Occupy Spirituality

This powerful dialogue between two radical thinkers from different generations highlights the connection between contemplation and action and calls for a more radical engagement with the great issues of our time. Today's students face multiple challenges in finding a meaningful place to contribute to society, burdened as they are with record debt. One of the most striking aspects of the book is the digest of thoughts from young people at the beginning of each chapter on themes such as replacing the God of religion with the God of life, radical spirituality, finding your calling, spiritual practice, and elders and youth working together. Their approach is eclectic and universal, blending thought with engagement. Two chapters recount the personal stories of the authors, which represent parables for their generations. Readers are encouraged to trust their powers to give birth, taking responsibility, standing up and setting out with others to challenge and change our systems. I enjoyed Matthew's story about what the octogenarian poet Mary Oliver said recently about lessons for living at a poetry reading: pay attention, be astonished, share your astonishment. And, as Andrew Harvey says in his foreword, the last and best hope for an endangered humanity is a worldwide, grassroots revolution of love in action. With this in mind, the book is an inspiring, invigorating and important read.