Seasons

"After 80 years, I am at last aware that my faith is deeply roots in nature." With these words prize-winning author Tolbert McCarroll begins his new book. Brother Toby, as he is better known, is a unique monk, spiritual writer and storyteller. Hans Kung has described him as a person of courage and creativity leading "to new forms of spiritual life and social involvement." In Seasons Brother Toby uses the experience of Starcross, his small and inclusive monastic community in Northern California, as a background for a month-by-month contemplative journey through the year. For a broader perspective, he adds excerpts from the 1874 Shaker Journal of Elder Otis Sawyer of Sabbathday Lake, Maine. Brother Toby speaks to the inner monk of people leading everyday lives. He treats some festivals as "rest stops" in the annual journey through the seasons and suggests authentic and nourishing ways to celebrate them. In the manner of his popular A Winter Walk, Brother Toby once again captures the sense of the sacred in daily life.