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SCARS TO STARS

$6.99

Insights Toward Interdependence


Evolving Mystical Humanist UU
A Memoir of Head, Heart, and Soul

An ethical/spiritual journey leading from life as a devout Catholic girl from a Louisiana mill town to a mystical humanist Unitarian Universalist. Connects life experiences with intellectual, spiritual, and ethical growth.

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Author: Dolly Haik-Adams Berthelot

Description

How did a devout Catholic girl from a LA mill town become a Mystical Humanist Unitarian Universalist, and what does that mean anyway, at least to her?

“Dr. Dolly” shares her emotional journey—torn from Catholicism by a young love crisis, jumping from daily news editor to innovative Existential journalism teacher, world traveling writer-photographer, professor, communication consultant, later medical and caretaking challenges, and loss. Life spurred endless questions plus visions of possible ongoing evolution.

What matters, she says, isn’t theories, religion, or even God. Not beliefs but behaviors. Whether it’s practiced or not, the Golden Rule is preached across every religion and is at the solid core of Humanism. Never has there been a greater need for Interdependence and commitment to Our Common Good. The Covid 19 pandemic, racial and political turmoil, climate upheaval—all have shown we must cooperate to flourish or we may perish.

Speaking from both head and heart, the author rejects the dualism that too often separates interlocking reality. While embracing the logic of humanism and principles of Unitarian Universalism, she also shares key stories and poems revealing mystical experiences and the potency of dreams.

This brief ethical and spiritual memoir is compelling, edifying, and inspiring, with a touch of wit. It celebrates beauty and art (such as that in her cover photograph), honesty, authentic relationships, intellect and intuition, critical and creative thinking, freedom and responsibility, unity within diversity, and the open-mindedness that lets in sunbeams and fresh air.

Additional information

Dimensions 9 × 6 × 0.17 in

Additional Book Data

ISBN: 978-1-63199-793-8
Pages: 78

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Energion Publications General Information and News

Each part of Dr. Dolly Berthelot’s meandering professional and personal life has enriched one another and led to where she is today: an intellectually thriving though physically unpredictable 77-year-old author with countless articles and poems and several quite varying books published across decades—and more now waiting in line. Her career has included innovative public school and university teaching; communication consulting and original seminars with Unity in Diversity emphasis; daily newspaper writer and editor; international magazine travel writing and photography; and art photography.

Now a widow after 45 years of marriage, “Dr Dolly” adjusted well to the pandemic and enjoys her “mostly writing” life in a warm and friendly high rise condo overlooking beautiful Pensacola Bay. She also works there individually assisting limited select clients with writing, editing, and interpersonal communication. Life story writing and memoirs became her forte, as addressed in mineyourmemories1.com.

She conceived the concept Scars to Stars in this book and then recommended it as the standard title for the exciting new Energion series kicked off by SCARS to STARS. She will serve as series consulting editor.

Her only son lives in Los Angeles.

Web sites: https://drdollyb.com and mineyourmemories1.com

I love this book. Dolly Berthelot writes beautifully whether she’s telling stories from her wide ranging life or articulating observations on religion and the human condition. Readers will be captivated by adventures from her Catholic roots in small town Louisiana, a doomed but transformative young love, innovative and controversial teaching and publications advising, international living, and finally starting her own consulting firm. Scars to Stars is smart and entertaining—fun, but also a profound read!

Deirdre Barrett
Lecturer at Harvard Medical School,
and author of Pandemic Dreams
and The Committee of Sleep.


I thoroughly enjoyed this story of youthful discovery to senior acknowledgement of the mystery of human existence. It reminded me of my spiritful youth and adult journey of finding the awe in our universe and putting my faith in humanity. I believe it will do the same for readers in their quest for the stars in their lives, and who also bear the scars of life as well, all so warmly versed in her poetry, story, and prose.

Celebrant Andre (Buz) Ryland
Founder, Humanists of West Florida


I read Scars to Stars before sunrise on my 69th birthday. It seemed appropriate to listen to another seeker’s story as I pondered the meaning of my life. This book celebrates the moral arc of history that consciously and unconsciously guides our spiritual journeys and affirms that ethics, wonder, and Mysticism are not restricted to any religious tradition or belief system. Dolly Berthelot invites us to listen to our own lives, to hear the deeper movements of wisdom, as she shares her own story. I am grateful to have encountered this book and recommend it for seekers, questioners, and persons certain of their faith, as a reminder that wherever we are there are lessons to be learned, for we are on holy ground.

Bruce Epperly, PhD
Professor, University Administrator, and Chaplain


Dolly Berthelot’s little book is a big challenge to those who dismiss non-Christians as unlikely providers of value to our world; her life refutes that canard and connects humanism to the highest values of the human experience.

Rev. Steve Kindle
Social Justice Activist, Author, and Pastor

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