Thinking Outside The Church: 110 Ways to Connect with Your Spiritual Nature [Hardcover]

Jennifer Leigh Selig (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2004

Thinking Outside the Church examines 100 ways people connect with their spirituality. It does not seek to supplant the religious feeling many people experience inside a church, but seeks instead to supplement that experience by suggesting a more expansive view of spirituality. In this view, the world and our activities outside the church are also seen as the sites and rites of worship and spiritual practice, as ways of connecting with our personal vision or version of the sacred.From art, nature, and dreams to dancing, traveling, and parenting, Jennifer Leigh Selig points readers toward the potential and the power present in diverse pathways that may not traditionally be seen as religious or spiritual. In addition to her own thoughtful introductions, Selig collects quotes that span cultures, time periods, religions, and wisdom traditions, each testifying to the universality of seeking the spiritual by Thinking Outside the Church.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jennifer Leigh Selig is the author of What Now?: Words of Wisdom for Life After Graduation, the resulting AMP mini book What Now?, and Reach for the Stars, an exploration of the power the stars have over our dreams and imaginings. In addition to writing, she has found both teaching and learning are some of her main methods for connecting with her spiritual nature. She has taught high school English for 16 years and recently earned her Ph.D. in Depth Psychology

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing (August 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0740742043
• ISBN-13: 978-0740742040
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #645,874 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect bedside book, February 13, 2007

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Santa Fean (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Thinking Outside The Church: 110 Ways to Connect with Your Spiritual Nature (Hardcover)

I discovered Jennifer Leigh Selig's Thinking Outside the Church when I was researching titles for my own book (How My Neighbor Worships: A Grand Tour of Faith Communities). It has become my favorite bedside book because I can read as little or as much as I like from anywhere in the book, depending on my mood.

Seven broad categories (from Activities to States of Being) are broken down into 110 subcategories ranging from the "conventionally spiritual"--meditating and worshipping--to the unexpectedly spiritual--traveling, color, chaos, and being daring. Each subcategory begins with a brief, insightful headnote and is followed by eight to twelve quotes from an enormous range of individuals from every possible spiritual tradition (and many you'd not automatically associate with spirituality). Quotes come mostly from the twentieth century, but some are older than two millennia. The usual suspects are here: authors of sacred texts, saints, and spiritual leaders from all traditions. But it's also refreshing to see unexpected characters show up: from the African-American writer Charles W. Chestnut to Einstein to Eleanor Roosevelt to Neil Armstrong.

As you might guess from the multiplicity of sources, the book, as Selig says in her Introduction, "is an attempt to cultivate an attitude, not to proscribe a path." But that doesn't mean the book is simply a grab-bag of inspirational words. Rather, the implicit challenge is to make every moment and every action of our lives sacred.

No matter where you are in your spiritual journey, this book can be a friendly companion. Individual quotations or whole sections can serve as meditation aids, as daily inspiration, or as courage.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Now is the time to know...That all you do is sacred." ~ Hafiz, April 20, 2011

By 

Evelyn Getchell "Evie" (Gulf Coast of Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Thinking Outside The Church: 110 Ways to Connect with Your Spiritual Nature (Hardcover)

I love quotations, particularly when they resonate with life lessons and universal truths that heighten personal awareness and self discovery. Thinking Outside The Church: 110 Ways to Connect with Your Spiritual Nature is a beautiful sampling of 110 different groupings of marvelous quotations illustrating profound realities that touch on our common life activities, experiences, the natural world, people, the sensual world, states of being, and values...all pathways of the spiritual quest.

There are quotations in this collection for everyone of every persuasion, religious and nonreligious alike. There are quotations that are Buddhist, Sufi, Hindu, Christian, Hasidic, Zen, Native American. There are Russian, French, German, Chinese, Persian ~ spanning the continents and many cultures. Some are ancient and some are contemporary. Some are from New Age philosophers while others are from traditions ranging from ancient to modern. There is wisdom and insight from a vast variety of writers, artists, scientists, world leaders, mystics, and saints.

And they all have one special quality ~ of producing spiritual growth...outside of the church of brick and mortar and inside the human heart. They teach us inescapable truths about ourselves and our predicament in the world we live in, with lessons overflowing with intelligence, grace and humor.

Thinking Outside The Church: 110 Ways to Connect with Your Spiritual Nature is not a book you should read quickly unless you are reading it for entertainment. But for maximum effect on your interior life, it is best read one section at a time, with deliberate mindfulness. Then read each section again and reflect on it, discovering the special relevance it has to your life.

I have read the book through once, but ever so slowly. And now I keep it handy and refer to it often. Every time I reread a section, something new, something deeper and more meaningful is revealed. And how wonderful it is to be able to share the message of a beautifully written quotation with my dear ones. This book was a very happy discovery for me and I recommend it gladly to anyone wanting a more expansive view of spirituality.