The most important book, other than...

I've just finished reading perhaps the most important book in my life, other than...the Bible.
That's quite a claim, not one I take lightly, especially to have been influenced by "Leaves of Grass" by Walt Whitman, and "The Man Nobody Knows," by Bruce Barton (1925), about the manly  Jesus. And of course there are others, including Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," but that is more the favorite than most important.
I'll admit, my reaction is influenced by three weeks of unexpected illness and mortality, but I started reading it before then, thanks to the "soul-detox" group I'm privileged to be a part of Sunday nights.  The increased emotional and physical stress has perhaps intensified my reaction, but this is a book I've needed. I wish I'd found it 15 years ago. But it "means" more now.
Here's an except from late in the small book (I've got underlines and marks and stars on almost all 167 pages of text):

"The bottom line of the Gospel is that most of us have to hit some kind of bottom before we even start the real spiritual journey. Up to that point, it is mostly religion. At the bottom, there is little time or interest in being totally practical, efficient, or revenue sharing. You just want to breathe fresh air. The true Gospel is always fresh air and spacious breathing room."

Oh, the book? Written by a Franciscan priest in Albuquerque, Fr. Richard Rohr. 
"Falling Upward, A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life." 
Read it. You don't have to be "Christian" to gain from it. If you are "Christian," it will challenge you, provoke you, make you uncomfortable, awaken you, perhaps anger you. You will be stronger spiritually. 

Some of my marked up pages

Turning pages of the West and other travels

@okieprof talking with Craig Johnson, author of Longmire series, at Full Circle Books. Photo by my old newspaper friend Glen Seeber.

My autographed copy

I try to read at least a book a month, but this spring has been slow, but that changed this last week, after a visit to Full Circle Bookstore a week ago to hear  Craig Johnson. He's the  best-selling author of the Longmire modern Western mystery series which has been a hit on A&E TV.
Before reading a little from his latest book about the Wyoming sheriff, "Any Other Name," he told story after humorous story, about living in Wyoming near the Montana border, reading his books in rural libraries, supporting independent book stores, affecting  sales of Rainier beer, (Walt Longmire's favorite), and working with the actors in the TV series, the only one I watch.

I've read three of his previous books, but what first hooked me was the TV show. While set in Wyoming, it's filmed in northern New Mexico, and I watch it for the drama and familiar scenery--I think I've been everywhere the show is filmed.
Obviously I bought the book, got it autographed, and finished it within a few days, my fourth book this year. Fortunately, the new TV season of the show starts Monday. The actor Robert Taylor resembles James Arness in "Gunsmoke," but this show is  more realistic and set in present day. It's a good show, different enough from the books to make you want to read them too. 
The books move quickly, gaining speed near the climaxes. I especially like his use of Wyoming weather  in the plots. What really stands out--I wanted to ask him about it at Full Circle but didn't want to bog down the large audience with my interests--Johnson inserts a lot of Native American beliefs and what we gringos would call "mysticism." But if you've lived in the West and known those cultures, you know there's a spirituality there that transcends whites' poor ideas of reality. 
Favorite line from the new book is "She stood there like an unfinished phrase." Wow.

"She stood there like an unfinished phrase"

Johnson is a big cowboy who knows the rural West and its people, and the realistic characters people his books.  I wish I'd had a recorder for all his stories, but one quote stood out during the night: "I like spending time with Walt."

I also bought Larry McMurtry's new novel, the "Last Kind Words Saloon," writing about the legends of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday, beginning in West Texas and leading up to the Gunfight at the OK Corral. 
He's writing about the legends, not the facts, of the closing of the West, and included are Quanah Parker, Charlie Goodnight, Bill Cody and others in the brief book. I liked the first three fourths of the book...it's funny and tragic, and McMurtry is a master of characterization and funny dialog. The end of the book disappointed me though, but it's in line with McMurtry de-mythologizing the West. There are no heroes here--just people with problems who legend has made bigger than life. So his was the fifth book this year.

Two previous books this spring were for my Sunday night "soul-detox" group I've written about, spiritual traveling. Most recently was Paulo Coelho's "The Alchemist," a symbolic fable of wisdom about  a young sheepherder on life's journey in the Sahara. It's been translated into more than 20 languages. And before that was "The Twenty-One Skills of Spiritual Intelligence" by Cindy Wigglesworth. 
What is interesting to me is that Wigglesworth's is the only non-fiction book I've read this year, a reversal of my preference for non-fiction. First book back in January, was Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."

