Interbeing

Interbeing is Eugene Bianchi's fourth collection of poems. It reflects two concerns of later years: first, his own experience of nature—ecology—which has become a spiritual road for his own self-awareness; and secondly, in a larger context, the increasing threat to all life on earth which looms ever-larger with global warming. These concerns reflect Bianchi's long career as a writer and teacher, first as a member of the Jesuit order and then as a professor of religious studies at Emory University in Atlanta for over thirty years. This book of poems, coming late in life, makes Bianchi especially aware of the gradual development of one's spirituality. The poems blend the secular and the religious into one voice as specific life events unfold in immigrant beginnings, Jesuit experiences, the ups and downs of being married, the professorial life at Emory, novel and memoir writing, ethical issues of war and peace, and participation in a local Buddhist sangha in the spirit of Thich Nhat Hanh.