Beginning ~ in the center of a labyrinth

Opening lines of Grounded: Finding God in the World ~ A Spiritual Revolution ~ by Diana Butler Bass (2015):

"I am sitting in the center of a labyrinth at Mount Calvary, a monastery in Santa Barbara, California."

Synopsis of the book

Religion is on the decline in America as many people leave behind traditional religious practices.  Bass argues that what appears to be a decline actually signals a major transformation in how people understand and experience God.  The distant God of conventional religion has given way to a more intimate sense of the sacred that is with us in the world.  This shift, from a vertical understanding of God to a God found on the horizons of nature and human community, is at the heart of a spiritual revolution that surrounds us — and that is challenging not only religious institutions but political and social ones as well.  People are finding new spiritual ground by discovering and embracing God everywhere in the world around us — in the soil, the water, the sky, in our homes and neighborhoods, and in the global commons.  Faith is no longer a matter of mountaintop experience or institutional practice; instead, people are connecting with God through the environment in which we live.  There's a radical change in the way many people understand God and how they practice faith.  Bass invites readers to join this emerging spiritual revolution, find a revitalized expression of faith, and change the world.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays.  Click here for today's Mister Linky.