Thinking Outside the Church: 110 Ways to Connect with Your Spiritual Nature

I discovered Jennifer Leigh Selig's Thinking Outside the Church when I was researching titles for my own book (How My Neighbor Worships: A Grand Tour of Faith Communities). It has become my favorite bedside book because I can read as little or as much as I like from anywhere in the book, depending on my mood. Seven broad categories (from Activities to States of Being) are broken down into 110 subcategories ranging from the "conventionally spiritual"--meditating and worshipping--to the unexpectedly spiritual--traveling, color, chaos, and being daring. Each subcategory begins with a brief, insightful headnote and is followed by eight to twelve quotes from an enormous range of individuals from every possible spiritual tradition (and many you'd not automatically associate with spirituality). Quotes come mostly from the twentieth century, but some are older than two millennia. The usual suspects are here: authors of sacred texts, saints, and spiritual leaders from all traditions. But it's also refreshing to see unexpected characters show up: from the African-American writer Charles W. Chestnut to Einstein to Eleanor Roosevelt to Neil Armstrong. As you might guess from the multiplicity of sources, the book, as Selig says in her Introduction, "is an attempt to cultivate an attitude, not to proscribe a path." But that doesn't mean the book is simply a grab-bag of inspirational words. Rather, the implicit challenge is to make every moment and every action of our lives sacred. No matter where you are in your spiritual journey, this book can be a friendly companion. Individual quotations or whole sections can serve as meditation aids, as daily inspiration, or as courage.