Through the Labyrinth

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What happens when the generation that had everything begins to look for God? In a society obsessed with "having it all," what impels some people to go against the grain and seek satisfaction in spiritual development? Through the Labyrinth: Stories of the Search for Spiritual Transformation in Evevyday Life examines those questions through profiles of 14 different and fascinating seekers. A Catholic couple who discover their path is through their marriage; a woman who converts to Judaism and becomes a rabbi; a woman raised in Judaism whose life is changed by a spontaneous Kundalini experience; an aerospace engineer who leaves his job at McDonnell Douglas to become a full-time Zen monk, then uses his spiritual learning to help the homeless find shelter; a British seeker who spends 13 years as the right-hand man of a controversial Indian guru, then leaves to start his own unique teaching; a born-again Christian who explains how his conversion came about; an American from an agnostic family who becomes a Sufi sheikh presiding at a mosque in Manhattan.

Their stories and others explore the world of spiritual discovery in the United States, with separate chapters about the use and misuse of reason, the art of meditation, and the New Age.

Praise for Through the Labyrinth

"This book deserves superlatives and the widest possible readership. It is a potent, perfectly crafted, captivating and wide-ranging presentation of the varieties of spiritual disciplines in that broad terrain between the hard edge of Christian fundamentalism and the self-satisfaction of secular humanism. . . .[Peter Occhiogrosso] is the Studs Terkel of American spirituality."  Christian Century

"Fascinating accounts of 14 individuals who have experienced spiritual transformation. . . . This book is very much in the vein of the author's popular Once a Catholic, and it continues the search for the spiritual fulfillment that he lost when he left the Catholic church.. . . Highly recommended." Booklist

"The best balanced and most engrossing book I've seen about a concept or state that is unclear to, but fervently sought by, most people."  Minneapolis Star Tribune

"An engrossing overview of the diversity of spiritual transformation in America. Readers will come away from this book with a keen sense of the variety of views on God, sin, salvation, and the spiritual practices of prayer, meditation, and ritual." Values and Visions News Service

"The tales are moving indeed." Business Ethics