For many of us on a spiritual journey, we can often look back on our path and note benchmarks of wise words that seemed to have advanced and enhanced our progress. Joseph Sharp's incredibly insightful book, "Spiritual Maturity, Stories and Reflections for the Ongoing Journey of the Spirit" promises to endure as a marker and guide for transformation and clarity to any spiritual seeker.

Wise beyond his years and certainly our times, Sharp's clear and steady voice is, at once, comforting and illuminating. Throughout the book he engages a remarkable wisdom that asks the reader to honor the truth of the spiritual process. "Remember, we have been given a sacred individuality by God so we might express our inner brilliance within this mortal coil. The message from within is: You can be grand.", he begins. Sharp "promotes a way of courageous self-honesty - especially when social or religious pressures to 'keep up appearances' encourage us to pretend otherwise. Sacred individuality asks us to cultivate open-mindedness, tolerance, and a sense of grand permission in our lives and seeking."

This book serves as a common-sense guide to spirituality and Sharp creates an "atmosphere of permission" that invites the reader to better understand the wisdom within and among us. He reminds us that "authentic spiritual maturity has much more to do with acceptance, recognition and exploration, and less to do with avoidance, denial and escape" and he encourages us to find our own individual path. "The individualistic imagination of the brilliant soul usually annoys the rather dull, hallowed halls of 'The Established Way'", Sharp says. He challenges the reader to always be different, distinct, courageous and outrageously individualistic on the journey.

This book endeavors to teach us that our life's lessons are present in every moment. Every encounter, every thought, every experience in each minute of the day is a sacred spiritual act designed to help us discover our truth, our path, and ourselves.

With incredible insight and clarity, Sharp asks us to embrace our own dark moments as pathways to spiritual learning and growth. "For the seeker, the question is not whether we can successfully shield our spirituality from life's grit. We can't. The real question is: Do we cultivate a vision that gives us permission to acknowledge and include all our life experiences, especially those darker moments within the boundaries of what is considered appropriate territory for spirituality?", he asks. "When we encounter life's painful and unpleasant experiences, do we pause to consider the possible wisdom beneath the suffering?"

Sharp delivers countless brilliant moments throughout the book and exacts points of wisdom from other friends on the path such as Anne Lammot, Rumi, Rainer Maria Rilke, Chogyam Trungpa, Natalie Goldberg and Robert Arpin.

In this book, he embraces all religions but encourages us to find our own truth and personal experience outside the confines of any religious doctrine. Sharp reminds us that we must travel our own path and avoid accepting religious doctrine blindly without spiritual exploration - "we are asked to seek the spirit of the teaching, to get to the heart of the matter with self-honesty and awareness -- to find the inner truth of that information."

Throughout the book, Sharp offers a tender voice of reason to guide us on our journey and perhaps his greatest gift to us is an abundance of courage, "An honest soft courage. A courage that opens the heart, reveals vulnerability, and trusts in a larger process at work. Make no mistake about it, being true to yourself and your unique individuality demands the quality of soft courage," he writes. "It takes courage to step out of the safe, convenient, and comfortable boundaries we've established for our lives: courage to give ourselves a wider landscape in which to seek and explore; courage to give up the illusion that we will one day get 'everything right', and courage to honor and appreciate the divine human mystery that is ultimately beyond our conceptual understanding altogether. It takes courage to kiss our scars figuratively as well as literally."

This is an incredibly wise book written with a kind and clear brilliance that should illuminate even the darkest path and send us on our journey with God-speed.

From the refuge of pain and loss in her Great Salt Lake desert world, Terry Tempest Williams weaves a beautiful and lyrical journal from the intricate fabric of landscape. A landscape that is both ravished by natural and perhaps man made destruction. The history of this land is the history of Williams' family and she serves the reader well as journalist, historian and naturalist.

In the spring of 1983 a significant rise in the Great Salt Lake began to flood her beloved Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and at the same time cancer cells began to flood her mother's body. As owls, avocets and egrets struggle to survive the rising waters, Williams' mother struggles to find peace and comfort in dying. Where mother nature is damaged, mother Tempest is too.

Williams has a truly poetic ability to tie the spirit of land and of family into one beautiful image. "I am reminded that what I adore, admire and draw from Mother is inherent in the Earth. My mother's spirit can be recalled simply by placing my hands on the black humus of mountains or the lean sands of desert. Her love, warmth, and her breath, even her arms around me-are the waves, the wind, sunlight, and water.", she writes.

In the process of dealing with so much pain and loss Williams shifts from a casual observer of life's folly to passionate activist. Ultimately she puts the pieces of puzzle together to see a picture of generations of cancer certainly tied to exposure to the on-going nuclear testing by the American government in the Utah desert. William's chilling awakening to the manipulation of the environment by man in the name of progress should serve as our own wake-up call to the capacity of destruction that we have tolerated.

