Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

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

lectio avatar reviewed on + 88 more book reviews


Mary Rose O'Reilley must be one fascinating lady!! Someone who can move easily between the world of her Catholic past, to a year spent taking care of sheep, into Plum Village Buddhist monastery with Thich N'hat Hanh, to the classroom as an English teacher, and home again to her Quaker community. Her book, which has been called a cross between Katheen Norris and James Herriot, is filled with insights about the spiritual journey -- but it's a journey that is firmly grounded in the not always neat and tidy business of living intentionally wherever you happen to be. As a matter of fact you won't find much in this book about out of body experiences, but you'll find plenty of information about what it's like to muck around in sheep pens. And that's really the whole point. She makes it clear that living a spiritual life is a simply matter of paying attention to what's going on here and now and recognizing the significance of it.