The Supreme Victory of the Heart: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Synchronicity

Deeply impressed by Sharon Rawlette’s previous work, The Source and Significance of Coincidences: A Hard Look at the Astonishing Evidence, I was extremely eager to have a look into the heart and mind that had produced such a significant book about the spiritual reality underlying our seemingly material universe. What a wonderful window into the author’s soul this gorgeous new book has provided.Sharon Rawlette’s captivating memoir, The Supreme Victory of the Heart, artfully weaves together three overlapping love stories. One details the beautiful but painfully eclipsed romance between the author and a man she once stood to marry. Another traces the growth of a woman gradually coming to know and love herself more deeply. Finally, there is the over-arching journey of a devoted-Christian-turned-reluctant-atheist coming back to belief in the Divine after many years, but in a startlingly different and deeper way than she had imagined possible.As no life is lived in a vacuum, the genre of memoir invariably involves publicly exposing the ways and doings of the other people connected to one’s story. This is perilous territory, but the author has managed to navigate it extremely well in the intricate and intimate telling of her heartbreak. It is difficult to imagine a more delicate, respectful, and compassionate portrayal of the man she so passionately loved, who ultimately chose to be with someone else. I must admit, he was so endearingly rendered that I often felt drawn to love him myself. And so, reading this narrative was a sort of communion with not one, but two beautiful souls. The kind of unconditional love that the author was ultimately able to embrace in the midst of her own pain, anger, and devastation was indeed a rare and supreme victory.There is so much to love in this book. Charming and deliciously detailed descriptions of the author’s love affair with France and her Frenchman. Introspective passages—laced with an uncommon humility and honest self-assessment—that trace the journey of a highly accomplished and independent mind into and out of academia, and through the labyrinth of life’s biggest questions. A sometimes costly commitment to seeking and living by truth, as clearly as one can conceive of it. Intriguing encounters with the mysterious patterns of synchronicity, and how they and a breathtaking encounter with beauty became pathways toward perceiving a Higher Love still somehow at work in an often bewildering universe.I highly recommend this book, which was even more enjoyable and gratifying on my second journey through it. Infused with intelligence, courage, sincerity, open-hearted searching, startling compassion and delightful humor, The Supreme Victory of the Heart is a truly fine spiritual memoir by a gifted writer and a lovely human being.

There was a tenderness in this book that I didn’t expect. The voice of the author was clear and thoughtful, but the story was unsettling. For the first third of the narrative, I wasn’t sure where it was going. The stage was being set in those opening pages, and what unfolded was both beautiful and unnerving. It was an exploration of the inner-self, and the changes that one must make in their life to be true to themselves in the wake of challenges. The author was on the fast track to an academic career in philosophy, but all that changed as the story progressed. This was at odds with the powerful tide of our society, and this pressure had to be addressed. This inward journey painted a picture of such goodness within the heart of the author.This was also a love story. The love of a soul mate, of book stores, of music and thought and food. There was loss and hope, as well as self-doubt and accomplishment.For me, the most important passages were the discussions and tension between the author and her parents. This was addressed with a sensitivity that left me shaken. There is a passionate beauty in this book. There is a surface story of challenge and self-awareness, and a much more subtle story of hope—and the power of living your own deepest truth.

Though framed around her relationship with her fiancé, Sharon Hewitt Rawlette’s memoir is also about an intellectual crisis and a crisis of faith: when a life is built with another person, what happens if that life were to disappear? Would “God” allow such a thing? When she articulates an ethics based on love, not on the abstract reasoning in which she was trained as a philosophy academic, she elevates her story beyond a single relationship—which itself is compellingly told, and a source of great narrative tension throughout—and makes it something more universal. Written in a straightforward, accessible style, this memoir will appeal to deep thinkers, searchers, and anyone interested in a spiritual life outside of mainstream evangelical Christianity. Highly recommended!

Breathtakingly written, Sharon Hewitt Rawlette draws us into her deepest depths and highest heights. Love. God. Disbelief. Loss. Exhilaration. And a discovery of the mechanics of the Mind of the Creator as shown in one synchronicity after the other, in spite of her initial rejection of this truth. I couldn't put this book down. Well educated and highly motivated, the author delivers her majestic experiences of the heart in terms that we can relate to. Her imagery invites us to see, taste, smell, feel, and yes, understand the great love affair which becomes the catalyst of her own growth. Paris in winter. Train rides into New York City. Small rooms. Expansive French beaches. Everything is laid out in a tapestry that tells her gorgeous (and heartbreaking) story. You will want to read this book. Seriously.

To me this was a total waste of money. The author was in total denial that the man simply left her because he fell in love with someone else. There was nothing heroic about it on his part or supernatural. She basically got dumped and had to write a whole book denying that’s what happened. she tried to give a supernatural, higher purpose meaning to the fact that he didn’t want to marry her. She intellectualized it but in the end she got dumped, was highly co dependant and just couldn’t admit to herself that he treated her very badly actually. It was a highly dysfunctional relationship with her accepting all the angles of how he actually was emotionally mistreating her. I think instead of writing a whole book about it she should’ve gone to therapy