"The Secret Despair of the Secular Left is a powerful and intimate journey into the heart of our disenchanted world. It will be an eye-opening read for anyone with a nagging sense that something is wrong in our post-religious, tech-happy era, but can't quite put a finger on it. Levy-Lyons lifts up the stories of ordinary people and interprets them as if they were dreams, allowing us to climb inside them, look around, and understand our lives at a deeper level. She gently invites us to see the layers of grief and loss just below the surface. In naming the hidden losses of our modern era, this book gives voice to our deepest yearnings for real connection. It can empower us and inspire us to move toward change."
The Secret Despair of the Secular Left
Our Fraying Connections with Our Communities, Our Bodies, and the Earth
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Available June 10, 2025
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A compelling and timely exploration of the spiritual void in modernity, and an invitation to reclaim a more connected and spiritually fulfilling way of life.
What is lost when we lose our religion? Our traditions? Connection and community? In The Secret Despair of the Secular Left, Ana Levy-Lyons seeks to find out. Levy-Lyons, a rabbinical student with a previous 18-year career as a Unitarian Universalist minister, shares insights into what goes missing when we lose our religious underpinnings and deeply held beliefs and practices. Drawing from a wide range of perspectives, including Jewish, Christian, and eastern religious traditions, Indigenous societies, and countercultural communities, Levy-Lyons aims to understand the sources of our modern despair and help readers find pathways of healing and reconnection.
Levy-Lyons investigates three primary losses in today's world: disconnection, dislocation, and disembodiment. Disconnection refers to the loss of ties to community and each other in a world dominated by virtual interactions and polarizing social media. Dislocation is our separation from the earth and our intrinsic relationship with the land and our roots. Finally, disembodiment finds us alienated from our physical selves and our spiritual essence. In a society increasingly detached from our essential nature, we have forgotten the profound knowledge and wisdom that our bodies hold.
When we realize what we've lost, we experience deep grief. But in exploring and understanding these losses, we are also self-empowered to reclaim pathways to more connected, grounded, and spirit-filled lives.