Every once in a while, a book comes along that gives me a fresh outlook on life, that changes my perception of the world around me. More or Less, Choosing a Lifestyle of Excessive Generosity, by Jeff Shinabarger, is that kind of book–one that gets you to re-think the activities and material possessions that can often complicate and clutter our lives.

The author has a unique  approach to life that might be best explained by a quote he includes by the English writer and philosopher G. K. Chesterton:

There are two ways to get enough: one is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less.

As you might have surmised, Shinabarger is squarely in the second camp and lays out well-reasoned, often persuasive arguments on why most of us have more than we actually need. He then challenges you, the reader, to figure out for yourself “what is enough?” and what you can live without.

One of Shinabarger’s most fascinating observations is how we’ve changed as a culture when asked the question “How are you?” For a long time, the answer you heard most often was “I’m fine”, but over the past few years the response “I’m busy” has taken its place. Busy has become the new fine! (Anyone working a 40-plus hour workweek can relate.)

This “busy-ness” has kept us from being fully present to the world around us, as we fill-up our down time with more and more activities and our homes with more and more stuff. So what the author would like us to do is slow down, take a breath, and focus on the way we live. Shinabarger has done just that and taken a close look at the excesses in his own life—and in turn, ours—and suggests how we can transform those excesses into a greater good for the less fortunate around us.

Almost every chapter is devoted to different ways you can help and for me some of the ideas really resonated. A few of the passages that stood-out had me asking myself:

• Do I have enough or too much clothing? (Tip: if you haven’t worn it in the past year, give it away.)
• Is there a $50-plus item in my home I don’t really use that I can sell and donate the proceeds to charity? (Think electronics, lamps, furniture.)
• Am I sitting on gift cards that haven’t been totally used up that I really don’t need? (See Shinabarger’s brilliant solution at the Web site Gift Card Giver.)

In a couple of reviews I’ve read, Shinabarger has been criticized for making little direct mention of God or his Christian faith. It reminds me of an anecdote I once heard about the motivational author Napoleon Hill, best known for his book “Think and Grow Rich” and one of my all-time favorite inspirational writers.

Hill was at a public event once when a woman approached him and said that while she appreciated his writing, she was disappointed that he didn’t mention God more in his books. His response went something like this:

Oh, but God is there in my books. He’s in the spaces between the lines.

My sentiments exactly about the inspiring More Or Less—because the spirit of kindness and compassion that permeates this book reflects the teachings of Jesus better than a month’s worth of Sunday sermons.

If you’re not sure how you can help the less fortunate around you, here’s a book that says you can and shows you how. It’s an inspiring read that will get you thinking—and doing.  I highly recommend it.

Last year I moved into a home with large built-in bookcases in the den. This was a treat as my several hundred books were previously scattered on small bookcases around the house and I now could store them in one place. It also gave me good reason to organize my books by category and author.

I was not surprised to find the most books I had by any one author were from Thomas Moore. A former monk who lived in a Catholic religious order for 12 years, Moore had a blockbuster hit with one of his first books, Care of the Soul, which was published in 1992. What you may not know is that he followed up that book with 15 others.

Most of Moore’s books represent different riffs on a single vital theme, the place of the soul in our everyday lives. He has written about the soul and love, the soul and work, the soul and every other facet of our lives, including sex, religion and illness, and the critical role it plays in our overall sense of happiness and well-being.

Moore is a writer’s writer in that every chapter, every paragraph, every sentence is packed with meaning. There’s no skimming a Thomas Moore book. He digs deeper than any writer I know to come up with the rich truths and mysteries that are buried within each of us, then expounds upon them beautifully.

As you can probably tell I’m a huge fan, Moore’s writings literally do whisper to and stir my soul. I believe he is our greatest living spirituality writer, and in a world where The Secret tops the self-help book charts, his great body of work gets nowhere near the attention it deserves.

Since my words can not do his words justice, I’ve pulled out passages from some of my favorite texts below—but consider this merely a few drops from a vast sea of compelling work. I highly recommend you pick up one of his books, on whichever topic interests you most, and dig in. It will be time very well spent.

