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Field of Compassion: How the New Cosmology Is Transforming Spiritual Life
The best-selling author of Radical Amazement articulates a transforming vision of spirituality that examines the intricate connectedness of the physical and spiritual worlds, a phenomenon she calls the "field of compassion."
In the tradition of Teilhard de Chardin and Thomas Berry, Judy Cannato invites spiritual seekers to embrace the way in which an understanding of religion and the spiritual path is informed and illumined by cutting-edge science. Cannato's newest book is a must-read for those interested in how the new cosmology and the Christian story can be understood in harmony with one another. She shows how modern scientific discoveries demonstrate that at the most fundamental of levels all life is connected and that humankind participates in the unfolding of the universe. This book's compelling and radical call to transformation will inspire readers to choose collaboration and peace over competition and conflict.
In the tradition of Teilhard de Chardin and Thomas Berry, Judy Cannato invites spiritual seekers to embrace the way in which an understanding of religion and the spiritual path is informed and illumined by cutting-edge science. Cannato's newest book is a must-read for those interested in how the new cosmology and the Christian story can be understood in harmony with one another. She shows how modern scientific discoveries demonstrate that at the most fundamental of levels all life is connected and that humankind participates in the unfolding of the universe. This book's compelling and radical call to transformation will inspire readers to choose collaboration and peace over competition and conflict.
200 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
51 people are currently reading
141 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
May 17, 2012
An amazing contemporary approach to science and spirituality. I found it to be full of words to provide guidance through some very murky waters.
Consider this quote from the book - Because where would we be if there were only a limited number of questions we could ask, a set number of free decisions we could make, a restricted amount of beauty we could enjoy, or a quota on tears?
Consider this quote from the book - Because where would we be if there were only a limited number of questions we could ask, a set number of free decisions we could make, a restricted amount of beauty we could enjoy, or a quota on tears?
abandoned
August 19, 2018I literally, if accidentally, drowned this book. *Maybe* it has some good things to say, but its main premise is based on sketchy research by a scientist who hasn’t worked in the field for well over thirty years, and whose theory has been pretty well debunked. So, ya know. I’m tired of people using bad science (or logic) to prop up their religious views. If you’re going to use science as an argument for religion, at least know what you’re talking about!!!
Abandoned, with some prejudice. (And like I said, literally drowned the book past recovery.)
Abandoned, with some prejudice. (And like I said, literally drowned the book past recovery.)
August 7, 2011
Found Judy's book inspiring and enlighting. Gave me new insights and areas to explore within my own spirituality. She opens wide a new way to see God, the universe, and thus opens a new and powerful way to examine how one lives life. This book has given me greater insight on just how connected we are to all things around us...and just how connected we are to one another. I love how she ends each chapter with questions and prayer, thus helping the reader to even explore deeper the power of her message.
February 19, 2011
Wow! the first book in a very long time that I had to reread page after page to get the concept and to absorb the language. New words which I had never seen had me going to my edictionary often. But when I finished I loved it. I finally know what I have often thought, God and Science can exist together. I would recommend this book to anyone who needs help in thinking about this concept.
September 4, 2012
This is one of the most exciting books I've read in the past few years. Judy talks about how meditation is connecting us in a field of compassion with the field of love needed to take us into the future to heal our planet and the people of the earth. I recommend it!
August 14, 2010
WOW! A must read for anyone interested in theology. An amazing, insightful, and provocative book.
June 10, 2015
Enjoyed the second half more than the first part. Powerful insights into how we can collective create a more just and compassionate world.
May 12, 2019
Parallel reading, "Field of Compassion", by Judy Cannato, was remarkably similar to "How Emotions Are Made", by Lisa Feldman Barrett. Presenting new scientific and psychological studies, but with a particularly strong variation on Christian teachings and practices. Cannato could have sufficed by publishing only chapter 9, a recapitulation of everything she wrote before and after.
