Sondra Sula

Sondra Sula is a Quaker mystic with a deep passion for spirituality. She practices a number of spiritual disciplines, one of which is recording dialogues between herself and God - the inspiration behind Dialogues with the Divine.

Her most recent book, Meditations on Mendocino, is a 366-day devotional of contemplative thoughts based on nature, some of which are taken from her blog: The Nature of Spirituality. She moved to the Mendocino coast following a call from God and is now Clerk of the Mendocino Friends Meeting in Caspar, California.

Her other daily devotional, Reflections on the Fox River and Beyond, reveals the connections between God and nature as experienced along the Fox River in Aurora, Illinois.

Sula divides her time between writing and visual art. She has authored several children's books and has contributed to a number of anthologies.

Q & A with Sondra Sula about her book Dialogues with the Divine

1. What prompted you to write Dialogues with the Divine?

Two things, really. A vision that an atheist friend of mine had of the book before I even considered it being a book. And, I know it sounds cliché, but, God asked me to - and my initial response was, “No way,” because it was too personal.

2. What is the book about?

Basically, my dialogues with God over a period of ten years, but mainly the years 2010 and 2011.

3. When did you begin talking to God like this?

Back in 2001 I was on a weeklong silent retreat and was assigned a spiritual director from a nearby town who taught me a technique of journaling with nature and objects. I found this spiritual exercise to come naturally. It was also very powerful and enlightening for me. After eight years of this, I began to speak directly with God.

4. How did you know it was God’s voice and not just you talking to yourself?

Every time I asked God that same question, the answer would be: You know my voice. Then, in 2011, I read Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch, and the voice of “his” God was exactly the same as mine. I recently read a book called Foal and the Angels by Foal, and the voice of God Supreme was also the same voice that I hear as God. I find this consistency utterly fascinating.

5. This book seems very personal. Did you feel vulnerable writing it?

Yes! This was a personal prayer journal, and when I wrote it, I never expected to share it with anyone. When God first asked me to write a book proposal for Dialogues with the Divine, I really dragged my feet and suggested to God that it was a really bad idea. I believed that if it was published, I would feel as if the top layer of my skin had been removed - like an Alex Gray painting. But God has a very gentle way of being persuasive.

6. I understand there are some black and white illustrations in the book - reproductions of your paintings.

Yes. I’m an artist and I paint. Many of my images that have come to me over the past ten years or so have been from my spiritual practices. I’ve only included paintings that were inspired directly from the dialogues printed in the book.

7. But are there others? Like the artwork on the cover? Tell me about that.

The cover painting is from a series of four images I saw during a Quaker meeting and sketched on a napkin on the 50-mile drive home - plenty of time since my husband was driving. I painted all of the images, but I felt that the cover painting, “Incarnation,” was the right image because it speaks to the idea of words becoming a living thing, and the language is flowering from my throat.

I recently completed a painting, “Seeds of Change” that was mentioned in the book (on page 110), but at the time I never got around to painting it. When I was preparing the manuscript for publication, I kept feeling like a needed to paint it, even though the image came to me several years ago. It felt good to complete it.

8. Speaking of Quakers, you call yourself a Quaker mystic. What does that mean?

I’m very drawn to silence and non-judgment. I find these things in The Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers. I attend a silent meeting (Friends call it “unprogrammed”) and enjoy being in silent communion within a community. Quakers hold no doctrines, but instead shape their lives around simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality and stewardship. And I believe mystics are simply people who choose to communicate directly with God in a passionate way.

9. Are you concerned that people won’t believe you, or worse, think you’re crazy?

Yes and no. During this process I did wonder if I was crazy. I mean, hearing God speak to you is a red flag in our society. But I think if God was telling me to harm someone, or myself, I would have been more suspicious. And I suspect some people will believe I am talking with God and some won’t. As my mother often said to me when I was growing up: You can’t make anyone do anything. The same goes for belief.

10. What would you like people to take away from the book?

Hopefully one or more insights that will help them along their life journey. Perhaps that judgment and fear are destructive, but acceptance and love make almost any situation better.