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Wise beyond his years and certainly our times, Sharp's clear and steady voice is, at once, comforting and illuminating. Throughout the book he engages a remarkable wisdom that asks the reader to honor the truth of the spiritual process. "Remember, we have been given a sacred individuality by God so we might express our inner brilliance within this mortal coil. The message from within is: You can be grand.", he begins. Sharp "promotes a way of courageous self-honesty - especially when social or religious pressures to 'keep up appearances' encourage us to pretend otherwise. Sacred individuality asks us to cultivate open-mindedness, tolerance, and a sense of grand permission in our lives and seeking."
This book serves as a common-sense guide to spirituality and Sharp creates an "atmosphere of permission" that invites the reader to better understand the wisdom within and among us. He reminds us that "authentic spiritual maturity has much more to do with acceptance, recognition and exploration, and less to do with avoidance, denial and escape" and he encourages us to find our own individual path. "The individualistic imagination of the brilliant soul usually annoys the rather dull, hallowed halls of 'The Established Way'", Sharp says. He challenges the reader to always be different, distinct, courageous and outrageously individualistic on the journey.
This book endeavors to teach us that our life's lessons are present in every moment. Every encounter, every thought, every experience in each minute of the day is a sacred spiritual act designed to help us discover our truth, our path, and ourselves.
With incredible insight and clarity, Sharp asks us to embrace our own dark moments as pathways to spiritual learning and growth. "For the seeker, the question is not whether we can successfully shield our spirituality from life's grit. We can't. The real question is: Do we cultivate a vision that gives us permission to acknowledge and include all our life experiences, especially those darker moments within the boundaries of what is considered appropriate territory for spirituality?", he asks. "When we encounter life's painful and unpleasant experiences, do we pause to consider the possible wisdom beneath the suffering?"
Sharp delivers countless brilliant moments throughout the book and exacts points of wisdom from other friends on the path such as Anne Lammot, Rumi, Rainer Maria Rilke, Chogyam Trungpa, Natalie Goldberg and Robert Arpin.
In this book, he embraces all religions but encourages us to find our own truth and personal experience outside the confines of any religious doctrine. Sharp reminds us that we must travel our own path and avoid accepting religious doctrine blindly without spiritual exploration - "we are asked to seek the spirit of the teaching, to get to the heart of the matter with self-honesty and awareness -- to find the inner truth of that information."
Throughout the book, Sharp offers a tender voice of reason to guide us on our journey and perhaps his greatest gift to us is an abundance of courage, "An honest soft courage. A courage that opens the heart, reveals vulnerability, and trusts in a larger process at work. Make no mistake about it, being true to yourself and your unique individuality demands the quality of soft courage," he writes. "It takes courage to step out of the safe, convenient, and comfortable boundaries we've established for our lives: courage to give ourselves a wider landscape in which to seek and explore; courage to give up the illusion that we will one day get 'everything right', and courage to honor and appreciate the divine human mystery that is ultimately beyond our conceptual understanding altogether. It takes courage to kiss our scars figuratively as well as literally."
This is an incredibly wise book written with a kind and clear brilliance that should illuminate even the darkest path and send us on our journey with God-speed.
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This is not a stuffy, strict, demanding book. It does not condemn you for your mistakes or faults. It is a peaceful and loving approach to faith that shows you God loves us all how we are. We are none of us perfect and the author emphasizes the fact that we are loved no matter what and if we open our hearts all will be well. He talks of how people in our age have been put off by religion. He tells us how religion and spirituality are not the same thing, and if we follow Jesus's life and example rather than do as is dictated by religion's leaders then we will be on the road we should be. God has a plan for all of us and our lives. He loves us even if we do not love him. He will wait for us to come to him and then he will open his arms. The author explains all of these things and tells of a God that loves so much rather than condemns.
I found this book to be touching and rather simple in what it had to say. Simple in a good way. Anyone can understand what the author is trying to say, and I found it all to be wonderfully inspiring and thoughtful. I love inspirational books and sadly most that I find are very boring, stiff, untouching. This is a great exception. I recommend it to anyone who wants to meditate on God and their own spirituality.
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I hope that the authors will eventually expand the geographical coverage and the number of species. I'll be first in line to buy a new edition!
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