Bright shining : how grace changes everything / Julia Baird.

Includes endnotes.

Includes bibliographical references.

Introduction: when the shadows fall behind you -- Part I: our souls, our selves ‘really into waterfalls’: on a state of daily grace -- 21.3 Grams -- Anonymous Samaritans -- Part II: our circles our beating hearts -- Grace inherited -- Icarus flew -- ‘Inhale the world’: an ode to the fire of teenage girls -- On being decent men -- Part III: Our strangers -- random encounters -- Other people’s lives -- The comfort of strangers -- The discomfort of estrangers -- Restlaufzeit: in the time we have left, we must dance -- Part IV: our sins -- forgive us our sins -- Napoleon’s penis: what we choose to remember -- When you can’t forgive -- The stolen generations: what does forgiveness mean? -- ‘We will wear you down with our love’ -- The callus: on restorative justice -- ‘A broken place’: people who have forgiven -- Part V: our senses -- flukeprint -- Fever dreams -- A grace note -- Acknowledgements -- Endnotes.

Grace is both mysterious and hard to define. It can be found when we create ways to find meaning and dignity in connection with each other, building on our shared humanity, being kinder, bigger, better with each other. If, in its crudest interpretation, karma is getting what you deserve, then grace is the opposite: forgiving the unforgivable, favouring the undeserving, loving the unlovable. But we live in an era when grace is an increasingly rare currency. The silos in which we consume information dot the media landscape like skyscrapers, and our growing distrust of the media, politicians and public figures has choked our ability to cut each other slack, to allow each other to stumble, to forgive one another. So what does grace look like in our world, and how do we recognise it, nurture it in ourselves and express it, even in the darkest of times? From award-winning journalist Julia Baird, author of the acclaimed national bestseller Phosphorescence, comes Bright Shining, a luminously beautiful, deeply insightful and most timely exploration of grace.