A Generation of Seekers: The Spiritual Journeys of the Baby Boom Generation (Hardcover)

Many people have speculated about the boomers' beliefs and higher values (or lack of same). Now the details of their spiritual worldview has received substantial factual representation in the new book A Generation of Seekers: The Spiritual Journeys of the Baby Boom Generation (Harper San Francisco). It's a massive study that tells us all we ever wanted to know about the spiritual lives of baby boomers but didn't have the means to find out. The research, involving surveys as well as in depth interviewing, was funded by the Lilly Foundation. The director of the research and author of the book reporting the results, is Wade Clark Roof, who is J. F. Rowny Professor of Religion and Society at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Roof compiled 80 questions to ask of a stratified sample of 1600 boomers, plus some comparative groups of older Americans. Among the questions: Do you feel God is personally involved in your life? Do you believe God is "within us"? How much do you think about why there is suffering in the world? What happens after death? Is it good to explore many different religious teachings and learn from them, or should one stick to a particular faith? The researchers followed up this survey with an in-depth telephone interview conducted with one third of the respondents. Then they conducted face-to-face interviews with 64 of these people. There followed several group meetings with respondents to discuss in still more depth some of the spiritual or religious issues that emerged in the earlier interviews. Clearly, the study was thorough.

The book contains so many interesting charts and statistics, it is easy to graze among the facts. When asked, for example, "For you, which is more important: to be alone and to meditate, or to worship with others?" 53 per cent preferred to be alone, and 29 per cent preferred to worship with others. 28 per cent indicated a belief in reincarnation and 26 a belief in astrology. These two figures were constant, regardless of level of education. In the older generation, belief in these two controversial areas existed mainly in the less educated. Sixty per cent prefer to explore a variety of religious teachings, while 28 per cent feel it is important to stick to one faith. The greater the amount of education, the greater is the desire for variety in religious exploration. There may be a pattern here.

Roof puts the facts together to present a picture with many complex patterns, and offers some startling conclusions. For starters, the boomers are spiritual seekers. Almost without exception they believe in God. Although they picture God in different ways (and many are struggling to find an image they can accept), they all seem to have an instinct for spiritual commitment, something that will take them beyond themselves. They have, however, an apparent deep division in their ranks.

Roof describes as a "spiritual divide" the split between those boomers who are of a fundamentalist Christian orientation and those who pursue less conventional spiritual paths, from Native American spirituality to Zen Buddhism. He finds several points of divergence in these two groups: the self orientation of the less conventional vs. the Jesus orientation of the fundamentalists, inner authority vs. outer authority, individualism vs. uniformity, mystical vs. theistic, letting go vs. mastery and control, spiritual vs. religious, and being influenced by the "sixties" vs. "sheltered" from that influence. Billy Graham, of an older generation, and speaking from one side of the issue, summed up the essence of the difference when he said, "The locus of the conflict in the world today rises from the battle between the absolute and the relative." The boomers are split over whether the spirit is sought within oneself, where in might appear in many guises, or in outside authority, where it would appear in a more uniform fashion.

The tension between unity and diversity is archetypal. The One and the Many: one God, the Creator, yet many Creatures, all of whom experience a certain autonomy. This tension is at the heart of our country: E Pluribus Unum, out of the many, one. It's dangerous to allow either faction to gain the upper hand. If individualism were to win the day, there's the danger of chaos. If the forces of uniformity and control were to become dominant, there's the danger of a dictatorial, soul-murdering society. It's hopefully possible and definitely fruitful to hold the two factions in creative tension.

Roof himself suggests a possible tension bridge over the spiritual divide within the boomers. For one thing, he found ample evidence that the fundamentalism of the boomers is quite to the left of earlier generations. There are many concessions to individualism, most notably the premise that having a better life is the prime motive for being a good Christian. He concludes that the self-improvement ethic, regardless of the images or vocabulary used, unites all boomers. Self-realization, whether focused through an external ideal, or inwardly through the prompting of one's own heart, would seem to be the boomer's common search. Roof also found that as that search matures toward self-fulfillment, boomers are uniformly committed to sharing the fruits with others. As self-fulfilled becomes self-transcended, boomers become