universal spiritual insights

I enjoyed this look of great questions through the lens of different spiritual practices. We are reading this for Amesbury MM book club, and I look forward to how this might inspire us to tell our own stories. I am a fan of Joan Chittister. ( )

I found this book very hard going -- not gracefully written, too general to make its points effectively. And some of it is just plain hogwash ("Each of the great spiritual traditions - Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam -- has multiple variations of one basic message. They spring from the same kind of spiritual impulse and seek the same kinds of spiritual things." p. 167). The best thing about the book is the stories from the traditions (not the scriptures, notice) of the religions that illustrate themes that interest her. I noticed all the Islmaic stories the author offers are Sufi, which hardly represents mainline Islam. Also, all the stories in the Christian tradition are from the Desert Fathers. She really doesn't give any knowledgable definition or understanding of the world religions -- in the Hinduism summation at the end, she doesn't include a single date. She seems to be looking for feel good answers to universal questions, but that isn't really what any of the world religions are primarily about. ( )