Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

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During this time, when I was not watching The Office, I was reading theology books and quickly deconstructing my Evangelical faith. He briefly mentions (in one sentence) that there are places like Scandinavia where secular/atheist cultures work well. Rainn is the author of The Bassoon King: My Life in Art, Faith, and Idiocy, as well as the coauthor of SoulPancake: Chew on Life’s Big Questions, a New York Times bestseller. What we must seek in this spiritual revolution is a profound unity unlike anything humanity has ever experienced before.

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. 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.I hope this book will ignite discussion and inspire you, gentle reader, to view some universal spiritual ideas through some different-colored lenses. They want cameras in every classroom and there is a hotline for parents to complain to the state about us. It’s what we as spiritual people need — another interesting and relevant voice swimming in the same stream as all the great mystics before them. Wilson offers up a variety of genuine insights along with Kung Fu and Star Trek references sure to make readers reflect and smile. I appreciate that Wilson explains what he means when he says that he believes in God (and I like his habit of saying, “I don’t believe in that God, either” when an atheist lists off all the negative attributes — jealous, vindictive, childhood-cancer-causing — of the Sky Daddy God of Abraham) and I am not unconvinced by his belief that life and consciousness seem too miraculous to have arisen by chance alone.

As we all seek answers amidst an unceasing news cycle of chaos and doom, Rainn Wilson’s Soul Boom funnily but gently and lovingly opens a door to a deeper way to process all that is happening around us. Thankfully, I always got therapeutic help when I needed it and love from some amazing friends and family members, and I had a profound partner in my wife, Holiday Reinhorn, who supported me with great empathy and strength. 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. 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. And it's what we need more than ever at a time when we're so divided and there's so much ranker and disunity, especially in the political sphere, but culturally as well, we need these spiritual tools of compassion, of forgiveness, of healing, of creating unity, of love at its maximum possible level, and we need to put them to work in our systems, in our organizations, in our companies, and in our government systems.I remember one time, when members of a particular sect of Christian Protestant came to our house on a Sunday afternoon, my father asked them to describe their concept of the kingdom of heaven. However, for those who've grown tired of the conflict-filled social media world and a world where it seems like we have more problems than solutions, "Spiritual Boom" is an engaging and entertaining breath of fresh air offering us entertaining and enlightening ideas on how we can all work together to make the world a better place for everyone.

Also, along the way, I should mention, I try and be funny and the book is a little bit funny and fun to read, I hope. Wilson is co-founder of the media company SoulPancake that hosts a docuseries about climate change, a podcast on metaphysics and an upcoming series on bliss that will air on Peacock. Wilson’s approach to spirituality—the non-physical, eternal aspects of ourselves—is relatable and applies to people of all beliefs, even the skeptics. For Wilson, this is a serious and essential pursuit, but he brings great humor and his own unique perspective to the conversation. Wij, Yahoo, maken deel uit van de Yahoo-groep van merken De sites en apps die wij bezitten en exploiteren, waaronder Yahoo en AOL, en onze digitale advertentiedienst Yahoo Advertising.

At the end of the book Rainn comes up with his idea of the perfect religion and pulls a lot from his own religious group, the Baha'i faith. So it's super important that if we want change, that we start in our own hearts and we stay optimistic. Pop culture references, jokey humor and an entertaining and irreverent writing style keep “Soul Boom” from feeling preachy. I know what you might be asking right now: “Why the hell is the actor who played Dwight on The Office writing a book on spirituality? While this book is not meant to be a Baha’i book; the Baha’i viewpoint has its fingerprints all throughout the book as that we are all part of the same religion, but just different chapters of the same religion, and that we actually do agree and follow the same God.