Open the Door: A Journey to the True Self

by Joyce Rupp

The long-awaited book from best-selling spiritual guide Joyce Rupp, creatively leads readers to explore how the image of the door can guide them in a process of discovering their true self. Joyce Rupp brings new life to the ageless spiritual image of the door, weaving insights from East and West with the wisdom of contemporary spiritual writers, poets, and novelists in a practical format that is just right for contemporary readers. Structured as a daily prayer guide for everyday use over six weeks, each day offers a thematic reflection, a guided meditation, an original prayer, a thoughtful question, and a related scripture quote. A built-in guide for small groups makes this the perfect resource for groups of all kinds as well as individuals.

Genres: Spirituality, Christian, Catholic

224 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 31, 2008

About the author

Joyce Rupp is well known for her work as a writer, a spiritual "midwife," and retreat and conference speaker. She has led retreats throughout North America, as well as in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Joyce has a B.A. in English, a M.R.E. in Religious Education, and a M.A. in Transpersonal Psychology. She is a member of the Servites (Servants of Mary) community and was a volunteer for Hospice for fifteen years. She currently resides in Des Moines, Iowa. A list of Joyce's works can be found in the left column of this page. Click on the book title to find out more information about that title.

Reviews

[Jeanne Gehret]

It certainly took me a lot longer than the recommended six weeks to read this and do the meditations! More like four months. But that's because I needed to ponder and let insights sink in. I like Joyce's pluralistic approach to spirituality, which is well-grounded in Christianity but also brings in Tagore, Campbell, Taize, and many other faith traditions.

[Joseph Marsan]

An excellent book in many ways. Joyce Rupp mines the metaphor of the door in wonderful ways as an aid to discernment, spiritual growth, and self-discovery over the course of six-weeks. Used the small group process and prayer resource at the back of the book with a contemplative dialogue group at my church...it was well received. Meditating on the daily reflection questions and journaling my responses was very helpful. I highly recommend this book for use by both individuals and groups.

[Beret]

This is a book of daily reflections, scripture verses, contemplations,questions, that challenge the reader to go inward, to be authentic, to discover the true self. I love this book. Joyce Rupp writes beautifully and gracefully. I feel held and loved reading this every day. I was sorry to see it come to an end. I now carry the "door" metaphor with me.

[Cynthia Scott]

This book was was written to be a six week personal "workshop" and reflection on opening yourself to God and understanding who the real you is. I read the daily essay for each lesson straight through and found them to be full of wisdom. The author is a widely respected and much-loved leader of Christian retreats throughout the country.

[Josee M]

Loved this book! Very insightful.

[LuAnn]

Rupp uses the door as a helpful analogy for the journey within to your heart for transformation. There are great questions to ponder and meaningful quotes and prayers. Discussing this with a friend over a few months made it even more meaningful. Among other practical helps, I was able to identify some thinking that hinders me and ways to counteract that to live more freely and authentically.

[Jennifer Talarico]

Any book that helps to grow your heart and expand your view is a helpful book in the spiritual quest. I found this to be one of those books. Daily readings over the course of 6 weeks with time for reflection and meditation. Perfect.

[Paige Kleinsasser]

Designed to be a 6 week spiritual formation book. I picked this one up because I thoroughly enjoyed a similar book by this author, but unfortunately this one was very hard for me to get through and I did not look forward to the daily readings like the other one.

[Lori Beverage]

Not really what I had hoped

[Patrick Moore]

Random

Wasn’t much for her takes and found her wording and examples challenging to follow. Don’t recommend this book at all.

[Marlise]

Beautiful six-week meditation guide. I really like the imagery of the Open Door to our souls. I will return to this book again soon to delve deeper.

[Julie Davids]

B/C

[Lisa]

There were some days where I really connected to the devotions and some days were just meh. I think I liked the idea of the book more than the actual content.

[Sheila]

This is my current devotional/journaling aid. subtitled "A Journey to the True SElf"

[Beth Booram]

I read Cup of Our Life several years ago and loved it. This one has a similar feel and already has been a pleasure to read.

[Liz Dean]

I found some very nice insights about prayer in this book. It's a little "new age", but has a lot of value.

[Kristin]

My mom, sister, and I chose this book of reflections for Lent this year. This was the first Joyce Rupp book I've read, but have heard great things about her writing, and I agree.

[Debbie]

Great book.

[Ruth Ann]

2nd time reading this. Still good stuff to glean

[Janis]

An excellent devotional. Well-written and very easy to follow.

[Jennifer]

Every word of this book is beautiful.

[Diana Blair]

A new metaphor for soul examination and reflection...the door.

[Karin]

I read this book with my book group...what an amazing experience!

[Debbie]

An awesome book and a fantastic resource for self reflection

[Reving]

http://revingsblog.blogspot.com/2017/...

[Cathy Crouch]

Another wonderful book from the incredible Joyce Rupp. Our spiritual group used it as a six week Lenten practice. Her guides for group study were a helpful tool for group sessions. As always, her writing is personal and down to earth. Her faith is palpable and her messages are filled with the joy of spirit.

[Jen]

Joyce Rupp is my absolute Favorite spiritual author. This is probably the third time I've read this 6-week "retreat," and it is just as fresh, enlightening and relevant as the first. Rupp uses wonderful imagery, meaningful prayers and poetry, and insightful stories of others to guide the reader.
I highly recommend her works. She is truly a holy woman.