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The Barn at the End of the World: The Apprenticeship of a Quaker, Buddhist Shepherd
The Barn at the End of the World: The Apprenticeship of a Quaker, Buddhist Shepherd
The Barn at the End of the World: The Apprenticeship of a Quaker, Buddhist Shepherd
Audiobook9 hours

The Barn at the End of the World: The Apprenticeship of a Quaker, Buddhist Shepherd

Written by Mary Rose O'Reilley

Narrated by Mary Rose O'Reilley

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About this audiobook

Deciding that her life was insufficiently grounded in real-world experience, the author, a Quaker reared as a Catholic, embarked on a year of tending sheep. In this often hilarious book, she describes her time in the barn as well as an extended visit to a Buddhist monastery in France.

Editor's Note

Live consciously…

The act of seeking spirituality has never had as many comedic moments as that of Mary Rose O’Reilley, whose journey leads her to tend sheep for a year. From Catholicism to Buddhism to the almost religious experience of leading large animals through their own life’s struggles, O’Reilley’s biography is a guide to learning to live consciously in a world that stands still for no woman.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherScribd Audio
Release dateJun 29, 2021
ISBN9781094418834
Author

Mary Rose O'Reilley

Mary Rose O’Reilley is the author of The Barn at the End of the World: The Apprenticeship of a Quaker, Buddhist Shepherd and The Love of Impermanent Things: A Threshold Ecology, as well as a novel, two collections of poems, and three other works of nonfiction. She has served as an American Council of Learned Societies contemplative studies fellow and consultant with the Society for Contemplative Mind in Society in its exploration of meditative disciplines in education. She works as a spiritual director, trained in the Christian (Shalem Institute) and Buddhist (Plum Village) traditions. An emerita professor of English at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, O’Reilley is currently active as a musician, potter, and homesteader on a rural island in Puget Sound.

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Reviews for The Barn at the End of the World

4/5

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  • 5/5
    This book is one of the most profound autobiographical records of the spiritual search and the quest for connection. If you read it with your heart, you will be changed.

    2 people found this helpful

  • 5/5
    This autobiography is a gentle journey that traverses an expansive life experience. The author drew me into her journey from her experience of caring for sheep, to a Buddist monastery, to a parsonage in Maine, and back to a university campus. But more than a description of dates, times, and places, the author candidly shared the emotions that attended her path. The book has inspired me to look at my own life choices in a different light.

    1 person found this helpful

  • 5/5
    A brilliant writer . . . O'Reilleytakes us to Plum Village, and the barn. She understands life.

    3 people found this helpful

  • 4/5
    I actually loved this book. It's not something I would normally read (okay, the Buddhist part is), but I ran across it in the library and found it to be very interesting. You don't see many books about sheparding. It's worth reading if you're into the simple life or sheep.

    2 people found this helpful