Soul Boom Quotes

“My dad, a wise spiritual teacher and public speaker, responded, “Well, in a lot of ways, it’s very similar. There will be great storms and lightning and thunder, and the skies will open up. Down from a hole in the clouds doesn’t come a city or Jesus or anything but rather a bunch of bags of cement. Some shovels and hammers. Bricks and mortar and nails and lumber. And finally, at the very end, a note floats down on the breeze and lands on top of all the supplies. It reads: ‘Kingdom of God on Earth: Build-It-Yourself Kit.”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“15. Profound connection to the natural world. I’ve written a bit, mostly in general terms, about Indigenous spirituality and how, throughout the world, native cultures have a deep connection to the cycles, beauty, and mystery of nature. Think of the power and mystery in the last words of Chief Crowfoot, quoted in 1890: “What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“13. Centrality of the divine feminine. To quote one of the world’s great philosophers, Ariana Grande, “When all is said and done / You’ll believe God is a woman.” The journey of many of the world’s oldest spiritual practices has been to move from a reverence for the matriarchal/feminine to a rejection of the mother/earth/womb mythology. Indeed, modern religion embraces the stricter, more controlling patriarchal father.”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“Picture yourself walking on a beach, watching the waves. You notice each wave crash to shore and dissolve into foam. You see new waves form and ride forward toward the sand. You observe the distinct curve and beauty of each individual crest and fall. Then something subtly shifts in your outlook. You notice that what you are actually taking in is the ocean itself. Your entire perspective slides and expands as you begin to consider the totality of the ocean—its depth and breadth, mysteries, currents and storms, its awesome beauty and its life-providing bounty. The fish that swim in it. The moisture that rises from it to form the clouds above you. You realize that you yourself are like a single wave on a much larger sea. And like a wave on the ocean, you are one small part of a much grander, more mysterious, powerful, and beautiful totality.”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“Compassion is described as “I feel with you, and I am here to help.” It captures the most significant willingness to provide support and action to relieve another’s suffering. True compassion, in other words, transcends empathy because if you are experiencing compassion, you are driven to action to alleviate the pain. And that’s exactly what humanity needs right now. I would argue this human/divine virtue is our most surprising superpower.”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“Mr. Gregory, sometimes I just feel so bitter. So hopeless about the future. It’s so hard to not be cynical.” I’ll never forget what happened next. He grabbed me by the wrist, pulled me closer, looked into my eyes with a ferocious intensity, and said, “Don’t do it! Don’t give in to cynicism. If you do, they’ll have won. They want you to be cynical because then nothing will ever change. You must keep hope alive. Keep going. Promise me you won’t give in!” I nodded, a bit overwhelmed, and stepped out onto the cobblestone street, seeing the world in an ever so slightly different way. I’ll never forget that interaction for as long as I live.”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“A little science takes you away from God but more of it takes you to Him.” Both are methods of examining and interacting with the same reality.”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“One more thing. While our fundamental POV on all this diversity is that it is to be honored, savored, and celebrated, diversity should not come at the expense of recognizing our inherent commonalities, the qualities that unite us. Today, so much of society is laser-focused on self-identification—these are my pronouns, my ethnicity, my background, how I affiliate. Which is crucial when there has been a long, dismissive, and often violent history of oppression against nondominant groups. But simultaneously, we are also members of one human species who all love, play, create, grieve, and seek belonging. We are all spiritual beings having a human experience. Our inherent and shared humanity, our divine souls, our inherent goodness—these are the things we should see first when we look at our fellow SoulBoomers.”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“Will you allow the unevolved cretins around you to affect your serenity and determine what course of action you take? Or will you deftly, metaphorically slip by them, seeking not contention but to “win not by fighting”? Will you wisely, placidly, draw on your deep well of inner wisdom and navigate these issues like a willow tree in the wind?”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“The red wheelbarrow of consciousness, glazed with rainwater, beside the white chickens of experience. It simply doesn’t compute that it all adds up to nothing.”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“Spirituality and religion should make our lives better and show us a path toward personal peace and enlightenment. If it doesn’t do either of those two things, then we should all jettison it. The wisdom of faith either makes our lives better, increases serenity, and makes us better people, or there is really no reason to have it in our lives.”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it. —Mary Oliver”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“BOOKS THAT GREATLY INSPIRED ME AND THAT YOU SHOULD CONSIDER READING (in no particular order) Beyond the Culture of Contest by Michael Karlberg A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle Black Elk Speaks by John G. Neihardt The Family Virtues Guide by Linda Kavelin Popov, Dan Popov, and John Kavelin The Second Mountain by David Brooks High Conflict by Amanda Ripley The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture by Gabor Maté and Daniel Maté Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet by Thich Nhat Hanh The Seven Mysteries of Life by Guy Murchie Viral Justice by Ruha Benjamin The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible by Charles Eisenstein The Story of Our Time by Robert Atkinson Global Unitive Healing by Dr. Elena Mustakova What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck How Should We Live? by Roman Krznaric The God Equation by Michio Kaku Einstein’s God by Krista Tippett What We Talk About When We Talk About God by Rob Bell Team Human by Douglas Rushkoff Help, Thanks, Wow by Anne Lamott See No Stranger by Valarie Kaur Plays Well with Others by Eric Barker Narrow Road to the Interior by Matsuo Bashō The Soul’s Code by James Hillman The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss by David Bentley Hart The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton The Awakened Brain by Lisa Miller, PhD The Hidden Words by Baha’u’llah”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“Everyone is needed, and all are participants. No one is going to do it for you. This is not a top-down enterprise. We all have a role to play. We are all protagonists for social change, not passive followers waiting for some leader to initiate action. We need to build community at the grassroots. Start small. Gather your friends and neighbors; log on to Next Door, Facebook, or Meetup.org; and find a common issue in your area that needs addressing. Create a community with a common cause that might, perhaps, build toward a movement. A community that “calls in,” spreads joy, highlights service, and begins to launch a whole new story.”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“These are the builders. The doers. The people who strive to unearth the deeper root causes of imbalances and create community movements to systematically address injustices. What is wrong with our society that these people aren’t household names but people who do unboxing videos or silly dances on social media are?!”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“In her book High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out, New York Times best-selling author and Wall Street Journal and Time journalist Amanda Ripley investigates a seemingly modern but most likely timeless and universal human issue: when conflict gradually morphs into something larger and more toxic than the original disagreement itself.”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“A story of Darwinian “survival of the fittest” transformed into a tale of cooperation, connection, and mutual support. With mushrooms and root systems. Can we not apply that same vision to our rich history of human cooperation and interdependence? And can we not look forward while holding that vision as a goal?”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“In her nature masterpiece Finding the Mother Tree, Suzanne Simard disproves this theory and instead shows a kind of collective altruism from tree to tree.”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“There is a school of contemporary writers called the “new optimists,” which includes Steven Pinker, Hans Rosling, Matt Ridley, and many others. This best-selling tribe of feted intellectuals, writers, and TED talkers has one central point to make: “The world has made spectacular progress in every single measure of human well-being and… almost no one knows about it,” says Pinker. “Every day we’re bludgeoned by news of how bad everything is… yet we’ve made more progress over the last one hundred years than in the first one hundred thousand,” says Gregg Easterbrook.”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“BONUS #21. Potlucks! There will be no SoulBoom without potlucks. The bonds between the two are indissoluble. One of the greatest Native American contributions to world culture of all time.”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“20. Humility. And last but certainly not least, the SoulBoom faith admits that it doesn’t know the best way to do anything. We don’t have any absolute answers. We’re in a humble posture of learning. We provide but a few markers, guideposts, and clues along the winding path of the spiritual game of life.”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“19. Emphasis on music and arts. Every social revolution has the arts front and center. Often driven by the energy and idealism of youth and young adults. One simply cannot imagine the civil rights movement, or the Vietnam war protests, or Black Lives Matter without the arts and youth. Hand in hand.”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“One of my favorites is from ‘Abdu’l-Baha. He said, “If a man has ten good qualities and one bad one, to look at the ten and forget the one; and if a man has ten bad qualities and one good one, to look at the one and forget the ten” (italics mine). This is the kind of spiritual life hack that resonates for me.”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“18. Practical spiritual tools.”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“17. A life of service. We’ve already talked about service to the poor as one of the ten fundamentals. But we want SoulBoom to take the underlying concept of service and expand and apply it to every space of our lives. Is it possible to build a faith where every believer wants their life, family, and career to be centered around doing good for others? Being “other-centered” instead of “self-centered”? How do we inspire people to ask themselves every day in their marriage, in their friendships, in their workplace, How can I be of service today? And even harder: How can we find ways to show kindness and service toward people we dislike or have little in common with?”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“16. Centrality of justice. Today, the phrase “social justice” has become, oddly enough, controversial. Same with “environmentalism” and “women’s rights.” The manipulative forces of political and corporate interests have framed the pursuit of justice and equity as something with a partisan agenda attached to it. And yet in Isaiah 1:17, it says, “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“14. Cooperation between science and faith. If there’s one thing that differentiates SoulBoom from the majority of mystical faiths of the past, it is a core belief in the essential harmony between science and religion. Our universe is not singular; it is unified. A unified field of physical and spiritual forces that shape and determine our lives. Science is often seen as logical and objective and spirituality as “airy-fairy” and subjective. However, it’s time to rectify once and for all this false dichotomy. As Louis Pasteur said, “A little science takes you away from God but more of it takes you to Him.” Both are methods of examining and interacting with the same reality. We understand the physical world, its laws, operations, and mysteries through the lens of science. Science is both a database of knowledge and a system of learning about natural laws by using repeatable experiments that reveal factual truth about those systems. We at SoulBoom would argue the same is true of the spiritual world. Spiritual guidance from the world’s great faith traditions and from Indigenous belief systems allow us to understand the “why” that exists beyond the “how” of science. If science leads us to create an atomic bomb, religion shows us that peace is the ultimate goal. If technology helped create tremendous advances in transportation, energy, and construction, a wise, moral imperative tells us that the resulting CO2 in the atmosphere will be devastating to our species and thousands of others and must be limited for the good of our descendents.”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“12. Diversity plus harmony. Goes without saying (though we already kind of said it in describing the SoulBoom community) that this is a faith open to all. All are embraced, included, and welcomed with loving, open arms and a spirit of light.”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution

“11. No clerics. What would you think about a religion with no clergy? We here at SoulBoom are all for it. One of the miracles of the Twelve-Step Recovery Program at AA is the lack of leadership roles. The inmates are running the asylum! Elected servant-leaders run the meetings for limited terms while following the adage “principles above personalities.” As expertly quoted in the Twelve Traditions of the AA Big Book, “For our group purpose, there is but one ultimate authority—a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.” What if modern religion was like that? (Or politics, for that matter!) Leaders as trusted servants. We no longer need people with funny hats (whose only historical “expertise” was knowing how to read when most of the population didn’t) to interpret the holy writings for us. What if no member of this faith had more power or authority than any other member? What if, like at an AA meeting, there were regular, democratic elections, where a rotating staff of elected folks helped to serve the needs of the community… and nothing else?”
― Rainn Wilson, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution