| | How I Would Help the World ISBN: 978-0-87785-336-7 Author: Helen Keller Foreword By: Introduction by Ray Silverman Length: 112 pages Illustrations (#): 12 Medium: Book-PaperBack Item Price: $11.95 (in US Dollars) Note: Foundation members get a 20% discount at shopping cart. Member price is only: $9.56, not a member? Join Now, click here.
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Description:
This essay by Helen Keller expresses her deep gratitude to Emanuel Swedenborg, the Swedish seer, who had a profound influence on her spiritual life. In it she talks about the importance of love and truth in a world filled with materialism and selfishness, and the joy that comes from true understanding.
Her great advice on how she would help the world is to have people read Swedenborg's writings and thereby overcome the many problems of the human condition. She states, "It would be such a joy to me if I might be the instrument of bringing Swedenborg to a world that is spiritually deaf and blind." Her words are interwoven with photographs of her life and quotes from Swedenborg on spiritual topics. This book will be a treasure for readers who already know and respect Helen Keller and an inspiration for those who do not.
Author Bio:Humanitarian Helen Keller (1880-1968) was stricken with a disease that left her blind and deaf at only nineteen months of age. the story of how her teacher, Anne Sullivan, was able to break through and help her learn to communicate became an inspiration for millions. Keller quickly learned to read and write, and later became the first blind and deaf person to earn a college degree when she graduated from Radcliffe College.
Ray Silverman serves as College Chaplain and Assistant Professor of Religion at Bryn Athyn College, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. He is the editor/reviser of Helen Keller's Light in My Darkness, and has co-authored with his wife, Star, Rise Above It: Spiritual Development through the Ten Commandments. Ray has lectured nationally and internationally on theories of Biblical atonement and is currently working on two new books, A Seamless Garment: A Study of the Four Gospels as a Continuous Narrative and I'm Not Religious, I'm Spiritual: the Inner World of Today's College Student. Ray has a Ph.D. in English and Education from the University of Michigan, and a master's degree from Wesleyan University. He is a member of the society for Biblical Literature, the American Academy of Religion.
Reviews:
"The only thing worse than being blind is having sight, but no vision." This opening quote by Helen Keller sets the tone for what follows on the pages of this concise little book. Ray Silverman superbly introduces us to the inner dynamic of this remarkable person, Hellen Keller, who carried the banner of social reform to all, and who foresaw a more spiritualized civilization ahead. Her own insight and spiritual vitality was nurtured through reading Christian Scriptures, as interpreted by the Swedish seer Emanuel Swedenborg. She fully embraced Swedenborg's teachings of a loving God, and that our purpose in life consisted of manifesting God's love in the world through service.
When I reached the end of Helen's essay, "How I would help the world," I marveled at the wisdom it contained. And I could truly echo Ray Silverman's inspired caption to his introduction, "Helen Keller: Seer of a New Civilization." Although we know her as an inspiring writer and social reformer, thank you, Ray, for showing us more of the inner life of Helen Keller that motivated and sustained her to carry out her perceived mission in life in spite of her disabilities.
I highly recommend this beautifully rendered gift book to everyone, especially to people of vision who want to make a difference in the world through the increment of love and wisdom they have to offer to others.
Ann V. Graber, Author of The Journey Home
The life and writings of blind and deaf activist and humanitarian Keller (The Story of My Life) are well known. Less known are the role of Swedenborgian Christianity in her life and her important essay on the subject. This book includes that out-of-print piece as well as a substantial essay by Ray Silverman, editor of the 1994 edition of Keller's
Light in My Darkness, which made clear for the first time Keller's faith in Swedenborg's beliefs. Keller's writing is always a marvel of lucidity, and Silverman adds to the store of our understanding of her and her faith.
VERDICT: Keller's example continues to inspire many, and this brief treatise and its apparatus help to explain her inner strength and continuing appeal; excellent for school groups, church groups, and all interested readers.
