Seeing Into the Life of Things: An Author Conversation with Rodger Kamenetz and Amy Gottlieb

How might we move through a noisy and distracted world with greater attention, imagination, and wonder?

Join the Ritualwell community for a special conversation between authors Rodger Kamenetz and Amy Gottlieb about Kamenetz’s new book, Seeing Into the Life of Things: Imagination and Sacred Encounter. As we enter the new year, we’ll explore how we might cultivate a deeper awareness of the sacred in our everyday lives.

Seeing Into the Life of Things is both a spiritual memoir and a practical guide to restoring the imaginative heart. Through stories, dreams, poems, and daily practices, Kamenetz invites us to “see into,” “listen at,” and “feel into” the world around us. He explores how memory can become a source of healing, how dreams can lead us toward sacred encounters, and how ordinary moments can become occasions for wonder.

In this intimate conversation, Amy and Rodger will explore imagination, attention, creativity, and the sacred—and what it means to practice seeing more deeply in our own lives. You’ll have the opportunity to listen, reflect, and ask questions of these two wonderful writers. Come ready to pause, wonder, and perhaps see the familiar world in a new way.

Rodger Kamenetz is an award-winning poet, author, and teacher whose work explores the intersections of Judaism, literature, spirituality, and dreams. He is best known for The Jew in the Lotus, the international bestseller about a group of rabbis who traveled to India to meet with the Dalai Lama, as well as The History of Last Night’s Dream, Burnt Books, Stalking Elijah, and seven books of poetry. His work has been recognized with a National Jewish Book Award, and he has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and other foundations.

Kamenetz taught English and Religious Studies at Louisiana State University, where he founded the MFA program in creative writing and the Jewish Studies minor. Now based in New Orleans, he devotes himself to writing and to working with people through Natural Dreamwork, a spiritual practice centered on dreams. His newest book, Seeing Into the Life of Things: Imagination and Sacred Encounter, brings together his lifelong explorations of creativity, dreams, memory, and the sacred.