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Spirit Matters is a highly recommended book for anyone who longs to live in a world with stronger spiritual values and less emphasis on ecological destruction, material gain, and technological progress. And nowadays, there are a lot of us out there struggling with those phenomena, according to acclaimed rabbi and author Michael Lerner (The Politics of Meaning). Many individuals live as a "divided self," he explains. We privately hold deep, spiritual beliefs but are too uncertain or shy when it comes to asserting those beliefs in the public arena. To bridge this duality, Lerner offers this thoroughly readable manual on how to introduce solid and healthy spiritual values into our world culture. This is not about pushing a hidden religious agenda or trying to create a fadlike movement around the latest New Agey ideology. Rather, Lerner presents an intelligent vision of people deeply caring for one another and our planet. Chapter by chapter Lerner gives examples of what readers can do for the environment, endangered animals, hospitals, prisons, the workplace, the home front, and neighborhoods. As a narrator and thinker, Lerner is sweeping and eloquent in his understanding of spiritual complexities. He also offers specific suggestions, such as improving education by eliminating "the SATs and other odious forms of testing" or addressing U.S. prison problems by eliminating jail terms for nonviolent crimes. As a spiritual and political manifesto, Spirit Matters cannot be praised enough. --Gail Hudson
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