The God Instinct

Book excerpt: In this simple, elegant, and literate book, Tom Stella shows what can happen when we move from certitude to doubt, from stability to searching, when cherished beliefs are cast adrift; when life experiences seem to tell us that the "right" answers no longer seem so "right." Such a time is an enriching time, he tells us, a time when life is no longer a matter of going from "question to answer, but from question to question." And like the many, many people he has encountered in his work, he concludes that "life in all its messiness is a sacred affair." This is the point, author Tom Stella believes, when we become seekers--seekers of truth and spiritual maturity. Although focused on the fundamental themes of the spiritual life, The God Instinct successfully bridges the spiritual and the practical. Stella is able to ground his insights in the realities of daily living with the wisdom gleaned from his own journey.