The Spiritual Guide: Four Steps on the Path of Enlightenment

Many people ask How can I live a more spiritual life a life that can ultimately lead to enlightenment? And by way of an answer this book describes four of the most important steps that we can take along the spiritual path--staying open to suffering living a generous life cultivating mindfulness and wonder and accepting death but affirming joy. The Spiritual Guide offers a clear discussion of basic spiritual themes. It does not assume the truth of any given standpoint and it has something to say to all people regardless of their religious affiliation or lack of it. Most of us are profoundly concerned with meaning-of-life issues but academic philosophy is remote while new age spirituality can be impossibly vague. This book uses parables philosophical ideas and stories from a variety of religious and philosophical traditions to illuminate what it means to live in a spiritual way. The Spiritual Guide is both practical and theoretical and it speaks directly to readers as students of life. Here is a wonderfully compact gift--a profound and refreshing oasis in our daily desert of distraction. Professor Whites reach is wide. Through gracefully embracing the heartbeat of major religions he reminds us of our spiritual core. He takes us on a treasured journey that prompts us to awaken to who we are: pilgrims on our intimate and ultimate quest for that which makes life worth living. --Michael C. Brannigan Pfaff Endowed Chair in Ethics and Moral Values The College of Saint Rose In a time when discussions of spirituality tend to be either grossly superficial or too narrowly specialized Richard Whites Spiritual Guide comes as a welcome surprise. Whites treatment of spirituality is both profound and accessible grounded in stories and examples from the worlds great philosophical and religious traditions yet attuned to the challenges of living in todays technologically sophisticated and pluralistic world. The Spiritual Guide is an exceptionally clear book on a topic generally not known for clarity. By focusing on four steps to a spiritual life White artfully manages to articulate a theory of spirituality while focusing on the practical steps one can take to live a more meaningful life. In this way White recovers the wisdom of ancient traditions namely that the quality of ones life is chiefly influenced by ones understanding of the world and that a mature understanding is something one acquires over time by responding to suffering with compassion by learning to live generously by cultivating wonder and by acknowledging death in order to live with joy. This book will be well worth reading for anyone who wants to learn more about the enduring relevance of spiritual wisdom and also live a spiritually fulfilled life. --Richard Kyte Endowed Professor D. B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership Viterbo University Richard White is Professor of Philosophy at Creighton University in Omaha. His most recent books include The Heart of Wisdom (2013) Radical Virtues (2008) and Loves Philosophy (2001).