Toby Johnson: This review was originally published in White Crane Journal (Issue #54). It is reprinted with permission from www.whitecranejournal.com online.
A neat book I'd gladly recommend to everybody, a portrayal of the magical world our spirituality would like to discover really true in our daily experience
with magical coincidences and meaningful revelations coming from all around.
The cover blurb describes this as a novel. It is that in the sense of being fiction, but it doesn't really have a plot. It's more a meditation on personal growth, blended with A Course in Miracles and Conversations with God.
The story tells of a young fellow named Drew who's working in a gym in Boulder, Colorado and studying business with the expectation of operating his
own gym someday. He's a closeted and inexperienced homosexual, struggling to understand what these feelings mean. A motivational speaker, an elderly but spry and vivacious man, Bill Gustafson, comes to one of his business classes, and suddenly Drew's life is changed.
Gustafson takes an interest in Drew (spiritual, not sexual) and after a couple of apparently coincidental meetings, the older man becomes Drew's mentor and spiritual teacher. He gives the younger man a series of assignments, like making a list of attributes about himself and doing five good deeds anonymously.
He also instructs Drew in keeping a journal and how to cultivate interior dialogue and inspired writing with his own inner guide. And he arranges for him to spend seven days alone in a cabin in the mountains on a sort of vision quest.
Most of the book centers on those seven days and the revelations Drew gets from his inner guide about his spiritual life, including the positive significance of his homosexuality. This section reads like Conversations with God.
It's good wisdom Drew discovers, though it seems a little far-fetched that this young fellow could on his own and without much preparation come up with the
central tenets of modern new age thinking. And his realization of the goodness of his homosexuality come without any benefit of gay community or exposure to the now several decades of gay liberationist thinking.
The resolution is a little predictable, though it brought a tear to my eye and a catch in my throat nonetheless. And I'm sure glad the book ended that
way. Just right.
Gift of the Soul is more an occasion for the authors (both themselves motivational speakers and gay advocates) to suggest a series of exercises in
self-discovery than it is a plotted novel. But the wisdom is right on and the portrayal of coincidence and synchronicity is delightful. It makes you want to believe life really can be that magical. And sometimes it really can be!
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