Spiritual Misfit

Offers the author's account of the loss of her Catholic faith, how acknowledging her unbelief allowed her to truly begin her spiritual journey, and how she came to see the possibility that faith, uncertainty, and doubt can coexist.

I decided to admit once and for all that I didn’t know what I was doing, what I thought, what I believed, even sometimes if I truly believed. I would tell the truth: I wasn’t like them; I didn’t fit in. I wasn’t a proper Christian. I didn’t have it all together like they did. Why not, I figured? What in the world did I have to lose? _____ After twenty years of unbelief, estranged from her childhood faith and ultimately from God, Michelle DeRusha unexpectedly found herself wrestling hard with questions of spirituality— and deeply frustrated by the lack of clear answers. Until she realized that the questions themselves paved a way for faith. “Declaring my unbelief,” writes DeRusha, “was the first step; declaring my unbelief allowed me to begin to seek authentically.” Spiritual Misfit chronicles one woman’s journey toward an understanding that belief and doubt can coexist. This poignant and startlingly candid memoir reveals how being honest about our questions, our fears, and our discomfort with black-and-white definitions of faith can move us toward an authentic and a deepening relationship with God.

As someone who has been guiding people through the catacombs of their own lives for decades, Francis Dorff, O. Praem. is uniquely qualified to tell stories that evoke personal experiences of the treasures residing within each of us. Readers may recognize

Warning: If modern church culture makes perfect sense to you, and you always fit in seamlessly, don’t read this. As for the rest of us… While American church culture (and American culture at large) seems largely designed for the extroverted, it’s estimated that half of the American population is introverted, and they’re often left wondering how, even if, they fit in the kingdom of God. As one of them, popular radio host Brant Hansen brings news. It’s wonderful, refreshing, and never-been-said-this-way-before good news. In his unique style, Hansen looks to answer questions that millions of people carry with them each day: If I don’t relate to God as emotionally as others do, is something wrong with me? How does one approach God, and approach faith, when devoid of the “good feelings” that seem to drive so much of evangelical church culture? How does God interact with those who seem spiritually numb? Is the absence of faith-based emotion a sign of that God has moved on or was never there? What if we aren’t good at talking to people about our faith, or good at talking to people at all? What if I’m told I’m too analytical, that I “think too much”? Where does a person who suffers from depression fit in the kingdom? Is depression a sure sign of a lack of faith? This book is good news for people who are desperately looking for it. (And for their loved ones!) It’s also for those who want to believe in Jesus, but inwardly fear that they don’t belong, worry that don’t have the requisite emotion-based relationship with God, and are starving for good news. Blessed Are the Misfits is going to generate discussion, and lots of it. It’s simultaneously highly provocative and humbly personal. It’s also leavened with a distinct, dry, self-effacing humor that is a hallmark of Hansen’s on-air, writing, and public speaking style.

As someone who has been guiding people through the catacombs of their own lives for decades, Francis Dorff, O. Praem. is uniquely qualified to tell stories that evoke personal experiences of the treasures residing within each of us. Readers may recognize their own lives reflected in his description of: being “a stranger in a strange land,” wondering where to turn when a door to one’s “promised land” closes in one’s face, exploring intimations of a Loving Mystery beneath the surface of all of life, embracing parts of our life that we have been neglecting, and creatively getting to know our own deepest self. This book will encourage those of us who are yearning to live more peacefully with others to see how we can “meditatively journey together to the underground place within us that is deeper than all our differences.” Those who are feeling stuck may find some help in Fr. Dorff’s insight into how “widening the scope of my attentiveness has a lot to do with my being able eventually to take a creative next step.” And everyone can be inspired by the author’s “experiment with loving” and how many different forms this loving can take over the course of a long, rich life. Here is a personal invitation to learn how to live with the ongoing tensions between solitude and community, meditation and ministry, “getting it all together” and letting it all fall apart—as well as being a misfit and a mystic on a deeply personal pilgrimage.

My book will offer you tools and skills to establish trauma-informed methods to develop long lasting and sustainable spiritual communities. It will engage you in deep and meaningful dialogue about the future intersection of faith, psychology and science and bring home the essential preliminary practices that are needed in todays diverse and complex world to build connections, enhance safety, and embody the heart of your contemplative life. Because what is called for is an upgrade to our cultural operating system! 'Spiritual Misfits' addresses the polarizing discourses in our inner lives, as well as in the realms of politics, religion, and culture. In this book, Dr. Shahar Rabi suggests that planetary destruction, divisiveness, and collective pain can be slowed down by offering a more inclusive story of who are. 'Spiritual Misfits' is part guide book and part call to action. For those who long to "come home" to traditions that cannot hold the breadth of their experience and values, it provides a map to co-create the future of spirituality. It also serves as a guide for those who long to reconnect with fellow humans found on the other side of ever-deepening political chasms. The book points to the next stage in spiritual community engagement by offering a fresh take on the future of spiritual and religious collaboration. It does not offer a grand theory, but rather a model for grassroots solutions that can inspire hope and collaboration in your immediate circle of family, friends, and community. What makes this book stand out is that it offers practical answers to the following three questions: (1) Should you choose to dedicate your life to mastering one tradition or should you retain the freedom to pick and choose from countless perspectives in the spiritual marketplace? (2) Should you pledge your allegiance to one spiritual group and thereby resolve your need to belong, or should you stay on an individual path of spirituality? (3) Is the world a display of countless points of view that are equal in value and importance, or do some spiritual views have more objective validity than others? The book does not offer one more promotion for pluralism and multiculturalism in spiritual contexts. These are important, but they are limited in their capacity to hold both diversity and depth. At the core of their philosophy lies a problematic assumption that prevents the expansion of our understanding of God and religion. The book offers a guide for spiritual projects that express the unique impulse of our time. If you sense the tectonic shifts underway in the geopolitical atmosphere around the world, if you discern how social media and the internet at large are contributing to epidemics of loneliness and isolation, and if you do not know what to do, then you are ready to start the difficult work of dialoguing with the unknown. From the book: "Despite the fact that you may not have a clear vision yet, you know that the solutions on offer today are at best limited and at worst toxic to our inner (and outer) ecologies. This knowing is the impulse. It is the heart of your authentic, timeless, quest to know yourself. It is alive and endlessly creative. It never gets stuck. It is the indestructible quest to make meaning out of your life as a person and as a part of humanity-to provide answers and keep alive the thirst for a living manifestation of reality (or what some call 'God')."

Have you ever wondered if there might be something more to life? When Siobhan Curham decided to write a book about happiness there was only one small problem, which became a massive problem as soon as she sat down to write - she wasn't truly happy. Not wanting to be a fraud, Siobhan set out to discover the secret to true and lasting happiness. Her quest took her on an unexpected path deep into the heart of the world's spiritual traditions. Something More is a funny and moving account of Siobhan's journey, as she found religion - and promptly lost it again - then went on to develop her own spiritual 'pick and mix' of practises from Buddhist chanting, Irish yoga, Jewish philosophy and Reiki healing, to connecting with her inner goddess and finding her shamanic spirit animal (who, it turns out, was a large, black, talking horse). Full of brutally honest anecdotes and age-old wisdom, Something More is for anyone who has ever thought about exploring their spiritual side, and those who might feel disillusioned by organised religion but still crave that elusive 'something more'. After all, who wouldn't want to find inner peace and everlasting happiness?

"Janna Yusuf and her friends are planning for her brother's nikah. But what started as a simple marriage ceremony is turning into the biggest event of the summer-and a chance for Janna to finally reveal her crush...or so she thinks"--