Library Journal, March 1, 2011 issue
Helen Keller, How I Would Help the World
Imagine Jesus as divine love; Christ as divine truth. Imagine people of all faiths, color, creeds--or not--practicing the love of the sacred toward themselves and others. Imagine a God no longer created in our image, hating the same people we hate, but valuing every human equally. Imagine the clergy, like Swedenborg, gleaning the truths of our sacred mythology and teaching this love. Imagine not having to know the creeds to know this sacred entity. Imagine a world where we respect the divine in every human and reach out to help them. Imagine doing unto others as we wish others to do to us. Imagine a world where people are not judged by their creeds, etc., but my their service.
This god of total love, who is not capable of hate or anger, calls us to serve and this is the God Helen Keller wants us to know. Imagine how our world would be different if everyone heard and acted on this message. Imagine!
A book for everyone. Jola Royer, Wild Women Book Club, Michigan
Blind, but now I see
Helen Keller realixed that the spiritual insight that she was granted was far more important than the physical sight and hearing that she lost. The help that she would wish to offer the world was that more people might come to have this insight as well. This small book (6 inches square and only just over 100 pages) conveys a powerful message. Originally publihsed as a slim pamphlet, Helen's words are fleshed out photographs and explanations that give a setting and context to her sentiments.
Helen's inspiration was a Christian world view, but one that was informed by the understanding of the Christian Scriptures and the nature of God as explained in the works of Emanuel Swedenborg. One of the unique features of this lettle gem is the appendix that it lines up the statements of Helen Keller with parallel passages in the works of Swedenborg expressing the same ideas. It reveals what a deep and thoughtful student Helen was of Swedenborg's writings.
The book begins with an introduction by Ray Silverman. The text by Helen Keller that follows comprises three chapters:
1. A Great River of Light
2. A Nobel Conception of God
3. A Love that Embraces All
The book concludes with the appendix and suggested further reading.
Helen Keller's prose is vivid and masterful. Ray Silverman's introduction is very helpful and also embodies the work of a craftsman of the English language.
The book is a delightful contribution to the often neglected spiritual side to Helen's powerful story.
Stephen D. Cole, Bryn Athyn, PA
How I Would Help the World
This is a wonderful little book where Helen Keller concisely and clearly explains why her Christian faith and spirituality are grounded in Emanuel Swedenborg's writings. It is wonderfully designed and illustrated as well. It makes a fine book to keep by your bedside or give to friends and family.
Herbert Ziegler, Cambridge, MA
Learning about Helen
A concise statement of Keller's faith and hope for the world. In particular the application of that faith as action in daily living. No boundaries, no limitations of a particular doctrine; "a life of useful service." A model to strive toward. Diane H.
Highly Recommended
I can only describe this as a tiny book with a huge message. The words of both Helen Keller and Emanuel Swedenborg will haunt readers long after the book is done. You will either find it confirming and reassuring or begin to rethink your core beliefs, depending on your own present view of spirituality and religion.
Helen Keller requires no introduction. More than fifty years after her death, she remains an inspiration to us all. Ray Silverman, College Chaplain and Asst. Professor of Religion at Bryn Athyn College in Pennsuylvania, is an editor/author. How I Would Help the World is his assembly of little know information based on Helen Keller's essay and her spiritual autobiography.
The beautiful photographs of Helen add a personal connection to this fascinating human being. Without sight, hearing or speech she conquered her darkness and emerged a bright shining inspiration to the world. Her words are as important today as they were when they were written. Ray Silverman has recognized this and brings us an empowering gift.
The writings of Emanuel Swedenborg are timely, and insightful. The format of the book compares Swedenborg's writings with Helen's and emphasizes their mutual understanding of our universe and our life's purpose here on earth.
The Swedenborg Foundation in Pennsylvania houses the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. Visit their website for more information.
Shirley A. Roe, Allbooks Review www.allbooksreviewint.com
Excellent to inspire yourself or a friend
My heart is warm every time I read something written by Helen Keller. Few things could be as inspirational as a person who could find so much beauty in life without being able to see or hear. This little book is based on an essay that Helen Keller wrote, expressing her fervent desire to share the love she felt for the works of Emanuel Swedenborg.
