Templeton Bookspark

Recently we asked authors Nancy K. Morrison and Sally K. Severino a few questions related to their latest title, Sacred Desire.

Here’s what they shared:

Give us a quick summary of your book.

Sacred Desire shows how we can psychologically, neurobiologically, spiritually grow in compassionate living during these turbulent times.

What’s your favorite part of the book and why?

The part of Sacred Desire that we find most hopeful is the chapter entitled “Redemptive Attuning: Desire’s Continuing Journey.” This chapter takes Desire beyond healing into a spiritual journey where our urge to embody the sacred is safer and freer.

Describe your writing process.

Because Sacred Desire is about interrelatedness, it required at least two authors interrelating to write it. The process of writing, therefore, involved us individually and together.

Individually both of us were motivated to integrate spirituality and science. Individually we brought complimentary talents to the process. Nancy brought the “big picture” and Sally served as the “detail person.” We talked about our ideas together and Sally put them on paper.

We faced at least four challenges. Our first challenge was to find one voice. Because psychology, neuroscience, and spirituality each had its own language, our second challenge was to find one language that integrated them. Our third challenge was to conquer our fear of speaking out about spirituality, which is commonly looked down upon by our colleagues. Our final challenge was to find a publisher who would endorse our integration.

What would you wish to add or change?

Now that the book is published, we wish we had been clearer about the distinction between the vagus nerve and the vagal complex. In addition, we would like to realign the last part of the sidebar entitled “Spiritual Development.”

Since there is continuing research about how our bodies mediate our spirituality, we would like to add these findings as they emerge. For example, in addition to mirror neurons, Von Economo neurons are being implicated in fast intuitive assessments of complex social situations.

What did you learn from writing your book?

Sacred Desire seemed to have its own process of evolving. We learned that if we trusted and stayed within its innate flow, it would come to fruition in its time.