God is No Laughing Matter

An Artist's Observations and Objections on the Spiritual Path

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$24.00 US
Penguin Adult HC/TR | TarcherPerigee
24 per carton
On sale Oct 01, 2001 | 9781585421282
Sales rights: US, Canada, Open Mkt
In God Is No Laughing Matter, bestselling author Julia Cameron takes a witty, powerfully honest, and irreverent look at the culture of "spirituality" today and offers insight to enable readers to determine their personal spiritual path. The important thing to remember, she says, is that God is both more humorous and more humane than we've been taught.

With her trademark "sparkling prose" (Publishers Weekly), anecdotes, and helpful techniques, Cameron's thought-provoking essays paint the spiritual journey in a refreshingly clear light. Addressing the way in which spiritual "experts" have clouded the message, her book shows readers how to improve concentration and how to make conscious choices that heighten their individual autonomy as well as enrich their lives and their communities.
God Is No Laughing MatterIntroduction
Blind Date
Connection
Conscious Contact
Prayer
Catch-up Ball
Rest
Very Spiritual People
Spiritual Cellulite
Spiritual Experts—How Many Angels Can Dance In This Joint?
Faith
Bullies
Extreme Skiers
Structure
Higher Companions
Spiritually Correct
You're Too Smart for All of That God Stuff
Teachers
Parent Bashing
God's Will
Bad Julie
Sneak
In A Spiritual Kind of Way
Buddha Pests
New Age Rage
Reality
Sex
Lingerie
Believing
School
Humor
The Sound Track
Appropriately Complex
Dunk in the Barrell
My Funny Valentine
Health
Beauty
Discernment
Spiritual Vampires
Spiritual Seduction
Spiritual Waifs
The Fame Game
Slick Velocity
New Age Healing
12-Step Programs
Kindness
Restlessness
Service
Detachment
Grief
Cherishing
Spirituality Salesman
God as We Understand God
Comedy Versus Tragedy
Acceptance
Dope-Dealer God
Depression
Cleaning
Family
Birds
Difficulty
Apologies
Ease
Continuity
Disappointment
Drop the Rock
Visions
Love Letters
Roots and Wings
Praise for THE ARTIST'S WAY...

THE ARTIST’S WAY by Julia Cameron is not exclusively about writing—it is about discovering and developing the artist within whether a painter, poet, screenwriter or musician—but it is a lot about writing. If you have always wanted to pursue a creative dream, have always wanted to play and create with words or paints, this book will gently get you started and help you learn all kinds of paying-attention techniques; and that, after all, is what being an artist is all about. It’s about learning to pay attention.”
--Anne Lamott, Mademoiselle
 
“The premise of the book is that creativity and spirituality are the same thing, they come from the same place. And we were created to use this life to express our individuality, and that over the course of a lifetime that gets beaten out of us. [THE ARTIST’S WAY] helped me put aside my fear and not worry about whether the record would be commercial.”
--Grammy award-winning singer Kathy Mattea
 
“Julia Cameron brings creativity and spirituality together with the same kind of step-by-step wisdom that Edgar Cayce encouraged. The result is spiritual creativity as a consistent and nourishing part of daily life.”
--Venture Inward
 
“I never knew I was a visual artist until I read Julia Cameron’s THE ARTIST’S WAY.”
--Jannene Behl in Artist’s Magazine
 
“Julia Cameron’s landmark book THE ARTIST’S WAY helped me figure out who I really was as an adult, not so much as an artist but as a person. And award-winning journalist and poet, Cameron’s genius is that she doesn’t tell readers what they should do to achieve or who they should be—instead she creates a map for readers to start exploring these questions themselves.”
--Michael F. Melcher, Law Practice magazine
 
“This is not a self-help book in the normative sense. It is simply a powerful book that can challenge one to move into an entirely different state of personal expression and growth.”
--Nick Maddox, Deland Beacon
 
THE ARTIST’S WAY (with its companion volume THE ARTIST’S WAY MORNING PAGES JOURNAL) becomes a friend over time, not just a journal. Like a journal, it provokes spontaneous insights and solutions; beyond journaling, it establishes a process that is interactive and dynamic.”
--Theresa L. Crenshaw, M.D., San Diego Union-Tribune
 
 “If you really want to supercharge your writing, I recommend that you get a copy of Julia Cameron’s book THE ARTIST’S WAY. I’m not a big fan of self-help books, but this book has changed my life for the better and restored my previously lagging creativity.”
--Jeffrey Bairstow, Laser Focus World
 
“Working with the principle that creative expression is the natural direction of life, Cameron developed a three month program to recover creativity. THE ARTIST’S WAY shows how to tap into the higher power that connects human creativity and the creative energies of the universe.”
--Mike Gossie, Scottsdale Tribune
 
THE ARTIST’S WAY is the seminal book on the subject of creativity and an invaluable guide to living the artistic life. Still as vital today—or perhaps even more so—than it was when it was first published in 1992, it is a provocative and inspiring work. Updated and expanded, it reframes THE ARTIST’S WAY for a new century.”
--Branches of Light
 
“THE ARTIST’S WAY has sold over 3 million copies since its publication in 1992. Cameron still teaches it because there is sustained demand for its thoughtful, spiritual approach to unblocking and nurturing creativity. It is, dare we say, timeless.”
--Nancy Colasurdo, FOXBusiness
 
 
 
Praise for VEIN OF GOLD, the second volume in the ARTIST’S WAY trilogy
 
“For those seeking the wellspring of creativity, this book, like its predecessor, is a solid gold diving rod.”
--PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

About

In God Is No Laughing Matter, bestselling author Julia Cameron takes a witty, powerfully honest, and irreverent look at the culture of "spirituality" today and offers insight to enable readers to determine their personal spiritual path. The important thing to remember, she says, is that God is both more humorous and more humane than we've been taught.

