The Virgin Eye

“A path to contemplative seeing, praying and living”

Robin Daniels

ISBN: 9781909728523

416 Pages

Published Oct 2016

Mindfulness and Spirituality

Paperback £9.99 Kindle £6.99
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The Virgin Eye inspires us to see the world anew through the innocent eyes of a child, so as to become more aware of God’s presence in everyday life and encounters. Offering insights into contemplative prayer and mindfulness from a Christian perspective, this book is accessible to those at various points on their journey.

Robin Daniels encourages us to prioritise the inner life and our relationship with God, making space for silence and solitude. He helps us to jettison the tired preconceptions and stale paradigms through which we see the world and isolate ourselves from others. Daniels demonstrates how we can put the Apostle Paul’s challenging exhortation to ‘pray without ceasing’ into practice. He explores how we can turn suffering and trial into opportunity and growth, as we learn to see God, ourselves and other people with a pure heart and a pure eye.

  • I started to read then paused while I fetched my Bible; then a pen to underline wisdom. Then I prayed. Then I started to tell someone else all about it. It is like having an amazingly wise old uncle showing you how to live; to truly be alive. I wish it had been available years ago. It should be required reading.

    Roy Godwin, Executive Director, The Ffald-y-Brenin Trust, author of The Grace Outpouring
  • In the midst of the complexities of life today, it would be hard to find a more comprehensive guide. What is here given us is not so much a book to be read but rather a treasure house in which to linger and frequently revisit. On every page, to facilitate growth towards wholeness and holiness, theres insight and wisdom, encouragement and challenge. Although written from a Christian perspective, the author is nevertheless open to truth wherever its to be found, and he speaks with the authority that can only come from personally lived experience. His style is such as to repay careful bite-sized reading and continual reflection. The reward for doing so will yield a rich harvest. Highly recommended!

    Brian M. Noble, Emeritus Bishop of Shrewsbury
  • Reading this book is like being taken into a beautiful garden by a Renaissance man, who shows you how the different layers of reality revealed by music, art, poetry, psychology, nature and science can bring you into a place of awareness. I believe the aim of the book is enabling others to develop what the early Christian contemplatives called diorasis, a clear seeing into the reality of things – and above all their createdness.

    Shaun Lambert, Senior Minister, Stanmore Baptist Church; author of A Book of Sparks and Putting on the Wakeful One
  • This wonderful book is a fount of wisdom. It is beautifully written, in inspirational language, and is obviously the fruit of lived experience. It contains a wealth of uplifting quotations, gleaned from the wisdom of the ages. It covers the whole gamut of human existence, and our relationship to the divine.

    There is richness on every page – for this reason, the book needs to be taken slowly and reflectively. It is indeed a treasure.

    Fr Vincent OHara OCD, Director, Avila Centre, Dublin
  • Good spiritual reading is sacramental. It takes us there. To where truth lies. It makes us present. It paves the way for and makes possible an encounter with the Lord. This book does just that. It is a goldmine. I have found nuggets for my own inner journey and for those whom I accompany on theirs. It will be a blessing for all into whose hands it happens to fall.

    Canon John Udris, Spiritual Director, St Marys College, Oscott
  • This work is to be relished, not rushed. Drawing on deep wells of experience and insight, Robin Daniels opens doors which enable us to see with artistic precision and radical freshness the wonder of God. With unique ability he speaks to the soul, bringing to consciousness the seemingly indescribable. It is less a book and more a journey which will not fail to transform your relationship with God, self and others.

    Teresa Onions, Director of Pastoral Care UK for the Association of Christian Counsellors
  • Kierkegaard, the great Danish existentialist, claimed that God has a prophetic vision of what each of us could be with His grace. Daniels shows us how to escape from the foam and splash of our often ego-driven lives, to enter into that true self.

    The Virgin Eye is a remarkable blending of insights from poetry, Jungian psychology, Scripture and the words of spiritual writers. In fact, the style of The Virgin Eye, with its beautifully paced insights, invites the reader to enter into the peace that is its goal.

    I rate this one of the best contemporary books on spirituality.

    Ronda Chervin, PhD, Professor of Philosophy at Holy Apostles College and Seminary, USA; author of spirituality books

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