"Field of Compassion" provides a chance at the end of each chapter to evaluate what I resist and reject in her presentation. Too often she comes back to the theme that we are co-creators with God. We do co-create with each other. I agree that we may have a quantum mass effect by our fears, anxiety, and positive social activism.
We do not join partners with God. Why not consider the new creation that comes into being, in a flash, with each new Divine revelation through a Manifestation of God. There always are political and religious leaders, self-proclaimed manifestations of God, who will strike out violently against the new, and the world suffers for hundreds of years. We are near the end of one such period of calamity. I believe we have the massive social action required in this moment.
The outspoken atheist Barrett, and the narrow-minded Christian Cannato fit themes presented in the Baha'i "Tablet of Ahmad".
"Rely upon God thy God and the Lord of thy fathers. For the people are wandering in the paths of delusion, bereft of discernment to see God with their own eyes, or hear His Melody with their own ears. Thus have we found them, as thou also dost witness.
"Thus have their superstitions become veils between them and their own hearts and kept them from the path of God, the Exalted, the Great.
"Be thou assured in thyself that verily, he who turns away from this Beauty hath also turned away from the Messengers of the past and showeth pride towards God from all eternity to all eternity."
"Field of Compassion" provides a chance at the end of each chapter to evaluate what I resist and reject in her presentation. Too often she comes back to the theme that we are co-creators with God. We do co-create with each other. I agree that we may have a quantum mass effect by our fears, anxiety, and positive social activism.
We do not join partners with God. Why not consider the new creation that comes into being, in a flash, with each new Divine revelation through a Manifestation of God. There always are political and religious leaders, self-proclaimed manifestations of God, who will strike out violently against the new, and the world suffers for hundreds of years. We are near the end of one such period of calamity. I believe we have the massive social action required in this moment.
The outspoken atheist Barrett, and the narrow-minded Christian Cannato fit themes presented in the Baha'i "Tablet of Ahmad".
"Rely upon God thy God and the Lord of thy fathers. For the people are wandering in the paths of delusion, bereft of discernment to see God with their own eyes, or hear His Melody with their own ears. Thus have we found them, as thou also dost witness.
"Thus have their superstitions become veils between them and their own hearts and kept them from the path of God, the Exalted, the Great.
"Be thou assured in thyself that verily, he who turns away from this Beauty hath also turned away from the Messengers of the past and showeth pride towards God from all eternity to all eternity."
December 1, 2019
Fields of Compassion
This book written in an easy-to-follow language, looks objectively at the principles and practice of meditation and contemplation (they are no synonymous!) from a Christian perspective, but applicable outside that tradition. Those principles and practice are at anyone's reach. All one needs to do is to apply them to daily living. It also regards the relational concept between humans and nature, the cosmos and each other as foundational for a better future in spite of what we are currently facing as a species on earth. I do recommend it! There are though some typos and incorrect statements making it a little distracting. I'm giving 4 stars for it.
This book written in an easy-to-follow language, looks objectively at the principles and practice of meditation and contemplation (they are no synonymous!) from a Christian perspective, but applicable outside that tradition. Those principles and practice are at anyone's reach. All one needs to do is to apply them to daily living. It also regards the relational concept between humans and nature, the cosmos and each other as foundational for a better future in spite of what we are currently facing as a species on earth. I do recommend it! There are though some typos and incorrect statements making it a little distracting. I'm giving 4 stars for it.
January 15, 2025
Fun story about how I came upon this book: my college aged son took a class he continually said I’d love. He shared the required books and they all sounded amazing. I asked him to bring them home at the end of the semester so I could read them. This was one.
This is a great book for that purpose- a general audience, most new to these concepts. I appreciated her welcoming approach and loved the message.
This is a great book for that purpose- a general audience, most new to these concepts. I appreciated her welcoming approach and loved the message.
