of transcendence and followed them to find new meaning and purpose in life
- Illuminates the dark paths of history's chaos, traumas, and violence
- Introduction: Something More to Life?
- The Lights of Home: Malcolm Muggeridge
- Everything Is All Right—or Is It? Peter Berger
- Cries to Heaven, Cries for Hell: W. H. Auden
- Heart-Cracking Goodness: Philip Hallie
- Stopped in His Tracks by a Dandelion: G. K. Chesterton
- Surprised by Joy: C. S. Lewis
- The Haunting Caricature: Windsor Elliott
- What If My Whole Life Has Been Wrong? Leo Tolstoy
- If Love Is Not Forever: Whitfield Guinness
- Never Too Late: Kenneth Clark
- Postscript: Time for an Awakening
In his usual erudite clarity, Os Guinness illuminates the dark paths of history's chaos, traumas, and violence with Signals of Transcendence. This book is a gold mine of wisdom, a gift for generations to come. For all of us meandering as border-stalking artists, drowning in the undertows of cultural currents that wash away our confidence in institutions of faith, classical learning, and worldly systems, Guinness is a pedagogical North Star that guides to enlarge our imaginations and to give courage for that journey. I found myself gripped with every page of this book, called into the minute particulars of every word, in order to behold, to begin to mend the fragments of broken fissures in our time.
—Makoto Fujimura, artist and author of Art+Faith: A Theology of Making
A tremendous little book, crackling with challenge, insight, and truth. Essential reading for anyone brave enough to open their mind and think.
—Norman Stone, director of the original Shadowlands