The Sort of Spiritual Writer I Want to Be

What kind of spiritual writer could I be when I grow up? I really do not know. When I think of spiritual writing, I conceive of a genre of documentation that helps people. And when I say "helps people," I don't mean self-help work. There's tons of that sort already. And I don't mean theology books either. There's tons of that already too. Nor do I mean philosophy or psychology books either - there's tons of those as well. Yet, spirituality books have elements of self-help, theology, psychology and philosophy. They are books that talk about an individual's human search for a spiritual meaning to life. They contain cheat-sheets to the examination called life, where God himself is the examiner. 

A good spirituality book is written in popular language. It is written in such a way that a janitor with no education can read and understand it, but also a university professor with tons of education can read and not get bored by it. The ideas contained in the sort of spiritual writing I mean are the loftiest of ideas, but they are explained in such easy-to-grasp terms that everyone can understand and appreciate them. And apply them to their daily living - which is the point of it all: applicability. I want to write stuff that people can apply. Remember I said that happiness is epistemology plus ethics. I don't want people just to read my books (epistemology); I want them to also put their contents into practice (ethics). I want people to be happy.

My books will come with workshops. What this means is that after writing a spiritual book and hopefully getting it traditionally published, I'll design an accompanying workbook. This workbook will be used during workshops, which are forums where people gather for three-hour-long sessions each to talk about the ideas contained in the particular book, and devise ways for applying such ideas to their daily lives. What I mean is this: Let's say I write a book, call it X. I get it traditionally published, and it starts to sell. I would then craft a human development training workshop based on the book, which I would subsequently take with me and travel from location to location to give three-hour-long human development workshop sessions. People who have read the book and desire practical ways for applying what the book says to their own lives would pay a fee each to attend these workshops and benefit from it. The workshops will take place everywhere, from Arctica to Australia. And through the healing messages contained in the books and the workshops, lots of people will derive consoling freedom from the travails of depression, insecurity, pain and grief.

I want to be a spiritual writer because firstly I have the gift of writing. I've always had it. But I don't want to use it in fiction writing - been there, done that. I want to do something that will help people. Personally, I have had a very difficult life. I mean, if we were to grade human lives on their level of difficulty, I'd say I'd get a cool B+, if not an A. I've been through a lot in my life - a real lot. And in this difficult journey called my life, I've learned a lot. Most of these things, nobody taught me. Of course in the course of being a student and a church-goer, I picked up cues from science, philosophy, psychology, theology and self-help material, but the personal ideas I developed in my growth process were largely self taught. And I want to share this strand of human development with the world.

So yes, I want to be a human development writer. In other words, my books won't be called self-help, or psychology, or theology, or philosophy books - rather, they will be called human development books. People seeking to develop and grow and mature in life will benefit from them. People who are passing through serious stuff, or have been through serious stuff, will similarly benefit from my books. They will hunger for my work, and when they read my books and soak in their rich teaching, they will be anxious to attend the human development workshops associated with them; where they will learn practical skills for putting what they have read from the books into practice. They will be motivated, inspired and encouraged to apply what they learn to their life, in such a way as to make them free from spiritual, emotional and in some cases psychosomatic physical pain. 

If the teleological end of all humanity according to 'Totle is happiness, my books and workshops will contribute to human happiness. They will give people the knowledge and the skills to work out their own happiness, in the following ways: They will inform people of ideas developed for the purpose of helping people think in freeing ways. They will encourage people to develop a positive view of the world. They will provide a freeing vision to counteract the vision of pain and suffering that is the predominant worldview of very many people in a world that is ailing and suffering. How people are suffering! And many people can't place a finger on why they are suffering. You see someone with money and power and respect and good looks and everything else: god job; importance in society; beautiful spouse; awesome family - everything. Yet, they feel depressed. They feel emotional pain. They suffer. Why is that? They don't know. 

My books will help people to look inside themselves and find the peace they crave. My books will help people to open themselves up to spiritual healing. My books will enable people to put their pain in perspective, and embrace concepts such as: sacrifice, disembodied-embodiment, peace and tranquility, and positive thinking, to mention but a few. My books will allow people the liberty to live in participatory frameworks that are reflective and reflexive; to reach our in love and fraternity to others; to promote humanity in its best shade, and to enable countless people to join in the global dance of liberty and peace. My books will bring joy to countless hearts, and will encourage people to take one further step along the road to genuine, holistic human development. They will do this not just for themselves, neither, but also for the ones they love and need in their lives. 

So, that is the sort of spiritual writer I want to be. I don't want to write self-help, or philosophy, or psychology, or theology books. The books I want to write contain aspects of all these things, but are more properly called human development books. They will contain ideas that people can live by. They can learn these ideas, and put them into practice and in such a way become happier and freer persons. They can benefit from the books, as well as the human development workshops that come together with the books. These workshops will be based on the ideas contained in the book and will afford practical skills for applying such ideas. I believe that many people will benefit from all of this in their teleological search for human happiness. And as many individuals as are searching for happiness and consolation, my career as a spiritual writer will give them the mechanism to find such happiness and consolation.