Advance Praise for
A New Way to be Human
“This book will become well thumbed as you return to it time and time again to be reminded of what is essential to your journey: that God longs for us to be people of love and compassion.”
“This is a timely book, inviting us to return to values that ground and shape our life. What footprint will you leave in this world among the rest of God’s family and the fragile beauty of the Creation? We cannot each do everything, but this book reminds us that we can each do something as God’s partners. Imagine the ripples of love and compassion flowing like a spiritual tide of hope, as your life joins with that of others on a spiritual quest changing our footprint as we assist in making the world a more just, compassionate and loving place! Robert’s book is a guide to a lifelong journey with God who says, “Please, please help me in loving. Please discover that we are made for oneness.” In a time when people are hungrily searching for values and meaning, this book will repeatedly inspire and draw you deeper and deeper into a spirituality of love and compassion for Creation, the human family and yourself.”
Desmond Tutu
Nobel Peace Laureate
“This is spiritual magic, sweet as a ripe red strawberry”
“Robert Taylor’s new book is an excursion among the million ways in which we can re-imagine the divine. Using the visions of poets, storytellers, artists, and mystics, Robert explores how God is disguised in the form of human beings, how each of us undertakes a unique spiritual journey through darkness to light, and how our hearts are broken open to love and compassion.”
Andrew Himes
Voices in Wartime editor, Voices Education Project Founder
“A very wise and lovely book”
“Religion invites exclusivity: “I’ve seen the light, you haven’t.” “I belong, you don’t.” Religion stokes hatred. In I’m Spiritual Not Religious, Robert Taylor invites his readers to the inclusion message of love, divine love, which unites us. He draws from his personal history combating divisive apartheid in South Africa and from a profound awareness of humanity’s common quest for the Creator who resides in creation and in each of us.”
Paul J. Donoghue, SM, PhD.
Author of Sick and Tired of Feeling Sick and Tired: Living With Invisible Chronic Illness, Are you Really Listening? Keys to Successful Communication
“If you are searching to create a holistic spiritual framework of love, compassion, justice and mercy, this book will become a wondrous companion. It is a glorious invitation to the spiritual quest”
“If you are searching for the spiritual courage to cross the lines and boundaries drawn around your life, or daring to claim your God-given lyrical voice, this book will become indispensable to opening up your spiritual quest. If you wonder about how to navigate your spiritual journey Robert Taylor gracefully draws you more deeply into the heart of Love and Compassion as the markers of any spiritual quest. If you yearn to integrate your spirituality with repairing the environment and responding to injustice and human need, this text will become a spiritual treasure trove for you. Robert Taylor’s writing celebrates the life giving truth that our spirituality is discovered amidst the joys and conundrums of being fully human. It is a compelling reminder that love and hope are discovered in the ordinariness of living with courage and conviction.”
Nora Gallagher
Author of Practicing Resurrection, Things Seen and Unseen: A Year Lived in Faith, Changing Light
“This is a book that I keep as a companion to my daily prayers and reflection”
“In a time when we are all searching for meaning in our life, Robert Taylor’s I’m Spiritual Not Religious draws the reader in, expanding our thinking, opening our hearts, helping us discover our connection to one another. He shares his own personal struggles and weaves together many spiritual practices and traditions to help us enrich our own personal journey. Robert’s underlying message is to treat ourselves and others with love and compassion.”
Paula Clapp
Co-Founder of Global Partnerships
“A fascinating book that makes you see spirituality in a fresh and honest way. A wonderful book for getting life on track to lead a fulfilling life.”
“Robert Taylor gives us the chance to examine and explore our spiritual footprint.”
Ginny Hutchinson
Author of Better Because of You.
“Robert’s writing is personal, potent and provocative.”
“Robert has written an inspiring, spiritual resource that brings clarity to the fore. Drawing from guides across traditions, decades and personal proximity, Robert weaves together a roadmap to engage any searcher. Readers will emerge from the currents of his narrative with questions and ideas as well as a few – or many – answers that work for them.”
Judy Pigott
Co-Author of Personal Safety Nets: Getting Ready for Life’s Inevitable Changes and Challenges
“Perfect for our times! Robert’s writings bring together the best lessons from the world’s many faith traditions, applying them to modern life in a way that is profound and meaningful.”
“Robert Taylor draws on a deep intellectual and spiritual reservoir to offer insights that are challenging and affirming. If you seek to enrich your own spiritual understanding, this book is an important find.”
Margaret Larson
Documentary Producer and Emmy Award journalist for The Today Show and Dateline
“To churches that offer endless arguments about who is eligible for God’s love, Robert Taylor offers the intimate, vibrant conversation that Jesus offered to Lazarus whom he raised from the dead.”
“If seminaries and other graduate schools ever get around to offering courses in Theology and the Imagination, this book needs to be required reading at every level.
Louie Crew
Founder of Integrity USA, the voice for LGBT inclusion in the Episcopal Church and retired professor of English Literature, Rutgers University
“Taylor offers rich context, comfort, and guidance for those who want to move forward down the path of defining the role spirituality can play in leading an ethical life.”
Ric Merrifield
Author of Rethink: A business manifesto for cutting costs and boosting innovation
“I’m Spiritual Not Religious is a bold and invigorating invitation to imagine a new path into our deepest, most spiritual core. Robert V. Taylor invites us to honor the “dignity of difference” within our common humanity… The reader knows she is on a special encounter. Slowly reflect and savor the wisdom of this book.”
From the moment the book trumpets the proclaiming angel of Jewish mystic tradition “Make way – Behold! – here comes the face of God” in the guise of each person, the reader knows she is on a special spiritual encounter. Through recognizing that humankind traverses many pathways to the Holy One, Robert Taylor not only invites us to honor the “dignity of difference” within our common humanity but also to leave spiritual footprints that repair the world, heals creation, and transforms the ways in which we live and act with one another.
As Robert interweaves his own journey and reflectively shares aspects of the journeys of fellow pilgrims, he enables us to plumb the deepest reaches of our common humanity wherein, as co-creators with the Holy One, we become active participants in repairing the broken parts of ourselves and of the whole of creation. Imagining as the Holy One imagines, we learn to leave footprints and “holy sparks of light” that build and create, renew and restore ourselves, our humanity, and our world, knowing that the Holy One “plays in ten thousand places, lovely in limbs and lovely in eyes not his” (Gerard Manley Hopkins) but ours. Slowly reflect and savor the wisdom of I’m Spiritual Not Religious.
Dr. Judy Mayotte
Marquette University and author of Disposable People? The Plight of Refugees
