Like all good apologetical works, Wilson’s book starts by anticipating shared values and then moves toward claims that might be a harder sell for outsiders. The second half of the book suggests (in somewhat tongue-in-cheek fashion but seriously enough) that we need to create a “new religion” called SoulBoom that will help usher Wilson’s real interest—a global spiritual revolution advancing spiritual progress and cosmic unity. This religion looks a lot like the Baha’i faith, which includes no clergy and promotes practices of prayer and meditation. In making his case, he diagnoses many problems Christians would also highlight in American society: consumerism, loneliness, violence, and partisanship. His solutions, however, are harder to swallow. When I think of spirituality and the 1970s, a particular word comes to mind. It’s not “meditation.” It’s not “LSD.” It’s not “guru” or “incense” or “chakras.”

I’m no authority on spirituality, religion, or holiness, and I’m anything but enlightened. Yes, I’ve read and studied a great deal. I’ve suffered deeply. I’ve pondered and contemplated and meditated. I’ve struggled and many times failed. But aren’t writers on spiritual topics supposed to have life all worked out? I’m here to tell you they (we) don’t. Although I have some insights from the work I’ve done, I still get anxious and confused a great deal. I swear too much. I’m impatient with my kid sometimes. I have a big ego that can sometimes subsume me. I compare and despair. I have been (and can be) overwhelmingly selfish and judgmental. 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. I wanted to kind of, and I hope that I succeeded throughout the course of the book, to reframe the entire idea and conception of spirituality. Some people think of spirituality as something very new age, and some people think of spirituality as only having to do with their particular church or their synagogue or their shrine. Spirituality runs through everything. It courses through everything, whether you're religious or you're not religious. Soul Boom probes weighty issues, from consumerism to consciousness. But it illuminates the path to spiritual enlightenment with familiar reference-points, some drawn from pop culture. Wilson uses ‘70s TV shows Star Trek and Kung Fu as examples of transformative social thinking. One argued for a “spiritual revolution” ( Star Trek ), the other pushed for a personal journey of self-discovery ( Kung Fu )—philosophies we can practice in our daily lives. Well, the Beatles met with the Maharishi, Cat Stevens became a Muslim, Shirley MacLaine communed with ancient aliens, a young Steve Jobs studied Buddhism in India, everybody was “kung fu fighting,” and countless young people sought answers along nontraditional spiritual paths.The real problem with this book is it doesn't really teach you anything you don't already know, or convince you of anything you didn't already agree with. Empathy is good, consumerism is bad, people need community, etc. And have you heard that racism and sexism plague human societies around the world?

All that said, Soul Boom, which calls for a worldwide spiritual revolution along the lines of “an ever-advancing civilization” and “collective” spiritual maturity, is a powerful presentation of the Baha’i faith’s perspective on spirituality. After putting down the book, readers will likely appreciate the Baha’i faith’s amiability and think highly of Wilson’s character, whatever they think of his views. So… OK to move forward on the old booky-wook? Have a bit of clarity on the personal reasons that led me to create Soul Boom?

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I would HIGHLY recommend this to those interested in spirituality especially if you have not heard of the Baha'i faith before as they have a lot of "new ways" to practice a religion that I think are commendable. 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. In a nutshell, I spent many years in my twenties and thirties on a private, personal spiritual search, which led me to read most of the holy books of the world’s major religions. I’m no scholar or expert by any means, but this quest for the truth compelled me to study the Bible, the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Dhammapada and other writings by and about the Buddha. I also read up on many Native American faiths and belief systems and caught up on some basics of Western philosophy. I got deeply reacquainted with the faith of my youth, Baha’i. I prayed and meditated profusely, attended various religious services, and dug deep into many central, profound questions: Is there a God? What happens when we die? Do we have a soul? Why do all these idiots watch The Bachelor? I'm a "None", religiously. On my most enlightened days I'm "Spiritual but not Religious." More often I'm left-brained, data-driven, and annoyed by the hate that purports to be Christian love. And yet... There is some part of me that longs to believe in the message of this book... Some part that wants to believe that we are all divinely connected and that we have a sacred responsibility to our own selves and to our community and world to create the "kin-dom" of God here on earth. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

The first of these shows was the masterpiece Kung Fu, a program that defined the 1970s and reflected its ethos and underbelly. Originally conceived by (and appropriated / stolen from) the great Bruce Lee, Kung Fu Before I answer that question, I want to share some context. My life story, the story of my journey toward being an actor, a member of the Baha’i Faith, and a spiritual student/thinker/enthusiast (as told in full in The Bassoon King, my serio-comic memoir of 2015), is a complicated one.

And then there’s the other demon of mental (and physical) health: addiction. After some bouts with drugs and alcohol dependency in my twenties, I was able to quit with the help of the Twelve-Step Program of recovery. Pretty much anything you can get addicted to, I have struggled with at one point or another: food, gambling, porn, work, codependence, social media, and debt. Even caffeine and sugar. (And now it’s my frigging iPhone!) And isn’t that the reason so many people watch TV? Binge-watch our favorite shows on repeat? No matter what the milieu—a police station, a spaceship, a Scranton paper company—we long to spend time with those fictional, loving, flawed, funny families. Perhaps a little bit more than we long to be in our own. The authors have created a sort of anti-Book of Virtues in this encyclopedic compendium of the ways and means of power. I hope this book will ignite discussion and inspire you, gentle reader, to view some universal spiritual ideas through some different-colored lenses. Sometimes silly, sometimes profound and earnest, I will attempt to explore some very old ground with some very new perspectives.