Landscape becomes refuge and offers hope of healing. Williams writes, "It's strange how deserts turn us into believers. I believe in walking in a landscape of mirages, because you learn humility. I believe in living in a land of little water because life is drawn together. And I believe in the gathering of bones as a testament to spirits that have moved on. If the desert is holy, it is because it is a forgotten place that allows us to remember the sacred. Perhaps that is why every pilgrimage to the desert is a pilgrimage to the self. "

This book is a wonderful testament to life and to the power and capacity for regeneration and healing. The book also provides very poignant and heartfelt lessons on embracing our dying and our loss and celebrating life in every moment.

I have not previously read Paul Theroux so I cannot compare "Fresh-Air Fiend" against the margin of his prolific output. But as someone who travels extensively for a living and for pleasure, I can tell you that Theroux certainly gives new meaning to the world "travel writer".

With ascerbic wit he provides a wake-up call to those whose travel rarely goes beyond the tour bus window. He gives rich detail to his writing -- describing not only the place but the skies, the earth, the flora, the people, the smells. Travel is not always about destination but the journey to get there and Theroux is a master at bringing us to the very place he happens to be. His mix of political and historical commentary also pauses the reader to think of places beyond their obvious pleasures,colors and travel brochure facts.

He has a rare and candid ability to introduce the reader not only to the people living at the source but also those traveling to the source. We find humor in his descriptions and yet wonder if we could be laughing at our very selves. Through his eyes we become better travelers and from his voice we give second thought to the impact we hope to make as we travel throughout the world.

His travels in Africa are breathlessly exciting; his early thoughts from visiting China are eeirly accurate; his adventures in kayaks will have us all paddling in strange waters and seeing the world, perhaps for the first time.

His stories of his stories are fascinating and we applaud him for introducing us to his favorite writers and works of travel. He leaves us with much to think about and volumes of other's work to absorb. This is a wonderful guide book for anyone who likes to travel, hopes to travel or simply enjoys colorful, well-written, thoughful detail on places and people near and far.

I sit here quietly at my desk having just completed Brenda Peterson's "Build Me an Ark". My fingers fan the pages repeatedly as if refusing to believe that the last and final chapter of this book is over. I am rendered speechless and my thoughts turn inward as I hear the voice of the author over and over again in my head unlocking those childhood mysteries that I long ago safeguarded in the back recesses of my mind.

I have been instantly reminded that at my entry into this world some forty years ago I was born remembering a universal responsibility to protect those kindred spirits whose voices cannot be heard or understood. In this book, Peterson acutely finds that place in the reader's heart that unlocks those forgotten memories and reminds us of our contract with the earth to serve and protect, with uncompromising compassion, all of its noble creatures that walk on this planet. If the planet earth is in fact a classroom - "Build Me an Ark" should be required reading for the human race.

Peterson writes from two distinct places: She is first and foremost a visionary healer connecting our souls and our memories with the rest of the animal kingdom and in the same moment she is an incredible writer - every paragraph, every page each in its own right beautiful prose and lilting poetry. From whales and dolphins to cats and dogs, through her eyes, we find the connection to God in all living creatures and are reminded that our souls are all connected by this same source. Peterson asks us to remember, realize and understand our connection to other species, through compassion. "This is the best of all possible worlds," she writes. "This is embracing more than our own kind and assuring that more than we alone survive. For if humans only survive without the company of other animals, then we will be more alone than any of our ancestors could ever have imagined. To one day find ourselves on this ocean planet alone with only our own kind would be perhaps the beginning of the end of our species."

With a soft voice and deft hand, she takes the reader down the path of transformation from sympathetic observer to fierce protector. I would have to caution anyone wanting to read this book to be prepared to face your failure at not having done enough for our animal planet. Be prepared to endure incredible rage at the abject carelessness by the hand of man and be prepared to have your life changed as your own memories are unlocked and as that quiet voice in your throat rises now to a load roar. We finish the book and we know in an instant that we have not done enough to protect nature. We know that there is much more work to do for the conservation of the planet. The author dares you to remember that contract you made with self and God and the planet upon birth and reach out now to make a difference.

Brenda Peterson is a modern-day Moses and the St. Francis of our times. Thank you for reaching out to my hand and bringing me back to the path I was meant to walk on. Maybe life does start at 40. I hope to see you out there on the front line, sleeves rolled up, check book in hand, ready to work at building an ark, saving our planet-ourselves.

That old saying "big things come in small packages" is perfectly proven in Joyce Sequichie Hifler's "When the Night Bird Sings" -- and don't for an instant underestimate the strength of this book by its diminutive size.

