A Leap to Everyday Spirituality

Book excerpt: This book is directed toward fulfilling the wisdom of Yogi Berra as stated in the Preface of the book: "You got to be very careful if you don't know Where you're going, because you might not get there." There are some readers whose traditional bents may lead them to question the direction(s) the book is taking. The author concedes this but hopes that his integrity of purpose ("where he's going") will lead to consideration as opposed to consternation. Here, in no rigid linear sequence, are some (not all) of the areas the book explores. The primate as animal evolved to become the primate as human, first through an awareness of compassion (responsible to species) and later through an awareness of religion (response-able to God). Why, then, has the human forsaken the value and purposefulness of compassion that permitted humanity to evolve and survive, and has become obsessed with taking religious beliefs too seriously (e.g. religious chaos, religious wars)? In keeping with Yogi Berra's advice the book was given a sense of direction. First it would explore examples of taking life too seriously. Then expand to observations of taking one's beliefs too seriously followed by taking religion too seriously (religiosity) and finally arrive at taking theology inappropriately - where the author suggests that traditionalism and theism have brought Christianity today. The book offers the thought that two essential human capabilities within the purpose for existence are underutilized by humanity: compassion and spirituality. It concludes with the question: Could the intentional utilization of these two possibilities as capabilities support the morphing of Christianity? This book ("A Leap to Everyday Spirituality, In the Eternal Atmosphere of Possibilities") is a candid invitation to readers to explore their beliefs, not a request to agree with the author.