Levine, Stephen 1937-

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LEVINE, Stephen 1937-

PERSONAL: Born July 17, 1937, in Albany, NY; son of Clarence S. (a chemist) and Ruth (Wien) Levine; married third wife, Ondrea, 1978; children: Tara, Noah, Luke. Education: Attended University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, 1955-57.

ADDRESSES: Office—Warm Rock Tapes, P.O. Box 100, Chamisal, NM 87521.

CAREER: Frederick Fell Publishing Co., New York, NY, special editor, 1961-62; Rikers Review, Rikers Island, NY, editor in chief, 1962; Unity Press, San Francisco, CA, owner and editor, beginning 1965; San Francisco Oracle, San Francisco, CA, editor, 1966-68; Hanuman Foundation Dying Project, Taos, NM, codirector, beginning 1978. Writer-in-residence, Canelo Hills Wildlife Sanctuary, 1969-70; has lectured and given poetry readings at universities across the United States. Consultant to hospitals and hospices around the world.

WRITINGS:

A Resonance of Hope, Arahat Press, 1959.

Synapse: Visions of the Retinal Circus, Unity Press (San Francisco, CA), 1965.

Lovebeast, Unity Press (San Francisco, CA), 1968, revised edition, 1972.

(Editor) Death Row: An Affirmation of Life, Glide Publications (San Francisco, CA), 1972.

(Editor) Mae Hickman, Care of the Wild Feathered and Furred, Unity Press (Santa Cruz, CA), 1973.

Planet Steward: Journal of a Wildlife Sanctuary, Unity Press (Santa Cruz, CA), 1974.

(With Ram Dass) Grist for the Mill, Unity Press (Santa Cruz, CA), 1977, revised edition, Celestial Arts (Berkeley, CA), 1987.

A Gradual Awakening, Anchor Press (Garden City, NY), 1979, second edition, Anchor Books (New York, NY), 1989.

Who Dies?: An Investigation of Conscious Living and Conscious Dying, Anchor Press (Garden City, NY), 1982.

Meetings at the Edge: Dialogues with the Grieving and the Dying, the Healing and the Healed, Anchor Press (Garden City, NY), 1984.

Healing into Life and Death, Anchor Press (Garden City, NY), 1987.

Healers on Healing, Anchor Press (Garden City, NY), 1989.

For the Love of God, New World Library, 1990.

Guided Meditations, Explorations, and Healings, Anchor Books (New York, NY), 1991.

(With Ondrea Levine) Embracing the Beloved: Relationship as a Path of Awakening, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1995.

A Year to Live: How to Live This Year As If It Were Your Last, Bell Tower (New York, NY), 1997.

Turning toward the Mystery: A Seeker's Journey, HarperSanFrancisco (San Francisco, CA), 2002.

Contributor to anthologies, including Writers in Revolt, 1962. Contributor to audio recording The Heart of a Relationship, 1994. Contributor to periodicals, including San Francisco Review of Books.

SIDELIGHTS: Stephen Levine brings a background of study and collaboration with spiritualist Ram Dass and psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross to his books on pain, dying, and grief. Levine uses meditative techniques to aid the terminally ill and their loved ones in exploring their emotions. For many years Levine and his wife, Ondrea, ran a telephone counseling service for those dealing with illness in their lives. "Their advice, in general, is to be open to whatever feelings arise, to accept them as a natural part of the process of dying," Psychology Today writer Daniel Goleman explained. While Levine has no academic background in psychology, Goleman noted, he and his wife "are good listeners who are more familiar than most of us are with the emotional territory that surrounds death....The Levines' message and service," the critic concluded, fill "an essential need in American life."

Levine used the insight gleaned from work with the terminally ill to shape his own life, and to give him the thesis for his book A Year to Live: How to Live This Year As If It Were Your Last. Levine had seen that those who are told they have a limited time to live usually experience a profound shift in values that makes their life seem much more precious and meaningful. Careers and relationships that seemed vital may seem irrelevant, or become more important than ever. Levine and his wife decided to pick an imaginary end date for their lives and live a year as if it were really destined to happen. "In practicing to die, Levine practices living—or tries to perfect it," reported Keith Powers in Natural Health. Levine suggests reviewing one's life to see why past choices have been made, and recommends carefully examining those motives. Drawing on many faiths, including Christianity, Buddhism, and Native American religions, the author "argues with integrity and practical suggestions for a more focused life," stated Powers.

The Levines collaborated on Embracing the Beloved: Relationship As a Path of Awakening. In an era focused on individual realization and independent action, the Levines offer "a poetic and compassionate book" about the redemptive and healing power of loving relationships, according to a Publishers Weekly reviewer. These relationships may be with a spouse or partner, parents, other relatives, or friends, but truly loving and unselfish interaction with people offers great rewards in many ways, according to the Levines. Made up of personal anecdotes, poetry, meditation techniques and ideas from other spiritual leaders including Ram Dass, the book is valuable to anyone looking for greater insight into "their own—and their partners'—deeper natures," claimed the reviewer.

Levine urges opening oneself up to the unknowable in Turning toward Mystery: A Seeker's Journey. Noting that Levine's background includes time spent for drug possession in Rikers Island Penitentiary, a Publishers Weekly writer pointed out: "This is a man who has known fear, craving and fire in the belly and learned bravery and transcendence of self. Also a poet, Levine is able to convey his unfolding insights in fresh language."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, January 15, 1994, Joseph Keppler, review of The Heart of a Relationship, p. 955.

Library Journal, January, 1995, review of Embracing the Beloved: Relationship As a Path of Awakening, p. 108; February 1, 1998, Beth Farrell, review of A Year to Live: How to Live This year As If It Were Your Last (audio version), p. 131.

Natural Health, September-October, 1997, Keith Powers, review of A Year to Live: How to Live This Year As If It Were Your Last, p. 148.

Psychology Today, September, 1982.

Publishers Weekly, November 7, 1994, review of Embracing the Beloved: Relationship As a Path of Awakening, p. 54; February 25, 2002, review of Turning toward the Mystery: A Seeker's Journey, p. 61.

Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, fall, 1997, review of A Year to Live: How to Live This Year As If It Were Your Last, p. 92, review of Who Dies?: An Investigation of Conscious Living and Conscious Dying, p. 93.

Utne Reader, May, 1997, review of A Year to Live: How to Live This Year As If It Were Your Last, p. 84.