Publisher's Synopsis
One Bright Pearl is the story of one mans quest for spiritual integrity in a time of global political, cultural and religious implosion. As Robert Kaku Gunn's memoir, One Bright Pearl, makes clear, the spiritual journey is often fraught with disparate, seemingly non-spiritual aspects such as sex, personal psychological conflicts, the social and political chaos of the '60's, doubt and booze-challenges without which the journey lacks fire, depth and wisdom. Perhaps that is the reason Gunn subtitles his book "an unholy memoir." Gunn, who has already chronicled the spiritual journeys of Japanese Zen Master Dogen, Christian monk Thomas Merton and analytical psychologist Carl G. Jung in his first book, Journeys Into Emptiness, now turns the focus on himself with bold, relentless intimacy. In One Bright Pearl we are introduced to the intricacies and intertwinings of sexual, spiritual and social identity, the inner and outer struggle with bullying, the sometimes messy effort to resolve the conflicting pulls of ambition and humility; the difficulty learning to extend a deep compassion to himself as well as others; the inner struggle to come to terms with his brother's cerebral palsy and its limitations; and mental illness in the family. Gunn knows whereof he speaks: ordained in the United Church of Christ over forty years ago, serving churches in Maine, Boston and New York, maintaining a psychotherapy practice in New York City for thirty years, and receiving ordination as a Zen Buddhist priest and teacher in the Village Zendo, every piece of his journey has been in pursuit of what Donald W Winnicott called "the true self." One Bright Pearl consists of three volumes: 1. An Unholy Memoir, 2. God is the Source of My Life, and 3. Song of Emptiness. Volumes I and II are available now. The third volume will appear next year.
