Description: Do we love with a love we know, or with a love we do not know? This question, posed to author John S. Dunne in a dream, and its answer prompts Dunne to describe in Love's Mind the journey one takes in contemplating and coming to know love, a journey that involves moving from the loneliness and restless longing of the human heart through spiritual friendship to the ultimate spiritual destination of love of God and union of love with God. The compass one uses on this personal journey is the way of contemplation. For Dunne the contemplative life is a dimension of every human life and should not be limited to the monastic way of life; instead, he considers it the missing dimension in our lives and times - times where violence has supplanted spiritual contemplation and left individuals deprived of the joy and challenge of the spiritual journey that ultimately leads to a union of love with God. As Dunne describes this journey, three features of the contemplative way of life emerge: the way of words, the way of music, and the way of spiritual friendship. He explores each with characteristic eloquence and introspection, drawing on his experiences of giving spiritual retreats, his presentations on violence and the contemplative life, and his insights on contemplation as the missing dimension in American life. In addition, Dunne considers the contemplations of Aquinas, Aristotle, and Augustine, and draws on a rich store of literary sources, in harmony with his view that art, literature, and music point to God. Ultimately, his insights lead him to a vision, like Augustine's, of the city of God - a city of the heart where contemplation takes the place of violence. Love's Mind is the story of howunknowing love becomes knowing love when one comes to the realization that our being in love may be God loving in us, and that our blind love may be God's unconditional love in us.

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