August 18, 2025
Absolutely brilliant and beautiful book. This should be read as the new catechism, it tells you all you need to know and builds upon new and up to date science and reality. This would be a perfect wake up call for any rad trad Catholic or white Christian supremacist whose idea of God and Christianity is lacking and outdated. Judy really brings everything together and inspires a new meaning, compassion and love for all. Mind blowing, challenging yet essential and fundamental.
October 9, 2022
From Spiritual to Morphogenic Field
For those who like different words to describe our spiritual evolution, this is a powerful book describing our cosmic work,
for ourselves, for those who enter our lives & for the world.
May your holon & morphogenic Field of Compassion converge
in Contemplation, Intention, Imagination & Commitment. ♡
For those who like different words to describe our spiritual evolution, this is a powerful book describing our cosmic work,
for ourselves, for those who enter our lives & for the world.
May your holon & morphogenic Field of Compassion converge
in Contemplation, Intention, Imagination & Commitment. ♡
February 28, 2020
Loved this book. Especially the chapters on ‘morphogenic fields’, the power of intention, the story of the Universe, evolution, emergence of conscious self awareness. Hope towards ‘homo sapiens sapiens’. Written from a Christian perspective.
April 14, 2020
Wonderful read! The author combines religion and science effortlessly and provides convincing theories. God is in each of us. And each of us effects our planet in some way. We can change the world with kindness and love.
December 4, 2017
Amazing
April 10, 2021
A sequel to Radical Amazement or stand alone.
January 15, 2023
The way of the future. Humanity united.
March 1, 2015
This is a book that challenges me to broader visions of the cosmos and of my personal responsibilities within it. I loved Cannato's "Radical Amazement" where I was introduced to amazing new-to-me concepts such as holons and morphogenic fields. I am glad that I read Amazement as a foundation before Field of Compassion, because in FoC the author takes the reader to the next step of personal growth within this conceptual framework. It stretched my mind while inspiring me toward my responsibilities as a "co-creator" of our universe.
February 12, 2016
SUMMARY: A look at the spirituality called for by Jesus' vision of the Kingdom of God when seen through the lens of recent scientific discoveries, and the individual and societal transformation that will likely emerge when the conscious acts of individuals to grow contemplatively are joined in morphogenic resonance. (Find that intriguing? Then this is the book for you.) COMMENTS: A highly readable application of some rather difficult (for the non-scientist) cosmological concepts to the spiritual life.
Read
January 6, 2015This book covers a lot of turf in its 200 pages...examine quantum physics, morphogenic resonance, psychology and more, Cannato proposes a way of approaching Spirituality that doesn't require you to check your brain at the door. While I found the book's strands individually fascinating and challenging intellectually, I thought at times the book was vague in tying it all together. But despite that, it gave me much to contemplate and incorporate into my life. 3.25 Martinie glasses.
December 18, 2014
This book by Judy Cannato is a work of art which if you have any knowledge of the New Cosmology and Spirituality will allow you to realize how much we are intertwined with all of Creation and how each is a part on the other in this Holy Mystery.
July 4, 2015
Not always a smooth read, but is very much on a successful track of weaving together Evolution and the Christian Story. I am grateful for a group that met to discuss this enlightening book chapter by chapter as it enhanced my understanding and field of compassion :-)
April 26, 2015
I skimmed this book. But I really liked the ideas presented, and it makes me want to think and talk about them more. Big picture idea: we are all cosmically connected, and when we embrace that, it helps us live compassionately with each other and our world.
January 4, 2012
The title gives the reader an idea of what this book is about. Very clearly written.
January 7, 2012
Great to discovering personal spirituality
September 12, 2012
Fascinating book!!! Need to reread and reflect on more. Concepts and ideas here could indeed bring about the kingdom of God here and now!!!!
November 23, 2015
Very interesting. Not a quick read but needed concentration. Introduced interesting perspective.
October 6, 2015
A different perspective....
December 11, 2015
Quantum physics meets God. Good start and end. Head scratching in the middle.
August 22, 2016
Read this one twice and used it for a church study. It's a complex book but well worth reading for the ideas it inspires.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews