| Men and women, seeking spiritual answers they can't | | | | needed is a little explanation; a roadmap to both |
| seem to find in Western culture or traditional religious | | | | meditation and enlightenment, or how to come |
| pathways, are trying meditation. A large (and growing) | | | | face-to-face with God. |
| number of people are taking up the practice, including | | | | Meditation can be a lifesaver to people who are: |
| open-minded Christians and undocumented millions of | | | | - Confused by a previously happy life that has |
| seekers who are unaffiliated but have privately taken | | | | suddenly changed. |
| up meditation for personal growth or physical relief. | | | | - Frustrated by society's focus on materialism at the |
| From relaxation, to healing, to restructuring personal | | | | expense of the spiritual dimension. |
| lives, meditation has become a hot topic. | | | | - Responding to an inner urging to explore the life |
| One of the fastest-growing segments of the publishing | | | | within. |
| world is religion and spirituality. A recent general survey | | | | - Who understand that a rich world lies within, but are |
| of spiritual publishers by Exegeses confirms that not | | | | not sure how to experience the limitless nature of the |
| only is spirituality booming, but more importantly, | | | | soul. |
| readers are clamoring for titles that take them deeper | | | | - Seeking a more mystical experience than |
| than they have ever gone before. Moreover, | | | | conventional prayer allows. |
| Publishers Weekly has reported that religion remains | | | | - Seeking a face-to-face audience with the Ultimate. |
| one of the hottest categories in bookselling. | | | | - Led astray by false teachers, and who finally |
| The signs are all there. Everything is falling into place | | | | understand the way lies within. |
| for a serious discussion of spirituality just as meditation | | | | - With problems (addictions, psychological damage, |
| is becoming mainstream. Descendants of the original | | | | physical complaints) for whom conventional Western |
| meditators number in the hundreds of millions | | | | medicine or interventions do not work. |
| worldwide, with nearly 400 million Buddhists and 900 | | | | - Feeling empty and searching for fulfillment. |
| million Hindus. When you add Transcendental | | | | - Who understand they are on a path that's not |
| Meditation practitioners, along with Western | | | | working and need to readjust or refocus their lives. |
| practitioners of Zen, Tibetan, Chinese, Korean, and | | | | - Looking for nothing less than to alter their destinies. |
| Southeast Asian traditions-the numbers are impressive. | | | | Meditation and enlightenment are common grounds |
| Another potential, however, is Christians, particularly | | | | upon which every sensitive, intelligent individual, |
| modern Christians, part of a groundswell of the faithful | | | | regardless of his or her particular beliefs, can deepen |
| worldwide who believe that Christ was tragically | | | | their relationship with that most personal part of their |
| misunderstood-that he was trying to teach people how | | | | lives. This offers a real possibility of change, within |
| to one: become enlightened, and two: become | | | | ourselves and within our society, where the greed, |
| enlightened by looking within. This is quite radical, but | | | | hatred, and fear we now have of each other's |
| more so is the growing belief that the Second Coming | | | | viewpoints, and which has precipitated so many |
| of Christ is already here. And who is it? It's the world's | | | | conflicts, might finally end. |
| collective enlightenment consciousness! All that is | | | | |