Sequichie Hifler is certainly a modern day mystic for our times. In this small collection of vignettes reflecting on her Cherokee childhood in Oklahoma, her homespun wisdom brings us closer to the true meaning of God than any would-be Deepak Chopra or Marianne Williamson.

With all due respect to those noted authors, it's the simplicity of Sequichie Hifler's writing and the warm introduction to her life through storytelling that unlocks the door and allows us to return to that wonderful place of knowing and understanding.

Throughout the book there is the haunting voice of the Great Spirit that almost demands the reader to run outside and kiss the ground, embrace the trees, touch the flowers and look into the warm eyes of all the little creatures about. We should thank them all for having patience with us while we struggle to remember and return to that which is real and important and necessary in our lives.

Sequichie Hifler writes, "the soul of the Cherokee is forever immutable in its love for a kindred spirit. And yet that love of brother is never so strong as the love for things of nature. So closely woven are these allies of spirit, we can sense that all things are brothers, all people are one with nature. All nature keeps a constant pace; it never forgets and never loses the love of life for which it was made."

Her poignant memories delivered me back in time to my own Oklahoma childhood and to the remarkable, almost daily, celebration of the mystery and magic in nature. She provides a gentle reminder that we are connected, all creatures great and small, and that by gracefully honoring nature we come face to face with the reflection of the God that exists inside each one of us.

Sequichie Hifler might have been deeply and wonderfully exposed to the innate wisdom of her Cherokee elders but she grew up in a time and place where the Christian doctrine was exceptionally unforgiving - unfortunately quite common and typical even in the Oklahoma of my youth. But we survived and transcended it by overcoming our fear of church and heeded that inner call which allowed us to make our own church in the bosom of nature and there find God and become one with the Great Spirit. With remarkable insight she reminds us that "the true church is within each one of us, and it is a personal responsibility to worship there often."

Through the words and memories of Sequichie Hifler we are introduced to some incredibly delightful characters, wise beyond their time, that help pave the path to our journey back home. We marvel at her simple but exceptionally wise mother and applaud when her equally sage-like grandmother encourages Sequichie Hifler to love herself first and unconditionally and watch, as the rest of the world would certainly follow. These are simple words to live by and truly insightful writing that can help you change your life in an instant.

I think, perhaps for me, as one who endeavors to reflect on the simplicity of life through the written word, the following passage moved me more than anything else in the book; and promises to challenge me forever to the way I see things. She writes, "Everything is full of life for such a short time. The image must be as important in my notebook when I read it again as it was when it happened. It must be able to live again on the page in another season. My winter notebook goes with me into spring, and my spring notes are soon filled out with the summer pictures. I record and record, because each image must have time to work through my own fingers and my own consciousness to live on paper. The word is only part of the Spirit, but it feeds the one who cannot stop to see, to experience the purples of the land. I cannot assume readers will know what I have seen, how a flower blooms, how a bird flies, or what fragrance is. To trigger someone else's imagination to see for themselves is to come full circle to awaken my own. No one should miss the purples that accent nature. We who record the whisper of the land must live in it, breathe it and bring it forward. Wonders await us all. But our spirits must be kindled to see and to feel. Then, when we are weary, when all the color has drained from our spirits, we can tap into the life of the land again and find a healing peace."

This is the little book that could and it speaks volumes to anyone who dares to allow Sequichie Hifler's memories to ignite their own and transcend ordinary life. As grandmother Sequichie says, "when you think you have learned all the lessons in life little one - look again." If you look for life's lessons in this book you will be rewarded beyond belief.

When I was a child growing up in Oklahoma my mother, whose genealogical roots began in Arkansas and spread into Tennessee through the Carolinas and into Virginia, would often look me in the eye and seemingly warn me "the South would rise again".

As I became older, wiser and more geographically astute, I could never quite understand how a modern-day woman, living in a Great Plains state, could harbor such passion about a place and time and people that she never knew. And who, I thought, didn't exactly leave behind a noble legacy for her to embrace.

For me, Richard N. Cote's epic work of fact finding in Mary's World did what Margaret Mitchell could not do in "Gone with the Wind". I found myself empathizing, if only briefly, for the plight of the people who endured seeing their children march off to their death; instantly lost several generations of accumulated wealth; and had their priceless ancestral possessions carted off and destroyed as they watched their homes burn to the ground.

If it took the Civil War between the North and the South to end the practice of slavery -- then the Civil war was a noble, righteous and necessary event in the lives of our ancestors. I have never doubted this for a moment. Richard Cote masterfully and skillfully delivered me into the time and place of Mary's World and I was finally able to better understand where my ancestor's torch of pain was born and how it was passed for generations until reaching my very own mother -- one hundred years later, three thousand miles away.

