Falling into Grace: Trials and Triumphs of Being a Baha'i

Becoming a Baha'i is one of the most wonderful, exciting, uplifting, mystical spiritual experiences in anyone's life. It does, however, entail changes and challenges for which an individual is not always prepared. This book is a brilliant aid to Baha'is, old and new, in helping to make clear some things that may not have been clear before. It is a book as much for veteran Baha'is (I have been a Bahai for nearly 40 years) as for those much younger in the Faith. It would certainly have been a great help to me to have read this book a lot earlier in my Baha'i life.It is a book that shows how much love there is in the Baha'i Faith and it helps us to remember that through love everyone the world over is better able to function both as an individual and as part of a larger community. It is not always easy to make changes from a lifetime of acquired habits to a process of improving the way one tries to live one's life. Reading this book will put many things into perspective in a light-hearted but also a serious way so as to make change a pleasant and often even an amusing process.

I found this book an easy and delight to read, and it is the first to actually document the daily tests and trials that most of the Baha'is in the Western societies go through. In a few centuries, books such as these will be source of much research, just as today we would love to have had a similar book written about the early christian communities and their daily lives in 150 AD !. One note of caution : the experiences of the author are not universal, and may not have happened to others. But having said that, I believe everyone who is seeking a 'Spiritual Awakenng' can resonate with this book.

This book helped me take a kind and understanding approach to myself and others during all the challenges that come from trying to live a spiritual life and build spiritual community. The author wrote from the heart in an engaging and approachable style. Although it is focused on the Baha'i Faith, it would be helpful to anyone who struggles with spiritual perfectionism and the search for God's grace...something that is really available to all of us.