The introduction by Ray Silverman briefly tells Helen's story, with a special emphasis on her introduction to Swedenborg's works by John Hitz, a friend of Alexander Graham Bell. Annie Sullivan had brought Helen the tools for a mental awakening, and John Hitz brought the tools for a spiritual awakening that would give Helen the basis for her amazingly positive and hopeful viewpoint.
Helen was only 14 years old when she was first handed a copy of Swedenborg's Heaven and Hell, but she could immediately feel that this was a work of great significance. As she grew to understand the text more and more, she found increasing amounts of joy and wonder. In How I Would Help the World, Helen uses her poetic, affectionate style to tell us why she finds the concepts in Swedenborg's works to be so useful and wonderful. This small book provides an excellent way to inspire yourself or a friend to realize the treasures that lie in those writings. With respect and warmth, the Swedenborg Foundation has taken on the task of helping Helen Keller to help the world.
Karin Childs, Oak Arbor Church Bookroom and Foundation Publishing
Exemplifies the lasting influence of Helen Keller's thoughts on the world
How I Would Help the World showcases Keller's extraordinary intelligence, her compassion, her thirst for knowledge, and her remarkable ability to see without sight. As she is so eloquently quoted in Silverman's introduction, "The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision."
Press Releases:
How I Would Help the World, by Celebrated 20th Century Heroine Helen Keller, in Release by Swedenborg Foundation PressWest Chester, PA - Helen Keller's How I Would Help the World (Swedenborg Foundation Press, $11.95, 112 pages, paperback, ISBN-13 978-0877853367) will be released April 1, 2011 on Internet bookseller web sites (Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Swedenborg.com, and others), and in U.S. bookstores. Rev. Dr. Ray Silverman, a college chaplain from Pennsylvania, assembled little known information about Keller and wrote the introduction.
Helen Keller (1880-1968), despite the loss of sight, hearing, and normal speech at 19 months of age, went on to inspire millions as a graduate of Radcliffe College (Latin, German, French, belles-lettres), an author of 12 books, a speaker in 39 countries, and as a tireless advocate for women's rights and those with disabilities. She is considered one of the most widely admired persons of the 20th century.
The book, full of eloquent prose and beautiful photographs, is an invitation into Helen's private life and provides a glimpse of what inspired her to rise above the darkest of times personally and professionally. What was the secret behind Helen's invincible optimism? It was her discovery of wisdom contained in Emanuel Swedenborg's teachings. She wrote about the importance of love and truth over materialism and selfishness as the way to help heal the world.
Author and humorist Mark Twain wrote, "She doesn't know merely things, she is splendidly familiar with the meanings of them... Her pages are electric with light." Most recently, President Barack Obama dedicated a chapter of his children's book Of Thee I Sing, Letter to My Daughters to Helen Keller and wrote "never waiting for life to get easier... (she) gave others courage to face their challenges."
Library Journal comments, "Keller's writing is always a marvel of lucidity, and Silverman adds to the store of our understanding of her and her faith." This is an inspiring little empowerment bible to carry around, an excellent gift, a welcome discovery for readers who already know of Helen, and, an authoritative introduction for those who do not.
The Swedenborg Foundation, housed in a historic building in West Chester, PA, publishes the writings of Swedish scientist and philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772). The non-profit organization, founded over 150 years ago, also publishes works that relate to Swedenborg's influence on the arts, religion, theology, psychology, and literature. Much of his writing relates to a deeper understanding of Christianity, often referred to as the New Church. A number of well-known people have been fascinated and/or influenced by Swedenborg's insights—Helen Keller, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, HonorĂAŠ de Balzac, Immanuel Kant, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Carl Jung, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, August Strindberg, DT Suzuki, and Dr. Mehmet Oz. See www.swedenborg.com for more information.
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