THE MYSTICAL SYMPHONY

Bowen’s spiritual memoir celebrates connecting with the Divine in our everyday lives.

In the book’s opening essay, “In the Beginning,” the author recalls a vision she had at church as a 15-year-old. Before her, surrounded by a “golden, shimmering light,” was Jesus, who she saw “with eyes that are different, my inside eyes.” This apparition, which she refers to as the “Presence,” was the first of many spiritual visions Bowen has experienced in her more than 80 years of life. While detailed descriptions of these mystical experiences take center stage, the book’s real strength lies in the author’s emphasis on connecting with her “Creator” through daily experiences with family, music, and poetry. The essay “Here Now,” for instance, begins with a reflection on the beauty of music, particularly the intertwining of the sacred with creative impulses, and how composers like Bach and Handel wrote their music for the “Glory to God Alone.” Heavily influenced by Christian mystics like Hildegard von Bingen, Bowen’s ecumenical spirituality includes references to thinkers outside the author’s faith, including Buddhist nun Pema Chödrön and Ojibwe novelist Richard Wagamese. The book is profoundly spiritual but never preachy, written in a welcoming style that will appeal to readers across the religious spectrum. The author blends her more esoteric musings with down-to-earth ruminations on her career as an occupational therapist and her familial role as a mother and wife. Another essay, “Thresholds,” survey’s Bowen’s conflicting emotions after being diagnosed with breast cancer and undergoing a mastectomy. “I feel like I am on a roller coaster,” she tells her husband while on a run; “Sometimes I’m soaring, sometimes I’m terrified.” At just over 100 pages, the text strikes a successful balance between reveling in the simplicities of life and acknowledging the profound. The author of the 2002 genealogical memoir The Space Between (2002) in addition to academic textbooks, Bowen is a skilled writer whose prose manages to combine accessibility with elegance and a keen sense of esoteric mysticism born of a lifetime of spiritual contemplation and meditation.

A timely reminder of the divine beauty found in everyday life.