When I first received this book for review I was quite excited and looked forward to reading it. In the beginning pages, the reader is giving wonderful examples of three people and what they do to nourish their spiritual lives. The examples vary in just how one may go about finding a nourishing spirituality. Taking the examples one step further, the reader could potentially interpret these examples were derived from various belief systems. Initially, I applauded Wick’s ability to weave a simplistic guide to encompass all belief systems and honor all religions, while seeking one basic truth of simplicity. There was never an indication that this book was written for and from a Christian oriented fundamentalist perspective. His ability for writing about wonderful ideas of how to create/live in a "simplistic" lifestyle seems to have the potential to be geared towards a very limited audience.

While I truly respect ALL forms of religion, I was taken aback by Wicks’ presumption that the only way to obtain a true "spiritual" life was through forming a "real relationship with the living God". The questions that came to mind as a result of this presumption were, What is meant by "real" and who can define what is real and not real for someone else? And, If you don’t subscribe to this "living God", does that mean you can not be spiritual?

Having taught classes on Spirituality and taken many classes in World Religions, I was disheartened that he was not more open-minded in his overall presentation on Spirituality. Religion and Spirituality are separate entities therefore; it is inappropriate to ‘marry’ (my term) the two without being very clear about how one can do that. Otherwise the text would be extremely confusing to someone struggling with either issue. Again, questions that came to mind were, "Can one be Spiritual without identifying themselves with an organized religion?" "What does it mean to be Spiritual? What does it mean to be Religious? It is an assumption to automatically put the two concepts together.

My last observation after reading this book was that the material is not necessarily new for those familiar with the topic and may seem somewhat redundant. For those curious about the concepts, I would invite you to read it and draw your own conclusions.

Susan Wingate is currently working in personnel management at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She has worked for twelve years as a chemical dependency counselor for adolescents, as well as having worked with survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse. Her passion is to be a vehicle for creating awareness for self and others.

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