Simon Parke has 6 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 4 narrators, with an average listener rating of 5★ across 6 ratings. The most-rated is In His Own Words.
In His Own Words
Summary
In many ways, Meister Eckhart has had to wait seven centuries to be heard. Born in 13th century Germany, much of his life was spent in a monastery; though not all. The 'Meister' in his name means 'Master', and is an academic title from the University of Paris. An admired member of the Dominican Order, he was often sent to reform ailing priories. He was known also as a spiritual counsellor; a safe haven for many who sought God in their life, but found themselves troubled by the dire state of the institutional church. And in a century of flowering female spirituality, he was a supportive figure for many Dominican nuns and women in the burgeoning lay communities which arose. He was best known, however, as a preacher - an original preacher who used his native German language to startling effect. Eckhart preached a spiritual vision which distrusted the artifice of both ritual and church dogma. Instead, he aimed at nothing less than the spiritual and psychological transformation of those given to his care. To this end, Eckhart made the disposition of the human heart the key to all things. Conversations with Meister Eckhart is an imagined conversation with this 13th-century mystic, around such themes as detachment, which he famously placed above love; spirituality; God; the soul; and suffering. But while the conversation is imagined, Eckhart's words are not; they are authentically his own. One of his controversial claims was that God cannot be described. Indeed, in one sermon, he went so far as to say 'We must take leave of God.' 'The church became very hostile towards him,' says Simon Parke, 'accusing him of heresy; and he spent his last days on trial before the pope. They also tried to ensure he'd be forgotten when he died, and nearly succeeded. But he's more popular now than ever.' Eckhart's teaching is an adventure, not a system; a call, not a creed. The depth and universality of his work means it can be ...
©2009 White Crow Productions Ltd (P)2009 White Crow Productions Ltd
In His Own Words: Conversations with Leo Tolstoy
Summary
When most think of Tolstoy, they think of the great author. War and Peace and Anna Karenina brought him worldwide fame, and a good deal of money. Had he done nothing else in life, these two novels would have ensured him status and respect. Few others had written both a national epic and a great love story; and some might have been content with that.For his last 30 years, however, Tolstoy walked a different track. After his spiritual crisis, when he was 50, he exchanged his author’s clothes for those of a prophet – a prophet who was to have a great influence on Gandhi, amongst others. Through his prolific writing, he now became the scourge of the rich, the Church, and the Government. Neither did he miss an opportunity to denounce both science and art. Darwin? Dostoyevsky? Shakespeare? No one was to be left standing.In Conversations with Leo Tolstoy, Simon Parke grants us the honour of sitting with the great man, towards the end of his life, and gives us the chance to chat with him. The conversation is imagined, but not Tolstoy’s answers. This is Tolstoy is his own words, drawn from his extensive books, essays, and letters, and the military, vegetarianism, marriage, non-violence, death, God, and sex are all on the agenda. ‘I want people to come away feeling they know Tolstoy,’ says Simon Parke, who was keen to use only Tolstoy’s authentic words. ‘They will be become aware of his opinions certainly, for he was forthright in those. He had an opinion on everything! But I hope also that people leave with a sense of the man beneath the opinions. I don’t always agree with him; but it is hard not to admire him. He was far from perfect, but as he says: just because he walks the road like a drunk, doesn’t mean it’s the wrong road.’
©2009 White Crow Productions Ltd (P)2009 White Crow Productions Ltd
One-Minute Mystic
Summary
'Need a break from the mayhem of the modern world; or maybe from the mayhem of your inner life? Then why not give yourself permission to pause?'Such is the invitation at the heart of this book, which arises from Simon Parke's popular weekly columns of the same name in the Daily Mail, which calls them 'meditations to wake up your mind and your soul'.The book comprises 180 short reflections, which use story, dialogue, and imagery as their path in the truth journey. It is not a book of easy answers or quick fixes; but one for those who, against all odds, haven't given up on truth - truth that is deep enough to hold and transform the realities we live with day to day.The reflections are gathered into nine chapters, and each chapter marks a progression, a further stage in our development. 'I do believe there are stages of awareness,' says Simon Parke. 'And this is reflected in the chapters. Like a man walking along a dark path with a torch, we don't see everything. But we see what we need to see for now. When dawn comes, we'll see more.'The meditations challenge us, certainly; refusing to collude with our compulsions, both small and large. But the challenge is underscored by a deep sense of the ultimate kindness of the universe.Parke was a priest in the Church of England for 20 years, before leaving for fresh adventures. And he wrote this book while working in a supermarket, where for three years he stacked shelves, worked on the till, chased thieves - and chaired the shop union. So this is practical mysticism, keeping its feet on the ground, but taking adventurous steps and breathing fresh air...while all the time believing that wherever you are and whatever your circumstances - it only takes a minute.
