Overall, I felt this book to be incredibly practical because you can reference it at any time with the glossary and my goldfish brain needs that. I think it serves as a great introduction for youths (or anyone really) curious about spirituality-- what great people throughout history have actually been teaching and demonstrating, love and unity. We need a change of heart, a reframing of all our conceptions and a new orientation of our activities. The inward life of man as well as his outward environment have to be reshaped if human salvation is to be secured.

The word “spirituality,” as the Oxford English Dictionary defines it, means “the quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things.” This is exactly what I’m talking about. Way to go, OED! I will delve into all these concepts in far greater detail as the book progresses, but if we are to believe, as I very much do, that we have some kind of “soul” that continues on some kind of journey after our bodies fall away, and that this spiritual essence of who we are is just as real (if not more so) than our bodies—in other words, that this “soul” is the nonanimal, nonmaterial, non-pleasure-and-power-seeking dimension of ourselves that continues in some form after our physical existence ceases—and if this soul exists, then there are certain practices, processes, and perspectives that might help to shape our human beingness, the reality of who we really are. This is what I’m referring to when I talk about the word “spirituality”: this eternal/divine aspect of ourselves that longs for higher truth and journeys toward heart-centered enlightenment and, dare I say it, God. The God of SoulBoom is distant and elusive—a “Big Guy/Gal/Force/God/Creator thingy,” in Wilson’s words—that mostly just has “our best interests in mind.” Although Wilson’s theism moves beyond a vapid “spirituality” and includes a public, rather than simply private, dimension of faith, it does not do enough to differentiate itself from what sociologist Christian Smith has termed “moralistic therapeutic deism.” In contrast, the God of the Bible is engaged and relational, constantly drawing close to his creation and expressing love, concern, anger, and sacrifice toward humans, who reflect God’s own image. Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text. It's not that there's no humor to be found in "Soul Boom." There's most definitely humor to be found here, however, "Soul Boom" for the most part gives us the other side of Rainn Wilson - a more contemplative fellow, devoted family man, and longtime spiritual human being raised in and still following the Baháʼí faith and fiercely devoted to climate issues.

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And then I thought to myself, "Maybe I've done myself a disservice here. Maybe I need to re-explore those ideas about God and life and soul and the meaning of life and purpose and the nature of suffering because I'm so very unhappy maybe this will help me." And it did. It hasn't always been easy. It's been a very difficult, arduous road with a lot of ups and downs in it. But that is what really sparked my deep and abiding interest in these gigantic topics was they personally affected me and in the exploration of them, they made my life better. And I believe they can make other people's lives better, and I believe collectively they can make our lives better. True story: I recently came across a news headline about some model/celebrity who had undergone some kind of “spiritual transformation.” I was intrigued. After all, I love spiritual transformations! Have had a couple myself over the decades. In fact, I might be having one right now as I write this. Upon further reading, turns out that this model/celebrity had undergone an actual exorcism of some kind in a remote town in Switzerland. A shaman had released some kind of demon/energy from them, and they were finally, on the other side of it, able to practice “self-care” and enjoy yoga and raw juicing from home. Something like that. Which got me thinking about the word “spirituality.” It can mean so many different things to so many people. The trauma that our struggling species has experienced in recent years—because of both the pandemic and societal tensions that threaten to overwhelm us—is not going away anytime soon. Existing political and economic systems are not enough to bring the change that the world needs. In this book, Rainn Wilson explores the possibility and hope for a spiritual revolution, a “Soul Boom,” to find a healing transformation on both a personal and global level If you approach your reading of "Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution" expecting to experience the quirky hilarity of Rainn Wilson's iconic Dwight Schrute character from "The Office," then you're likely to find "Soul Boom" a bit of a disappointment.

Because the Baha’i faith believes that all religions are the changeless face of the same god, and figureheads such as Jesus, the Buddha and Muhammed are all divine messengers manifesting the same god, Wilson is a natural advocate for embracing a spirituality that seeks to unite people from all religious faiths. Here’s the rub: Wilson’s “emplottment” of Jesus into the story line of SoulBoom conscripts Jesus and the Bible into a narrative—and an entire worldview—the biblical authors wanted nothing to do with. Where Dwight was a latecomer to the merits of monotheism, Rainn Wilson has made promoting it a major part of his life’s calling, bending his significant celebrity and resources to projects that promote human spirituality in media, entertainment, and social activism. Soul Boom is his latest effort and, despite its shortcomings, is one of the most compelling non-Christian apologetical works I have read. Anticipating shared valuesWe've talked about a number of topics that you've explored in the book. What did you learn either if it was a thing about a topic or about yourself in writing this book? Thirteen years ago, my wife was in the third trimester of her pregnancy, and her doctor put her on bed rest due to something called pre-eclampsia. It can be a dangerous situation so she was confined to the bed, the couch, and any number of other comfy spaces. To help pass the time, Dwight, Michael, Jim, Pam, and all the others from Dunder Mifflin accompanied her and I just about every night for three months straight. Then, after our daughter was born in 2010, they all accompanied us most nights up to the present. Yes, I’m proud to admit — we are super fans (our daughter is now also one of the many young teenage fans out there) I really struggled with this one. This is a topic that I'm not all that comfortable with, so I thought who better to make it more palatable than Rainn Wilson? I'm not religious. The correct term would be atheist, but I have a bit of an aversion to that one. The more outspoken atheists are so smug that it's really off-putting to me. I've always had the attitude that you should let people live. Let them believe what they want as long as no one is getting hurt. I would never attempt to talk someone out of their religious beliefs, and I just wish they would show me the same respect and not try to push theirs on me all the time. I believe religion and church can be really beneficial. A sense of community, support and making death a little easier, depending on one's beliefs. That's how I felt going into this book. Now I am angry. I work at a Christian study center serving a large public university, so the trends of “nones” and the “spiritual but not religious” are present every day. Wilson should be lauded for breaking down the artificial “privatization” of spirituality that reduces faith to an individualistic pursuit of self-actualization or a distant set of dogmas. To the extent that SoulBoom’s spirituality fosters values that make it possible for people to become more Christlike, Christian readers can affirm the value of Soul Boom’s intervention. What's going through your mind, especially when you read that headline and maybe dive a little more into that story?