Portals: Reflections on the Spirit in Matter

by Genese Grill

We live in a world that abounds with all manner of material things. Unfortunately, while the most lovingly crafted objects are still esteemed and cherished - the original canvas, the handbound volume - materiality has often been disparaged because of its association with less lovely things, and an anti-sensual suspicion of the physical has elevated the value of the spiritual. But what if the distinction between materiality and spirituality were not so absolute? Could we look anew at the world around us and find it opening onto infinite others?
In her mind-bending essay collection Portals , Genese Grill asks us to reappraise our habits of apprehending material and spiritual experiences. Blending the arch with the esoteric, the wicked with the arcane, she shows us how everything available to our senses can be a spur towards another way of a stimulus for sensation, contemplation, reverie. The result is an experience of reading that itself feels like a plunge into a portal - deepening into a whirl of provocations and ecstasies, headlong into a flurry of pages that will stir your soul.

Genres: Essays

242 pages, Paperback

Published November 23, 2022

Reviews

[Joseph Schreiber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This impressive collection of essays approach questions of the spiritual nature of material objects and physical/embodied experience. Grill writes in a personal, questioning manner that inspires the reader to contemplate their own response to the notions she is exploring. Her far ranging essays look at books, relics, art, physical and romantic attraction, and more. It is a response to current philosophical tendencies to value spirit over matter (as if they are separate), trends that appear to devalue the biological basis of qualities we believe are important, and the seemingly empty materialism she sees in today's US.
This is slow, immersive read that brings many interesting ideas to the forefront. I'll admit that I could not read without bringing my own life experience to the process and, as a result, found some comments and reflections challenging even though I see not conflict between matter and spirit but, at times, for different reasons. I will say that I would have appreciated a reading list. There were many thinkers and theorists mentioned that were unfamiliar to me.

[Greg Gerke · Rating 5 out of 5]

An eclectic wonder, with probing essays built by exquisitely carved sentences — Grill glories in the subjects she most cherishes: the spirit in matter, the book as a magical object, how meaning is made, the act of writing, words as “living powers,” and objectification and animism. “Words and symbols describe, denote, suggest, but they may also coerce and imprison; words calcify clichés, but they also can be rearranged and newly coined to make us see and be in new ways.”

[April Clemens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ms. Grill’s essays are thought provoking and well put. I found the ideas and questions in Portals stayed with me throughout the day, brought into focus by the beauty of the snow while walking the dog or the love I feel for my new dishes. It’s always nice to find another person exists who feels the keen aliveness of things. An excellent and much needed read. Bring it along to your favorite cozy spot.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating grouping of essays.

From the last essay included:

"An artist is outside of society, but also very inside it. Inside of life. Observing, but also feeling throughand for everyone and everything."