Mary Conrow Coelho has a background in both science and theology. She taught high school biology in the American Community School in Buenos Aires. She has an MDiv degree from Union Theological Seminary and a PhD from Fordham University. She is the author of Awakening Universe, Emerging Personhood: The Power of Contemplation on an Evolving Universe, several articles, and a Pendle Hill Pamphlet, Recovering Sacred Presence in a Disenchanted World. She has led a number of workshops and founded and led groups on spirituality, mysticism and the universe story. She has been a watercolor painter for many years, becoming a signature member of the Northeast Watercolor Society and the Catherine Lorillard Art Club in New York City.
Mary Conrow Coelho has written a remarkable new book, The Depth of Our Belonging: Mysticism, Physics and Healing. As Mary came to understand the meaning of the evolutionary story and of the depths of numinous matter, she realized to her great joy that mystical experiences are not strange or unusual. Rather, they are integral to the natural world and to our very being. This transformed world view enabled her to find healing from the consequences of a family tragedy when she was just an infant and a young child. In her courageous book, we are invited to move from self-doubt and alienation to deep belonging in a universe that unfolds with endless creativity. Highly recommended. -Brian Thomas Swimme, Professor of Cosmology, California Institute of Integral Studies In this enlightening and beautifully illustrated book, Mary Coelho joins discoveries in new physics with mystical wisdom to reset our orientation to the inner and outer life. In her hopeful vision, the transformation of the self and the beneficence of the natural world spring from the underlying sacred Presence or seamless plenum, opening a path of healing for our wounded souls and for our world. -Beverly Lanzetta, Ph.D., contemplative scholar and author of A New Silence: Spiritual Practices and Formation for the Monk Within.