©2009 Simon Parke (P)2009 Simon Parke
Shelf Life
Summary
The day I was appointed Chair of the shop union was the same day the Pope was elected. There the similarities end, however. For while his elevation took place beneath the fine art of the Sistine Chapel, with the mysterious white smoke rising, mine took place in the cold store, with nothing more mysterious than the bacon delivery and yesterday's waste...A vicar for twenty years, Simon Parke trades in his dog collar for a job on the tills in his local supermarket. Among the vegetable aisles and dairy produce he unpacks the meaning of life with his fellow workers, a colourful bunch. Sonny the security guard hates conflict; shelf-filler Winston knows he is destined for something better; and voluptuous Faith is generous with her wares - but sadly not with Simon. You don't have to be off your trolley to work there, but it helps...From checkout charlies to banana rage, from short-changed lows to cold store highs, Shelf Life is a pick-n-mix of wit and wisdom for anyone who loves life and hopes for more - no matter where they find themselves.
©2011 Simon Parke (P)2011 Random House Audio Go
Conversations with Arthur Conan Doyle
Summary
At the end of the 19th century, perhaps every man wanted to be Arthur Conan Doyle. He had written historical novels and short stories of horror and the supernatural; and he displayed huge energy and talent in a variety of fields. He was a fine cricketer (he once took the wicket of the great WC Grace); played football, rugby, and golf. He had trained and practiced as a doctor; campaigned for underdogs, like the falsely accused George Edalji; he liked fast cars and the new and dangerous invention of the aeroplane; he had the idea of a channel tunnel; introduced skis to Switzerland; and knew both Harry Houdini and Oscar Wilde. He was an adventurer, a controversialist, war reporter, and knight of the realm. But most famously of all, he had created Sherlock Holmes, the world’s most famous detective – based on his former medical professor, Joseph Bell. All in all, Doyle was a Boy’s Own dream. Yet for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, all such achievements paled into significance when set against his commitment to spiritualism. Although interested in the subject for many years, he publicly converted to the cause around time of the First World War - much to many people’s amazement. ‘Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has many striking characteristics,’ wrote Ruth Brandon. ‘He is gigantically tall and strong. He is a gifted story-teller. He is a man of strong opinions and considerable political influence. But perhaps the most extraordinary thing about him is the combination of all the attributes of worldly success with an almost child-like literalness and credulity of mind, manifested particularly in relation to spiritualism and its surrounding phenomena.’
©2010 White Crow Productions Ltd (P)2010 White Crow Productions Ltd
A Vicar, Crucified
Summary
Abbot Peter has recently swapped leadership of a remote monastery in the Sinai desert for retirement in the bleak and stormy English seaside town of Stormhaven. When the local vicar is discovered crucified naked, in the vestry, the Abbot is invited to act as a Special Witness investigator. He partners the attractive and ambitious Detective Inspector Tamsin Shah - and discovers a surprising connection along the way. Shocked by such cruel death, the church community adjusts to the knowledge that the murderer is one of them. The curate? The bishop? The treasurer? As cold waves crash against the winter shoreline, suspicion replaces friendship at St Michaels: no one is safe and no one trusted. Abbot Peter believes the mystical nine-point enneagram symbol can help. But as the ravenous press descends on the town and secrets unravel, there will be more victims and a desperate climax before the hidden truth becomes clear.
©2013 Darton, Longman and Todd (P)2014 Prospero Media