Loneliness and Revelation is an erudite examination of a difficult subject, written with an easy grace that renders it both easily accessible and deeply present. Recommended. 

Thought provoking and erudite, yet written with Myers’ easy grace it remains easily accessible and deeply present. 

Brendan Myers’ Forty-Five Meditations on Loneliness and Revelation: A Study of the Sacred puts us all adrift an ocean of loneliness. From the beginning of this gentle narrative, he predicts that no one will agree about being lonely, and, while it is true that the isolation he describes in connection with the Neolithic stone monuments of Western Ireland or the Inukshuks of the Canadian Artic sounds a welcomed relief and escape from the urban commotion of our times, he speaks more profoundly of loneliness itself as an existential condition of human life – a property of the very nature of things that such distractions as TV, radio, phone sex, the internet, parties, pubs, entertainment, shopping, spiritual retreats, volunteer work, politics and/or greed cannot truly mask and certainly cannot eliminate. But the author does not leave his reader continually lost within the cosmically immense sea of separation. Celtic, Inuit and other monuments are built to establish a visible human presence in the world and, like music, keep the loneliness of the world at bay “for a while.” But rather than resignation and surrender, solitude allows one to face the insignificance and meaninglessness of her/his life. By truly and openly recognizing loneliness, Myers argues, we are then allowed to begin the task of crafting a good and beautiful life. And this for him is “the Revelation” – an event or occasion in which something of existential and spiritual significance appears; an embodiment of its maker’s loneliness. In short, it is an experience of the presence of any being capable of asserting its own existence in the world as a fundamental affirmation. Quite simply, the four declarative movements of the Revelation are the message: I am here; this is who I am; what I am is beautiful; and the question ‘Is anyone else out there?’ which, in turn, leads to the transformation or collective extension: we are here; this is who we are; what we are is beautiful; and is anyone else out there? While Myers skirts with Platonic and Neo-platonic analyses that to my way of thinking tend to elevate and reify the non-material over the terrestrial, his abstractions (Being, Beauty, Revelation) do not remain transcendental but become here and now embodied presences. As he makes clear, the ethical does not proceed from divine vision but from the human response to the vision. What is of utter significance is the assertion of being, the affirmation of the goodness and beauty of life, and then acting as if this is true. By doing so, this makes it true. Myers admits that the gods may be simply psychological projections and human fantasies, or they might otherwise be other lonely presences who produce their own wondrous Revelations of presence. ‘God’ himself/herself/itself would be equally lonely and experiencing the same existential condition that we do, but the assertion of the here-ness and now-ness of something-which-is-not-nothing is never a commandment to be obeyed but rather something to be experienced. If virtue is not a hedonistic pleasure, it is according to Myers to be associated with art. In the integrated and grounded understanding that Myers softly and personally but carefully and astutely leads the reader through, the ethical and aesthetical are to be seen as one and the same and as the very foundation for the desirability of life. ~ Michael York, Theologian, Bath Spa University; author of \"Paganism as a World Religion\"

The title will be an attenion grabber for many people who suffer from loneliness. The author, Brendan Myers, is philosophical in his approach, not offering practical solutions but food for thought. Indeed, his aim is to explain the concept and experience of loneliness within a much bigger framework than the individual personality. He talks eruditely about the loneliness of the universe itself. He describes loneliness as an existential condition not just a social phenomenon concerned with our relationships, or lack of them. Loneliness is here described as a means towards accepting the spiritual elements of life, a prerequisite in fact, for the inward searching for enlightenment by solitary mystics and artists alike 

Brendan Myers in his probing Forty-Five Meditations on Loneliness and Revelation: A Study of the Sacred explores the absolute uniqueness of each individual as part of the existential solitude of human life. This inquiry into isolation and separation as a life-affirming good begins interesting and steadily becomes more interesting. Both lightly personal and philosophically penetrating, the author cogently argues that, beyond the superficial diversions we employ to distract ourselves from fear, insignificance and meaninglessness, there is the ‘Revelation’ of presence and identity. This avowal concerning the goodness and beauty of life is ultimately an act of personal will – one that challenges the reader to examine, direct and even change her or his life. More than just another vitally important book, Myers’ analysis confronts our very raison d’être against our uncertain times. He asks the questions that most prefer not to ask. ~ Michael York, Theologian, former director of the Sophia Centre at Bath Spa University, and author of Pagan Theology: Paganism as a World Religion

Loneliness, like old age and death, is a taboo subject in our neophilic culture that worships youth and surface at the expense of depth and experience. Brendan Myers, in this thoughtful and eloquent book, travels to the heart of the existential issues that underpin the experience of loneliness. In doing this, he reveals the potential that loneliness holds for each of us to realize our full humanity. Instead of being an experience to avoid at all costs, this book shows how it can act as a gateway that can help us deepen our sense of being alive. ~ Philip Carr-Gomm, Author of Sacred Places and A Brief History of Nakedness

As if washed through by a rain storm, this short book sparkles and glints with clarity, honesty and beauty. For those who have dedicated their life to the search for truth and the experience of the sacred, these are issues gentle and thoughtfully handled. It is no self-help book; it is more intelligent, subtle and respectful of the reader. Each of the 45 pieces, particularly if taken as daily meditations, are valuable provocations to deep thought and inspired consideration. A valuable piece of work. ~ Emma Restall Orr, Author of Living with Honour