Frederick Douglas Harper
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Harper's Spiritual Teacher Speaks is an excellent follow-up to his popular and powerful book, God’s Gifts: Spiritual Writings. Spiritual Teacher Speaks contains a series of brief prose or vignettes wherein a wise spiritual teacher answers questions on the topics of love, peace, giving, forgiveness, purpose and mission in life, freedom, truth, courage, and pain versus pleasure. Also, Harper continues his tradition of sculpting words into beautiful poems that have therapeutic, educational, and inspirational value. In Spiritual Teacher Speaks, the poems are very much centered on the timely subjects of purpose and mission in life, Divine love, forgiveness, self- and other-acceptance, justice, pain and human suffering, spirit of goodness within us, and self-management of negative impulses and emotions in daily living. His powerful poem, “Intellectual Renegade,” which is four pages in length, addresses universal justice and fairness now and throughout history for all human beings and groups. Reviewers of the book manuscript comment that “Intellectual Renegade” is destined to become a favorite and a classic poem. Along with prose and poems, Spiritual Teacher Speaks includes more than 25 pages of insightful and inspirational quotations by the author.
Dr. Frederick Douglas Harper (also, Frederick D. Harper) has authored more than 500 published poems. His most popular poem, “A Wedding Pledge,” has been recorded on CD, recited in more than 5,000 weddings, translated into other languages, and reprinted in various magazines. An international scholar, educational leader, journal editor, and professor of counseling, Harper has authored 14 books, including college textbooks and six poem books. His other poem books are Poems on Love and Life (1985; second edition, 2004), Romantica: On Peace and Romance (1988), Love Poems of Frederick Douglas Harper (2003), God's Gifts: Spiritual Writings (2003), and Poems for Young People (2004). Harper's poems were read regularly on WPFW Radio, 89.3 FM, in Washington, DC, by the late Napoleon “Nap” Turner for more than 15 years, alongside the poetry of the famous Langston Hughes. The power, wisdom, and inspirational value of Harper’s poetry has been compared to the great poetic writings of Rumi, Gibran, and Omar Khayyàm. His poem books have sold throughout the USA and in numerous other countries. Harper has presented public speeches at more than 200 conferences, universities, churches, luncheons, and banquets throughout the USA and in numerous other countries.
SPIRITUAL TEACHER
SPEAKS OF LOVE
And one among them asked, “Our Dear Spiritual Teacher, would you please speak to us on love?” And the spiritual sage spoke from mind, heart, and spirit on love:
Above all else, love is a spiritual concept; it is the ultimate care of all caring. Love is unconditional and unselfish in its relationship; it binds with or without the flesh—as it is spirit. Love exists in various forms and relationships. There is Divine love that, if embraced, will never leave you, but will rather guide you and be with you in spirit and in times of challenge, aloneness, and despair, as well as in times of joy, fulfillment, and triumph. There is love for your child or children as you were loved or should have been loved as a child—for a child is a gift from the Divine love and grace of God. There is love between man and woman—the driving union as God’s trustees to create human life. There is love of a partner or friend in life, who walks a path with you and shares with you the joys and pains of life’s journey—who assists your steps in life as you with that loved one. There is love and respect of yourself as a unique and Divine creation of life, because one surely cannot love another without learning first to love oneself. There is love of the needy, the hopeless, and the abandoned; those who are lost and last without the help of humankind. And, of course, there is a natural love for all life and sacred things of Divine creation and natural beauty.
Love exists in faith, perpetuity, and unquestioned trust; it is a feeling with or without touch—in proximity or afar. Love is not ephemeral, but it is as lasting as a diamond and as genuine as pure gold. Love is built upon a foundation of devotion that is unyielding and respect that is deserved. Love is the antithesis of hatred, it is an impermeable shield against the bane of jealousy, and it is a soother in times of challenge and pain in life’s journey.
SPIRITUAL TEACHER
SPEAKS OF PEACE
And one among them asked, “Our Dear Spiritual Teacher, would you please speak to us on peace?” And the spiritual sage spoke from mind, heart, and spirit on peace:
Can you close your eyes and search for the inner peace within your mind or focus on one single thought and accept the calmness that comes to you? Peace is within you and not necessarily around you; it is a state of mind, a state of body, and a state of spirit. Peace is a quiet presence of Divine oneness with all that is all—a sense of ease and completeness within oneself. It is a freedom from rushing through your day, unnecessarily worrying about or reacting to things that you cannot control, or overreacting to life’s many distractions or negative forces. Seek peace by seeking the answer of fulfillment and quiet within yourself and not, necessarily, from someone else or something else. Peace is reconciliation with tension and anger within yourself or toward another; it is a serenity of mind, body, and spirit in symphony with a sense of balance and wholeness.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
(Sample of Titles)
SELECTED TOPICS OF SPIRITUAL PROSE:
Spiritual Teacher Speaks of Love
Spiritual Teacher Speaks of Peace
Spiritual Teacher Speaks of Giving
Spiritual Teacher Speaks of Forgiveness
Spiritual Teacher Speaks of Purpose and Mission
Spiritual Teacher Speaks of Freedom
Spiritual Teacher Speaks of Truth
Spiritual Teacher Speaks of Courage
Spiritual Teacher Speaks of Pain and Pleasure
Spiritual Teacher Speaks of Spirituality
SELECTED TITLES OF SPIRITUAL POEMS:
Intellectual Renegade
The True Test of Ourselves
Beware of the Perpetual Promiser
If We Can Do What We Say
Morose Holiday
Totality of Spirit Divine
Cloud of Sadness, Sun Rays of Joy
Lessons From Sages of the Ages
Laws of Life
You Don’t Have To
Celestial and Earthly Beauty
Abandonment
Father in the Shadow of the Son
I Never Met a Dog That Didn’t Like Me
The "L" Word
Let God Come Into Your Heart
Life Is a Rose
The Spirit of Sport
Selfishness in Those Who Claim Not
The Gossiper’s Creed
Anger and Shame
Rebuffed
Your Perfect Choice
Precipice I
Human Forgiveness and Human Destiny
Divine Love
Tsunami 2004
Wisdom Before Blind Courage
If You Can: Mission as Life’s Challenge
What Do You Do With Anger?
Forgiveness
Identity
Meaning in Our Meetings
Life’s Tests
Credo for a Parent or Caregiver
On Retirement
When Love Turns to Hatred
People Are Who They Are
God Is Smiling on You
Ode to a Pregnant Woman
Ode to a Lost Child
Eye on the Path of Purpose
Divine Gifts That Are Free
The Death of a Pope
THOUGHTS
More than 25 pages of insightful and inspirational thoughts