Interview with Wigglesworth

Soul "de-tox" and spiritual hunger

Physical health-conscious Americans toss the word "de-tox" around a lot these days. 
That means there must be tons of toxins in our society. It makes you aware that America's processed, and fast foods are full of toxins--poisons that were foreign to us two generations ago perhaps when a majority of Americans--rural Americans-- ate a lot of home grown food
 I have a friend who gave up caffeine, soft drinks, most sugars, all alcohol and more for a period of 30 days. We have anti-toxin green teas and other foods we're supposed to eat. People exercise and do yoga to cleanse the toxins out of their bodies.
So it caught my eye when I learned of a "soul de-tox" group this past year, thanks to an invite from a friend.

'Why do our souls need de-toxifying?'

The first reaction was a question, about the title naturally (pun intended). I was leery at first, based on my religious background and experience. I had a  prof once who said he was a "recovering fundamentalist." I understand better now, I think. I have more questions than I have answers these days--about, well everything.
After about six months of gathering Sunday evenings in an Edmond home, I've come up with more questions, and that's good. There are usually about ten people or so who show up. Most are regular fundamentalist church goers who consider themselves Christians, though there have been atheists, Unitarians, and well, me. It's not a Bible study, but a study of spirituality, based loosely on different books that we  read and discuss.

Significantly the first book they were in the middle of when I arrived was "Living the Questions," about progressive Christianity. 
I've never asked the question, where did you come up with the title for the group, but I've figured out how appropriate it is, by enjoying the informal hospitality of these people.
First question is, "Why do our souls need de-toxifying, especially among church goers?" 
If that question disturbs you, then you already have a hint. And if there is a need for such a group, there must be tons of toxins affecting souls in this very religious state.
In this group there are no have-to-believe rules, no 'thou-shalt-nots." There is no judgment for anything said or believed,  There is an openness and acceptance for all viewpoints.  There is a realization that spirituality and religion are not necessarily synonyms.
And at the very foundation, most telling, there is a hunger in their souls not being fed by organized religion.
So what are the soul toxins? The opposites of the previous two paragraphs.

• Being afraid, or forbidden, to question religious beliefs
• Narrow-minded exclusion of others
• Thinking America is God's chosen
• Believing Jesus was white
• Putting God in a box
• Believing only one religious group is correct 
• Using organized religion to promote political ends
• Being responsible for enforcing  religious doctrine on others
• Short-sighted view of the rest of the world
• Believing mankind is more important than the rest of creation
• Having to "go" to church to be spiritual
• Having to be correct in every religious observance
• The complete inerrancy of the Bible

There are more, but it seems to me that these toxins separate the soul from God, Allah, or whatever you choose to name of the spiritual creator, and/or the source of  spirituality. They keep you from being spiritual.
It is ironic that this small group is very akin to what First Century Christians did on the first day of the week...gathering in homes for support and spirituality...before the Bible was written and organized religion took over.

'...much spiritual hunger in Oklahoma and America.'

The group has helped de-toxify my soul--my spirituality, or at least start. I'm no where near the smartest or well-read person in the group, and my sins are many and I have lots of questions, but they don't care.  I  attend because I'm hungry and organized religion didn't feed me nutritious food--which was also my fault. I write this not to preach--it is only valid for me. You don't have to agree and I'm not offended if you don't. 
But I see much spiritual hunger in Oklahoma and  America. I heard one person say they were "home-churching" their children because the churches were so mean and judgmental and political. When Hal Holbrook was at UCO a week ago, his quotes from Mark Twain on organized religion causing hatred and wars and narrow-mindedness a century ago struck a chord with today's crowd. 
"S0ul de-tox." I wrote part of this in my head last night, "de-toxifying."

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Another person on this journey is  a former member of the Church of Christ, who became an alcoholic, who has become a tattooed, profane female pastor in the Lutheran church, ministering to the lower classes not welcome in most organized religions. Her book is Pastrix, available on Amazon. I learned this from my son Derrick on my last visit to Columbia, Mo. Here's a Washington Post story on her.
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(I avoid politics and religion as subjects in this blog, because there are already plenty of such blogs, for one reason. Another is that nobody wants to hear someone else preach or gripe. And, no matter what you write, you're not going to change any body's minds on those deeply emotional subjects. Plus, I respect others' beliefs. Who am I to judge? But I do try some satire, some off-the-wall approaches to dealing with religious and political issues and hypocrisy, and when they overlap with my specialty, "news" media, which happens all the time, but I try to address that from a media viewpoint. And here, well, it's just on my mind.)