I take magic seriously, as a source of effectiveness in a world that is more mysterious than our scientific achievements imply. A word, a gesture, or an image may be more powerful than a reasoned argument, a ritual or ceremony more beneficial for human continuity than any machine or technical development. Becoming a person of deeply grounded and rich imagination may be more desirable then being healthy, politically savvy or well-informed. (The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Living, 1996)

Live simply, but be complicated…simplifying the externals allows us to cultivate a rich inner and outer life. A cluttered existence may keep us busy, but busyness doesn’t mean that we are engaged in what we are doing. Usually, just the opposite…a complicated person can simplify life and in that simplicity find a sharp articulation of values. (Original Self, 2000)

If we define our spirituality only in positive and glowing terms, it will become sentimental, and then it is of no use. To be spiritual is not just to pray and meditate but also to be involved in the struggles of marriage, work, and raising children; in social responsibility and in the effort to make a just and peaceful world. (The Soul’s Religion, 2002)

In sex, an inner life of strong emotions and vivid fantasies meets with a real person to create a moment of exceptional intensity when life is full and reason is dim. The soul craves such excursions from literal reality, and it is no mystery that sex is so compelling and enticing. (The Soul of Sex, 1998)

Go with developments, rather than against them. If you feel lost, be lost in ways that suit you and make you feel like a participant in your life. If you feel empty, empty out your life where it needs it. If you feel sad, let sadness be your dominant feeling. Being in tune with your deep mood is a way of clarifying yourself. Speak for it. Show it. Honor it. (Dark Nights of The Soul, 2004)

Today many people have a banker’s idea of love. If you don’t get back as much as you put in, you are being cheated. You need to find someone new to be a friend or lover. But in the context of the Gospels, agape is different. This love doesn’t depend on the other’s actions. There are no guarantees. The loving is not about you at all. It isn’t exactly selfless, because the self is fully involved. It is a self defined by engagement with others. (Writing in the Sand, 2009)

“He that drinks beer and goes to bed mellow, lives as he ought to and dies a hearty fellow.” ~ English Saying

As I write this, it is Friday morning. I put in a solid four-mile run earlier to get my head in the right place for the day ahead. I’m on the bus for my long commute into the office, and after a brief prayer and meditation session, I’ve moved on to some spiritual reading. Currently, I’m captivated by the lively, beautiful prose of Mirabai Starr in her book The God of Love. Here’s a passage:

This God of mine is not mere emptiness. It is imbued with the energy of love…I have written this love on the doorposts of my heart. I arise with its song on my lips, and I fall asleep with its fingers on my eyelids. I teach this love to my children—which is everyone I meet—and I drop love letters to my God everywhere I go.

Overall, I’m feeling pretty darn good—and not just from the soul-stirring reading, my meditating and my run. I feel good because I know it’s Friday and tonight I’m going to be drinking a few fine ales. Specifically I’ll start with a quart bottle of Lost Abbey Inferno Ale, and move on to a tasty Saison and possibly a hopped-up IPA or two.

Welcome to the two sides of me, health enthusiast and spiritual seeker by day, craft beer quaffer by (weekend) night.

I suppose when it comes down to it, all the activities I’ve described above offer a form of intoxication. Running gets my endorphins going, mellowing me out with the famous “runner’s high.” The meditation and centering prayer I practice allow me to “rest in God” and give me a warm internal glow that can last for hours, sometimes all day.

Yet, even with these two activities that both calm me and help connect me with the world, it would feel like a two-legged stool if I couldn’t drink beer a few days a week. It’s as if the running and spiritual endeavors soothe certain parts of my brain, and the beer satisfies another. Plus, I really like the taste of a good beer. And yes, I like the buzz.

I’m heartened to know that there’s a long tradition of monks of various spiritual traditions making beer and I’m sure more than a few indulge in it as well. In Belgium alone there are six Trappist monasteries that produce and market their own brands of beer, the best known is Chimay. There are also many non-Trappist monasteries across Europe making what’s called “Abbey Beer” and most of these brews pack a wallop.

The most famous Trappist monk of our time, the revered spiritual writer Thomas Merton, also had a fondness for beer. This description of him by poet and longtime friend Ron Seitz brings a smile to my face: “[Merton] was a guy with big baggy pants, needed a shave, laughed too much, drank too much beer, just an ordinary guy.” Merton himself once wrote:

“I drink beer whenever I can get my hands on any. I love beer, and by that very fact, the world.” ~ Thomas Merton

This year in California, the monks at the Abbey of New Clairvaux in Vina joined forces with the brewer Sierra Nevada to help raise funds to restore one of its monasteries. Together, they’ve put out a couple of delicious craft beers under the Oliva Abbey name. (The Abbey also produces and sells its own wine.)

There’s a good vibe coming from the Abbey of New Clairvaux’s Web site, where visitors are welcomed “to enjoy the peace and serenity of our sacred space. We encourage you to be still and listen to the voice of God in you.” The Abbey also offers weekend and weekly retreats, where it sounds like you do pretty much nothing, just roam the grounds and “listen.” In their words: “You are invited to a deep inner quiet and a profound active attention to God’s presence and voice.”

And to me that sounds totally cool. I have a friend, Mike, who’s interested in going on a spiritual retreat and I’m recommending we go there. I’m not sure if they’ll be serving the Olivia Abbey beer or wine they make, but it’s okay if they don’t. The brewery bar at Sierra Nevada is just down the road, as are a few craft brew pubs. Add in a daily run and to me it sounds like the perfect escape.