Mary's World is much more than a historical introduction to the well-documented sorrows and destruction of the Civil War for those born to affluence in the South. Cote introduces the reader to a curiously fascinating woman, Mary Motte Alston Pringle, who, Cote tells us, "represented the epitome of Southern white womanhood. Her thirteen children included two Harvard scholars, seven world travelers, three socialite daughters, six Confederate soldiers, one possible Union collaborator, a Confederate firebrand trapped in the North, an expatriate bon vivant in France, and two California pioneers." Cote also provides the reader and historical enthusiast with a detailed glimpse of the every day trials and tribulations Mary and her family endured in nineteenth-century Charleston.

As a social historian of South Carolina plantation life, Cote masterfully assembles original letters and manuscripts to produce a rich detailed work of non-fiction that easily reads like an epic novel of nineteenth-century life in the South. His careful examination and prolific research will amaze and delight anyone with a curiosity for this period and certainly appeals to a far-reaching audience.

Once we get beyond Mary's almost pathetic need to "keep up with the Jones' " we eventually see a woman whose passion for her family, her children and her ancestors is noble and commendable, including the care and concern that she gave to her household staff. We marvel at her almost revolutionary ideals of the time. She educated herself and her children well beyond that which we have done for ourselves in modern times. Mary endured her post-war poverty with a steely determination to survive and a humble dignity that will amaze and inspire even the most unsympathetic reader.

We see Mary's world come to life through her thousands of letters and are also given some insight to the slaves of the urban household. The descriptive passages of the efforts needed to cultivate rice give harrowing thought to the reader as to what life must have been like for rice plantation slaves. One is almost led to cheer when, following the emancipation of the slaves, the formerly rich southern white plantation owners were forced to toil and labor in their own rice fields. The rapid and eventual decline of the rice plantation society following the end of the war is further testimony to the horrific, backbreaking work that was forced upon the slaves destined for the rice fields.

The book does an exemplary job of detailing the individual lives of all of Mary's 13 children from their own perspective with regard to their inherited circumstances, education, challenges of adult responsibility, war-time participation and eventual struggle to survive and make their own place in the world. For me, son John Julius Pringle, who became a wealthy French expatriate despite the war, proves to be quite an enigma throughout the story and even now leaves me puzzled with intrigue.

Fortunately, for my generation and those to come, the plantation elite's aristocratic South will not rise again. And more importantly, my mother's children will leave behind a legacy of compassion and a policy of embracing all human beings regardless of color and geographical distribution. In Mary's World, Richard Cote delivered me an unprecedented passport back into a distant time and distant place to better understand the life and intentions of my own legacy of ancestors. Mary's World is an incredible, fascinating read that I highly recommend.

Lama Surya Das has masterfully written an enlightening introduction to Buddhism, which should prove to be an enduring classic on the subject for years to come. He takes the ancient teachings of Buddhist traditions and wisdom and delivers them succinctly and wholeheartedly to the Western mind.

His astounding work is a source of inspiration and awareness that serves as a "handbook for living" that should be carried with us at all times and used often on our spiritual path. Regardless of the reader's religious or spiritual affiliation, these simple golden rules could change your life.

His introduction to the classic Buddhist teachings of The Four Noble Truths and The Eight-Fold Path are the most comprehensible and understandable that I have yet read. Finally, we are presented with a rich compilation that makes absolute sense and many readers will understand, for the first time, how to integrate this ancient Tibetan wisdom into everyday life.

Often, those of us curious about Buddhist philosophy and practice, find it hard to get beyond the dogma of the many teachings. Lama Surya Das succeeds in bringing the reader the most simple and fundamental ideas and lessons of Buddhism. Throughout the book, he reminds us to be responsible for our own thoughts and actions and to find the kindness, compassion and grace that are inherent in all of us.

For those challenged by meditation, Lama Surya Das strips away all the confusion and mystery around the practice of meditation and brings to the reader a profound understanding and "how to" guide to meditation -- the importance of which must be realized and embraced.

Toward the end of the book, he further reminds us that "We are modern mystics - living in monasteries without walls. The entire planet is our heaven on earth. Instead of being overly dependent on anyone else, we must be leaders and seers." This book teaches us how to lead by example. You do not have to have an interest or belief in Buddhism to enjoy, understand and be moved by this book. It is a book to be read, read and read again.

Barcelona is an incredible collaboration of two very disticnt but equally incredible talents coming together in a very smooth blend of music that promises to become a mainstay in both the opera and pop aficionado's collection.

This blending of two masters each representing their own blend of classical and pop training should prove to be an enduring classic of our time.