About The Dark Side of Grace:
A devastating terrorist bomb blast at a spiritual retreat outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, sends journalist Kevin Pitcairn and his beloved Emmy on a quixotic quest to understand the roots of violence. Traveling across the country deep into the bowels of Southern Appalachia, their search takes them through a long-standing rift in the American consciousness to confrontations with remarkable and anomalous characters, some of them deeply spiritual, others well-grounded in research and psychology.
In this sequel to the much-acclaimed A Killer’s Grace, Pitcairn and Emmy return to the exploration of innocence while adding to it a deepening understanding of injury and ordeal―and its amazing corollary of Post-Traumatic Growth. As the quest and its dangers rip their lives apart, doors open that lure them back and forth across the country in search of tendrils tying together the events and anguish, as well as bringing the protagonists more deeply together.
ISBN : 1948749874
Publisher : Terra Nova Books (May 1, 2023)
Genre : Mystery Action & Adventure, Thriller & Suspense Action Fiction, Psychological Thriller
Print length : 200 pages
The Dark Side of Grace is available in print and as an ebook at Amazon. You can add it to your GoodReads reading list as well.
Author Guest Post
Ideas to Change Your Life and the World As a recovering person, now with thirty-six years of sobriety, and as a transformational coach, certain ideas and practices become truer and truer through exploration and experimentation. While some would say there are ultimately no new ideas, only rediscovered ones, there is something almost magical when through personal experience, we find the truth of those things. As one of my master teachers said, “Until you know it through your own experience, you don’t actually know it.” The big banner idea for this blog comes courtesy of a guy in recovery who goes by the moniker of Brother G Dawg. (He’s from Georgia, hence the Dawg!) Brother G says, with a southern drawl, “Hell, unless our insides get remade, ain’t no way the outsides can change.” So here are three transformative ideas that change the world by changing our insides. And they are reality tested, hammered out on the anvil of experience. Self-Interest First, everyone is self-interested. In short, that’s because we all have a human ego, and we see and experience the world through that ego. So, everything has a personal spin on it. Even our so-called good deeds are self-interested. As the master teacher, Anthony de Mello, observes, “Even Mother Teresa acted out of what pleased herself.” He goes on to suggest that the best we can expect is “enlightened self-interest.” He means that we need to be savvy about ourselves and others. No one does anything they do not perceive to be in their best interests, and nothing we do is anything other than first informed by what best fits our values. Why is this such an important idea? If we want to be effective with anyone, whether ourselves, others, or the larger world, we must appeal to self-interest. It is a magic elixir. The challenge is that we have to get past our ill-informed ideas about what motivates someone. We have to get open-minded and curious. More importantly, we have to pay attention. “Who you are speaks so loudly, I can’t hear what you are saying,” said Ralph Waldo Emerson. If you want to know what motivates, notice what you and others do. It will always be a reflection of self-interest, not necessarily logical, rational or wise, but very informative. Positivity Brain research and science has become quite astounding, and we’ve only scratched the surface. Yet there are two incredible conclusions we can draw from the science with regard to positivity. The first point of relevance is that we have evolved to thrive on the positive. Not to the exclusion of facing difficult truths or realities, which can be ugly and painful, rather our brain chemistry and our hormonal secretions are linked to be protective and beneficial when we have cause for optimism. From an evolutionary point-of-view it makes perfect sense. Those who sense hope or benefit are more likely to survive and reproduce. Simply put, positivity is good for us. Not surprisingly, the parallel to this is that when we are positive, others are much more likely to hear us, and join with us. Once again, if we care about our effectiveness in our lives and in the world, positivity is to our advantage. It turns out that when we can face adversity and maintain optimism despite it, we are more likely to thrive. No wonder Viktor Frankl wrote a book of this and titled it Yes to Life, In Spite of Everything. Stillness “Of all the gifts, I like stillness best.” ~ Mary Chapin Carpenter In recent years, we find greater and greater evidence that meditation and contemplation, somatic practices that re-embody us, and reflective practices are of immense benefit. On some practical level, it could simply be that we are restored by stillness. At the same time, it offers a break from the incessant demands of life. Once again, however, the research into our brains and psychological and emotional well-being proposes there is some incredible capacity within us that can only be developed through stillness and related practices. It seems that quietude nurtures aspects of our inner growth and development that are otherwise not available to us. From Inside to Outside Whether it is the psychological understanding of how we perceive and thus are led to act based on that perception, or a wide array of studies of spirituality that propose we are by our very nature the makers of purpose, creation and meaning, we act upon the world and the people of the world based on so much that is at work within us. As we develop, it necessarily alters the nature of our interactions in and with life. If we are to assume that each of us seeks some kind of expression of value through our lives, some kind of contribution, then the path is from the inside outward. “To change anything in the word, first start within.” ~ Ronald Chapman
About the Author, Ronald Chapman:
Ronald Chapman is an author, speaker, and facilitator of approaches that increase well-being-ness and produce breakthroughs when practiced deeply and in a sustained fashion. He is the creator of Seeing True™ and Progressive Recovery, resources dedicated to exploring concepts of engaging, releasing, and transcending blockages in our lives. At the heart of Seeing True and all of his work is the Greek notion of “metanoia,” which could translate as a profound change of heart. Ronald maintains two core businesses as well. Leading Public Health provides facilitation, strategy and consultation to public health clientele, while Magnetic North delivers similar services to a broader array of clients.
Ron spent many years as a national award winning radio commentator on KUNM radio in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is an elite Accredited Speaker through Toastmasters International, and an accomplished leadership facilitator working with clients from all over the world, including the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. Ron currently resides in Atlanta, and spends much of his time immersed in art and beauty wherever his travels take him.
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Thank you so much, Joy! Delighted you appreciated the provocations, and made the connections to so many of our challenges in the current landscape. Ronald Chapman
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