Everyone has basic spiritual needs, such as needs for meaning, wonder, hope, transcendence, forgiveness, and perspective. How well people fulfill these needs influences their health and well-being. This book discusses twenty-two spiritual needs that can be satisfied fully or partially only by embracing and connecting to something greater than ourselves. Just as physical needs for sustenance must be met with sufficient healthy food, spiritual needs must be met in healthy, nontoxic ways. In the past, religion fulfilled spiritual needs, but in today’s increasing secular and pluralistic world there are no commonly agreed upon ways to meet spiritual needs. People must be good consumers of spirituality, just like they must learn to be discriminating consumers in other areas of life. This book invites religious and nonreligious readers to use each chapter as a workbook, exploring how to meet each spiritual need in life-enhancing ways. Each chapter on a particular spiritual need is followed by reflection questions and activities to enhance the reader’s exploration of each need.