With her trademark "sparkling prose" (Publishers Weekly), anecdotes, and helpful techniques, Cameron's thought-provoking essays paint the spiritual journey in a refreshingly clear light. Addressing the way in which spiritual "experts" have clouded the message, her book shows readers how to improve concentration and how to make conscious choices that heighten their individual autonomy as well as enrich their lives and their communities.

Table of Contents

God Is No Laughing MatterIntroduction
Blind Date
Connection
Conscious Contact
Prayer
Catch-up Ball
Rest
Very Spiritual People
Spiritual Cellulite
Spiritual Experts—How Many Angels Can Dance In This Joint?
Faith
Bullies
Extreme Skiers
Structure
Higher Companions
Spiritually Correct
You're Too Smart for All of That God Stuff
Teachers
Parent Bashing
God's Will
Bad Julie
Sneak
In A Spiritual Kind of Way
Buddha Pests
New Age Rage
Reality
Sex
Lingerie
Believing
School
Humor
The Sound Track
Appropriately Complex
Dunk in the Barrell
My Funny Valentine
Health
Beauty
Discernment
Spiritual Vampires
Spiritual Seduction
Spiritual Waifs
The Fame Game
Slick Velocity
New Age Healing
12-Step Programs
Kindness
Restlessness
Service
Detachment
Grief
Cherishing
Spirituality Salesman
God as We Understand God
Comedy Versus Tragedy
Acceptance
Dope-Dealer God
Depression
Cleaning
Family
Birds
Difficulty
Apologies
Ease
Continuity
Disappointment
Drop the Rock
Visions
Love Letters
Roots and Wings

Praise

Praise for THE ARTIST'S WAY...

THE ARTIST’S WAY by Julia Cameron is not exclusively about writing—it is about discovering and developing the artist within whether a painter, poet, screenwriter or musician—but it is a lot about writing. If you have always wanted to pursue a creative dream, have always wanted to play and create with words or paints, this book will gently get you started and help you learn all kinds of paying-attention techniques; and that, after all, is what being an artist is all about. It’s about learning to pay attention.”
--Anne Lamott, Mademoiselle
 
“The premise of the book is that creativity and spirituality are the same thing, they come from the same place. And we were created to use this life to express our individuality, and that over the course of a lifetime that gets beaten out of us. [THE ARTIST’S WAY] helped me put aside my fear and not worry about whether the record would be commercial.”
--Grammy award-winning singer Kathy Mattea
 
“Julia Cameron brings creativity and spirituality together with the same kind of step-by-step wisdom that Edgar Cayce encouraged. The result is spiritual creativity as a consistent and nourishing part of daily life.”
--Venture Inward
 
“I never knew I was a visual artist until I read Julia Cameron’s THE ARTIST’S WAY.”
--Jannene Behl in Artist’s Magazine
 
“Julia Cameron’s landmark book THE ARTIST’S WAY helped me figure out who I really was as an adult, not so much as an artist but as a person. And award-winning journalist and poet, Cameron’s genius is that she doesn’t tell readers what they should do to achieve or who they should be—instead she creates a map for readers to start exploring these questions themselves.”
--Michael F. Melcher, Law Practice magazine
 
“This is not a self-help book in the normative sense. It is simply a powerful book that can challenge one to move into an entirely different state of personal expression and growth.”
--Nick Maddox, Deland Beacon
 
THE ARTIST’S WAY (with its companion volume THE ARTIST’S WAY MORNING PAGES JOURNAL) becomes a friend over time, not just a journal. Like a journal, it provokes spontaneous insights and solutions; beyond journaling, it establishes a process that is interactive and dynamic.”
--Theresa L. Crenshaw, M.D., San Diego Union-Tribune
 
 “If you really want to supercharge your writing, I recommend that you get a copy of Julia Cameron’s book THE ARTIST’S WAY. I’m not a big fan of self-help books, but this book has changed my life for the better and restored my previously lagging creativity.”
--Jeffrey Bairstow, Laser Focus World
 
“Working with the principle that creative expression is the natural direction of life, Cameron developed a three month program to recover creativity. THE ARTIST’S WAY shows how to tap into the higher power that connects human creativity and the creative energies of the universe.”
--Mike Gossie, Scottsdale Tribune
 
THE ARTIST’S WAY is the seminal book on the subject of creativity and an invaluable guide to living the artistic life. Still as vital today—or perhaps even more so—than it was when it was first published in 1992, it is a provocative and inspiring work. Updated and expanded, it reframes THE ARTIST’S WAY for a new century.”
--Branches of Light
 
“THE ARTIST’S WAY has sold over 3 million copies since its publication in 1992. Cameron still teaches it because there is sustained demand for its thoughtful, spiritual approach to unblocking and nurturing creativity. It is, dare we say, timeless.”
--Nancy Colasurdo, FOXBusiness
 
 
 
Praise for VEIN OF GOLD, the second volume in the ARTIST’S WAY trilogy
 
“For those seeking the wellspring of creativity, this book, like its predecessor, is a solid gold diving rod.”
--PUBLISHERS WEEKLY